Explaining Tunisians’ Public Attitude Toward Sustainable Tourism: A Social Values-Based Segmentation Approach

Abstract

The effectiveness of sustainable tourism (ST) policies depends on public understanding of ST principles and profile of tourist segments. This research aimed to explore Tunisian’s understanding of ST goals and to use social values segmentation to explain their pro-sustainable attitude. Data were drawn from a sample of 368 Tunisian tourists. Exploratory factor analysis, cluster analysis and one way ANOVA tests were performed to reveal the association between tourists’ social values and their attitudes toward ST. The results showed that Tunisian tourists have a restrictive view of sustainability in tourism activities, but as other tourists in the world, they still resistant to domestic tourism. The social values based segmentation identified four groups with significant differences in predispositions to ST practices: the “Dualists”, the “Indifferents” the “Ambivalents” and the “Harmonisers”. The findings provided practical insights into how institutional and private operators in ST could attract and develop appropriate strategies to meet the expectations of these four groups.