The energy demand of the hotel sector of an Italian region is here utilized for hierarchizing, by means of an empirical method, efficient measures devoted to energy saving and reduction of CO2 emissions. Due to the large number of consumers present in the selected territorial area and the lack in detailed data, the energy demand assessment is here carried out by the analysis of a sample of representative consumers. A short set of indexes, referring to energy and environmental performances, are defined and calculated for different clusters of hotels, grouped on the basis of site characteristics, opening periods, number of beds, and building age. Such indexes are utilized to establish lists of actions with assigned priorities stemming from energy, environmental and economics issues. Energy planners and decision makers can easily use this approach for defining, implementing and monitoring energy efficiency as well as sustainability policies in the tourist sector of a given geographical area, starting from a limited set of data. The method has been proposed by authors within the assessment of the Sicilian Energy Masterplan. (c) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.