Achieving Sustainable Coastal Environment by Examining Destination Image and Tourists’ Environment Responsible Behavior

Abstract

The irresponsible actions of tourists harm the coastal environment. Throwing garbage in the water, damaging green belts and lawns, and throwing disposable material and shopping bags harm the environment and beautification of coastal destinations. Previous researchers have identified the worse effect of tourists’ irresponsible behaviors on the environment and the aquatic ecosystem of coastal destinations. Concern for the coastal destination environment has pushed researchers and destination management officers to identify the underlying behavioral patterns of tourists and proposed strategies for influencing tourists’ environment responsible behavior (ERB). Current research has discussed the significance of destination image in shaping tourists’ ERB with the help of the cognitive???affective???conative destination image (DI) model. Further study has discussed the mediating effect of perceived destination trust (PDT) and the moderating role of perceived destination reputation (PDR) in shaping tourists’ ERB with the theoretical lens of signaling theory. A self-administrative survey research design was employed, and 954 completed questionnaires were used for data analysis. Data were gathered from the tourists attending coastal destinations located in Karachi, a city in Pakistan. Sitting arrangements for the data collection were made at the exit points of each beach. The study used three categories of hypothesized relationships: direct, mediation, and moderation. The findings of the study indicated that cognitive image has an insignificant effect on the tourists’ ERB while having a significant effect on the affective image and conative image. Results for affective DI show significant effect on conative DI and tourists’ ERB. Further results for conative image showed a significant effect on ERB. Results for mediation showed significant meditation of PDT among the DI and ERB. Finally, the results for PDR showed significant moderation and further indicated that a high level of PDR raises the level of tourists’ ERB. In contrast, tourists showed a low level of ERB when they had a low perception of the destination's reputation. The study has made unique efforts to understand the complex tourists’ ERB with the help of the cognitive???affective???conative image model and signaling theory.