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Policy Context for Sustainability
Transitions

Sustainability transitions in the accommodation sector emerge from the
interaction between organisational capacities, market dynamics, and pol-
icy environments. While accommodation enterprises make autonomous
operational decisions, these decisions are embedded within policy frame-
works that shape how sustainability is interpreted, prioritised, and en-
acted in practice. Policy therefore constitutes a central structural con-
dition influencing sustainability-related behaviour, rather than merely a
peripheral or normative reference. This chapter positions the policy con-
text as an active driver of accommodation sector sustainability, drawing
on established empirical research and behavioural theory. Anchored in
the Triple Bottom Line framework and Stern’s theory of environmentally
significant behaviour, policy is conceptualised as a contextual force that
shapes incentives, constraints, expectations, and norms across environ-
mental, social, and economic dimensions of sustainability.
From a Triple Bottom Line perspective, tourism-related policy frame-
works simultaneously address environmental protection, social respon-
sibility, and economic viability. Environmental policies typically target
resource efficiency, emissions reduction, waste management, and climate
adaptation, often through regulatory requirements, technical standards,
or incentive schemes. Social policy instruments address labour stan-
dards, occupational health and safety, equality, and community wellbe-
ing. Economic policy seeks to enhance sme competitiveness, innovation,
resilience, and balanced regional development. Empirical research in
tourism demonstrates that accommodation enterprises respond to these
policy domains not in isolation, but through integrated management de-
cisions that reflect trade-offs and synergies across the three dimensions
(Stoddard et al., 2012; Saarinen, 2014).
Within Stern’s framework, policy primarily functions as a contextual
factor shaping sustainability-related behaviour by altering the conditions
under which decisions are made. Regulations, minimum standards, in-
centives, reporting obligations, and governance arrangements influence
what accommodation providers perceive as mandatory, desirable or fea-
sible. Behavioural research shows that such contextual interventions are

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