Providing hotel guests with messages about water use while they are taking a shower can reduce the length of time they spend showering by more than 25%, a new study has shown.
In a first-of-its-kind study, an innovative smart water saving technology was installed in tourist accommodation shower cubicles and provided continuous feedback to the user about their shower length.
The technology was used in combination with persuasive messages on stickers located in the vicinity such as "will you beat the clock?", "water conservation starts with you," and "make a difference!" with a view to test their effectiveness.
The trial monitored the lengths of more than 17,500 showering events from hotels in the United Kingdom, Denmark, and Spain.
Analysis showed that shower water runtime was 77 seconds quicker (25.79%) in the group that received continuous, real-time eco-feedback than in the group that received no feedback - the equivalent to around 10 litres of (hot) water per shower.
With people using up to 250 more litres of water per day while staying in hotels than they would in their homes, the researchers behind the study hope it could lead to better strategies for tackling water use in the tourism industry.
The study has been published in the Journal of Travel Research, and was carried out by researchers at the University of Surrey, University of Plymouth, and Universidad de Alicante in Spain.
Dr Pablo Pereira-Doel, Lecturer at the University of Surrey and Water programme co-lead at the Surrey Institute for Sustainability, is the study's lead author. He said:
"Many tourist hotspots worldwide face unprecedented water stress levels, and we are trying to do our part to help the tourism industry use less water. Our research demonstrates that guests in tourist accommodations take shorter showers with enabling technology, reducing water, energy, and carbon emissions."
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