The influence of recreation experience and environmental attitude on the environmentally responsible behavior of community-based tourists in Taiwan

Abstract

This study examines the relationships between recreation experience, environmental attitude, and the general and site-specific environmentally responsible behavior of tourists at Taomi and Smangus in Taiwan. The first is an agriculturally based community and the second home to one of Taiwan's ethnic minorities. A total of 862 usable questionnaires (432 for Taomi and 430 for Smangus) were collected in this study. The empirical results indicate that recreation experience is positively and significantly related to environmental attitudes among tourists. Environmental attitudes are also positively and significantly related to general and site-specific tourist behaviors and mediate the relationship between recreation experience and environmentally responsible behavior. The paper contributes to the literature by examining the structural linear relationships between recreation experience, environmental attitudes, and environmentally responsible behavior. This study suggests that tourism destination providers should provide pro-environmental activities, ecotourism experiences, and interpretations of environmental issues to enhance tourists' environmental attitude and general and site-specific environmentally responsible behavior, thereby potentially reducing the adverse environmental effect produced by tourists during daily life and at tourism destinations. Reducing the adverse environmental effect of tourism destinations will benefit the development of sustainable community-based tourism.