Are Tourists Really Willing to Pay More for Sustainable Destinations?

Abstract

Abstract:The understanding of pro-sustainable behavior and its true economic implications is an important subject for tourism destination marketers and policymakers, especially given that limited research has focused on the economic implications of tourist preferences for more sustainable destinations. Following the identification of three different demand segments using the concept of "sustainable intelligence" (level of commitment, attitude, knowledge and/or behavior with regard to sustainability), this study hypothesizes that the tourist segment with high level of "sustainable intelligence" (called "pro-sustainable tourist") is willing to pay more to visit a more sustainable destination. The main aim of this paper is to use the logistic regression model to estimate the premium price that each segment is willing to pay to visit a sustainable destination. This paper reports the result of a willingness to pay study using data from 1118 respondents visiting the Western Costa del Sol (Andalusia, Spain), a mature sun-and-sand destination that is currently facing several developmental challenges supposedly associated with sustainability. The results obtained from this research study indicate that the tourist segment with high levels of "sustainable intelligence" is willing to pay more to visit a more sustainable tourism destination. However, there is little willingness to pay if the destination's commitment to sustainability increases the price of the tourism product (26.6% of respondents).

Does sustainability matter to package tourists? The case of large‐scale coastal tourism

“…Various studies focused on the environmental concern and intention to visit sustainable destinations or willingness to pay for sustainability practices (Kang, Stein, Heo, & Lee, ; Andereck, ; Han, Hsu, & Sheu, ; Pulido‐Fernández & López‐Sánchez, ). Cottrell, Vaske, and Roemer () analyze the effects of sustainability dimensions and residents' satisfaction.…”

Awe: An Important Emotional Experience in Sustainable Tourism

“…The subject areas in sustainable tourism research have significantly changed in the past 20 years [16]. At the beginning, researchers studied the ways to protect a destination that include awareness of the environmental and socio-cultural impacts that tourism activities generated [17,18].…”

Fostering Sustainable Travel Behavior: Role of Sustainability Labels and Goal-Directed Behavior Regarding Touristic Services

“…However, tourists need to be convinced and willing to make efforts to improve their behavior [47]. Our research points to the role of businesses to raise awareness of eco-labels [16].…”

“…They often engage in vacation behavior with negative environmental consequences and come up with a range of explanations justifying their tourist activities [23]. In addition, despite positive attitudes towards environmentally and socially responsible holidays, individuals are unwilling to pay for more sustainability performance [46,47].…”