The impact of climate change on the decision-making process of potential tourists using the model of goal-directed behavior

Abstract

In recent years, public anxiety over the effects of climate change has increased substantially. The mass media have highlighted the agreement of scientists that an increase of CO₂ resulting from human activities is the primary cause. In the mass media, broadcasts related to climate change caused by global warming have been prevalent. This study analyzes the model of goal-directed behavior by supplementing the mass media effects and the perception of climate change to the theory in order to investigate how the perception of climate change through the mass media influences the decision-making process of potential tourists. For sampling representativeness the research was conducted in Seoul, the capital city of Korea, and Busan, Daejeon, Sokcho, and Jeju, which are major tourism destinations. The data were collected from June 11, 2012, to August 30, 2012. A total of 475 questionnaires were used for empirical analysis. Results show the significance of environmental behavior, and therefore they are in accordance with previous research that shows that while perceptions of the environment can increase through information in the mass media, that leads to weak behavior and that in general the attitude of the public about the environment does not equate to behavioral change. Therefore, the implication of the study is that as the mass media have a significant effect on the perception of climate change, and rather than informing about the significance of climate change caused by dangerous factors, it is important to inform people of practical actions to take now in order to prevent greater damage in the future.