Abstract
Sustainable tourism research has attracted wide interest from scholars and practitioners. While several heritage sites are mandated to provide optimum visitor satisfaction with increasing competition in the market, managers of heritage sites face growing challenges in striking a balance between consumption and conservation. This calls for promoting more sustainable behaviours among consumers of heritage. This study proposes a conceptualization of sustainable behaviour for heritage consumers. Using the attitude–behaviour relationship underpinned by the Theory of Reasoned Action, it develops and proposes a conceptual framework that integrates visitors’ heritage experiences, their attachment to heritage sites, and their general and site-specific sustainable heritage behaviour and presents their interrelationships as proposed hypotheses. Theoretical contributions and practical implications for heritage site managers are discussed.
Highlights
The topic of sustainability has been attracting an increasing attention in tourism as one of the largest industries in the world to significantly contribute to sustainable development of territories [1]
The debate surrounding visitation and protection of heritage resources has become more intense over the years calling for more sustainable strategies to be implemented, which remain crucial for heritage destinations
Studies on sustainable heritage tourism have traditionally focused on the supply side, warranting a deeper investigation on the demand side [29,63]
Summary
The topic of sustainability has been attracting an increasing attention in tourism as one of the largest industries in the world to significantly contribute to sustainable development of territories [1]. The present study develops and proposes a conceptual framework to examine how visitors’ heritage experiences influence their attachment to heritage sites and its likely influence on their sustainable behaviour It extends the theoretical interrelationships between visitors’ experience, place attachment and general and site-specific sustainable visitor behaviour using the attitude–behaviour relationship underpinned by Fishbein and Ajzen [32] Theory of Reasoned Action. It contributes to the literature by deepening the understanding of visitors’ experience and behaviour at heritage sites and their role in the adoption of sustainable practices. It provides a range of implications for managers of heritage sites
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