Ecotourism Attitudes Research Articles

Applying the Theory of Planned Behavior to Understand Ecotourism Behavior: The Role of Human–Land Coordination and Self-Mastery

Ecotourism, which promotes environmental conservation and brings social and economic benefits through conscious and harmonious interactions between humans and nature, has become a principal tool for achieving these objectives. Sustainable tourism can only be supported with tourists realizing the elements of attraction toward ecotourism. This study analyzes the roots of ecotourism behavior using the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), specifically determining the roles of ecotourism tendency, attitude, human–land coordination stress, and sense of self-control in influencing tourists’ intention and behavior toward ecotourism. This study used a cross-sectional design, requiring 847 participants to complete a standardized questionnaire assessing their behavior toward ecotourism, attitudes, and perceptions. Reliability testing, descriptive statistics, regression analysis, and factor analysis were used to analyze the datasets to discover major factors relating to ecotourism intention behavior. A consequent outcome is that ecotourism attitude and self-determination are the significant drivers of ecotourism desire, while behavioral norms only impact ecotourism attitude and selflessness. The study concluded that the subjective perception of tourists and their behavior control ability are the ones that affect their ecotourism behavior more than other factors. The findings suggest that enhancing tourists’ ecotourism attitude, sense of self-control, and awareness of human–place coordination can significantly promote ecotourism behaviors. These results highlight the importance of comprehensive regional ecotourism analysis, robust environmental education, and promoting normative behaviors to foster sustainable tourism practices. To validate these findings, further research should focus on longitudinal studies and clinical trials to standardize integrated ecotourism strategies and explore the underlying mechanisms influencing ecotourism behavior.

The influence of tourist values on environmental responsibility behavior—a multi-case study from Guilin

Cultivating tourists’ environmental responsibility behavior is an effective way to relieve the pressure of ecological environment in tourist destinations. Based on the value-attitude-behavior theory, this paper constructs a relationship model of values, ecotourism attitude, social responsibility awareness and environmental responsibility behavior, and explores the mechanism of tourists’ values influence on environmental responsibility behavior. Taking three scenic areas (Mao’er Mountain, Yulong River and Xingping Ancient Town) in the Lijiang River Basin of Guilin, a world-famous tourist destination in China, as a case study, the structural equation model is used to test the theoretical hypotheses of tourists’ environmental responsibility behavior. The results of the three studies show that values have a significant positive impact on tourists’ environmental responsibility behavior, while ecotourism attitude cannot directly affect tourists’ environmental responsibility behavior, but values can indirectly affect tourists’ environmental responsibility behavior through the chain intermediary of ecotourism attitude and social responsibility awareness. The findings of the study can effectively guide tourists’ environmental responsibility behavior, which has far-reaching significance for the sustainable development of tourist destinations.

Eco-destination image, environment beliefs, ecotourism attitudes, and ecotourism intention: The moderating role of biospheric values

This study examines the relationship between eco-destination image, environment beliefs, ecotourism attitudes, eco-behavioral intention, and ecotourism intention while also exploring the moderating role of biospheric values within the context of the Values-Identity-Personal (VIP) theory. The research aims to understand the correlation between these variables and the motivational forces driving individuals toward ecotourism. Drawing on a sample of 683 respondents from a well-known emerging eco-destination, Mang Den, the study tests the hypotheses using structural equation modeling. The findings reveal that eco-destination image, environment beliefs, and ecotourism attitudes significantly impact ecotourism intention. The moderating effects of biospheric values are also discovered in this study. The results of this study provide a theoretical framework for future research that integrates the VIP theory into the ecotourism context. The findings can be useful for policymakers and ecotourism operators in developing strategies that promote sustainable tourism by targeting tourists' values.

The Influence of Environmental Belief on Intention to Visit Ecological Site Through Ecotourism Attitude

This study aims to determine the effect of environmental beliefs on the intention to visit ecological site through ecotourism attitude. The location of this research was conducted in Ciletuh-Palabuhanratu UGGp. In this study, the exogenous variable used were environmental beliefs with ecotourism attitude as the mediating variable and intention to visit ecotourism as the endogenous variable. The type of this research uses descriptive and verification with explanatory research methods. The sampling technique used was purposive sampling, amounting to 460 respondents. The data analysis technique in this study used Structural Equating Modeling (SEM). The results of this study indicate that the description of environmental belief, ecotourism attitude, and intention to visit ecotourism are in a fairly good category. The findings in this study suggest that environmental belief variables indirectly influence the intention to visit visit ecological through ecotourism attitude. The research recommend both of tourists and Ciletuh-Palabuhanratu UGGp to increase environmental belief and ecotourism attitudes in order to create positive tourist visiting intentions.

Effect of Climate Change Belief and the New Environmental Paradigm (NEP) on Eco-Tourism Attitudes of Tourists: Moderator Role of Green Self-Identity

This research has been conducted to determine the effect of tourists' beliefs of climate change on the NEP and ecotourism attitudes. In addition to this purpose, the moderator role of green self-identity in the effect of the NEP on ecological attitudes has also been examined. The research data were obtained from the tourists visiting the Alanya destination, which is one of the centers that attract the most tourists in Turkey. When the results of the research were examined, it could be determined that the belief in climate change is effective on all dimensions of the NEP, and similarly, all dimensions of the NEP have also affected the tourists' ecological attitude. Further, green self-identity has a moderator role in the effect of ecocentric and anthropocentric sub-dimensions on eco-tourism attitudes. As a consequence of the findings, a number of theoretical and practical implications have been developed for sector managers, destination management organizations, and academicians.

Tourists' Willingness to Pay for the Non-Use Values of Ecotourism Resources in a National Forest Park

National forest parks are important ecotourism destinations for locals and out-of-town visitors worldwide. The increase in protected areas is accompanied by challenges. The major challenge is the tension between conservation and exploitation. However, over-exploitation is causing irreversible damage to tourism resources by neglecting to accelerate conservation and satisfying the needs of only tourists. Therefore, it is a prerequisite to evaluate the value of ecotourism resources, especially non-use values. Liugong Island National Forest Park is a seaside forest park in Shandong Province, China. Tourist activities have negatively impacted the amenity and values of the park and increased management and maintenance costs. This study aimed to enhance the protection awareness of ecotourism resources by evaluating non-use values with the contingent valuation method (CVM). Ecotourism attitude factors were extracted by factor analysis, and the ecotourism market was segmented by cluster analysis. Then, an empirical assessment model was designed. Furthermore, through a double-bounded dichotomous choice model of the CVM, non-use values of ecotourism resources were estimated, and differences in non-use values among the groups with different attitudes were discussed. The results indicated that (1) Tourists with conservation backgrounds tended to pay more for general non-use values, while high-income tourists were willing to pay more for the Altruistic value; (2) The willingness to pay (WTP) of tourists was highest for the Bequest value, followed by the Existence value or Altruistic value, and finally the Option value; (3) The WTP was highest for the group valuing pluralism, followed by the group concerning resources, and lowest for the group concerning the environment. This study can provide valuable information for ecotourism planning and management that corresponds to current issues and tourist needs.

Ecotourism Intention in Jordan: The Role of Ecotourism Attitude, Ecotourism Interest, and Destination Image

Ecotourism Intention in Jordan: The Role of Ecotourism Attitude, Ecotourism Interest, and Destination Image

Using Structural Equation Modeling to Evaluate Tourists’ Revisit Intention toward Ecotourism Sites

This study aims to clarify the relationship between three behaviours toward ecotourism sites include “ecotourism attitude,” “ecotourism experience,” and “revisit intention.” The structural equation modeling was used to evaluate how the attitude of ecotourism and the visit experience impact the tourists’ revisit intention. The analysis indicated that three constructs logically are suitable for the research direction after the test of the validity of measurement models. The structural model revealed that both “ecotourism attitude” and “ecotourism experience” positively influence “revisit intention.” Especially, “experience” also plays as a mediator, which causes the indirect effect of ecotourism attitude on revisit intention. Keywords: Ecotourism attitude; Ecotourism experience; Revisit intention. eISSN: 2398-4287© 2020. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BYNC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/ebpj.v5i15.2459.

Impact of environmental belief and nature-based destination image on ecotourism attitude

PurposeThis study examines the direct and indirect impact of environmental belief, nature-based destination image and time perspective on tourist attitude towards ecotourism.Design/methodology/approachData was collected through a structured questionnaire survey conducted in Vietnam. The dataset consists of 479 valid responses by Vietnamese tourists. Correlation analysis and structural equation modeling (SEM) were used to test the causal relationships among time perspective, environmental belief, nature-based destination and ecotourism attitude. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) is conducted to verify the reliability and validity of each latent construct, and to evaluate the discriminant validity, convergent validity, composition reliability and average variance extracted (AVE) for the latent constructs.FindingsThis study finds statistically significant and positive effects of time perspective, environmental belief and nature-based destination image on ecotourism attitude. The results also indicate that environmental belief is found to have statistically significant effects both direct and indirect on ecotourism attitude; its indirect effect is transmitted through nature-based destination image. Our findings demonstrate empirically that tourists are mainly attracted by natural environment sites and that tourists having environmental beliefs are likely to engage in ecotourism than other types of tourism by first influencing their attitude.Research limitations/implicationsOne limitation is associated with our measurement method, which relies on respondents’ self-ratings of their activities. Second, our study is based on internal consistency assessments for establishing construct reliability and validity, which might be the problem of measurement misspecification in tourism research and hinder us to adequately capture the dynamic nature of the variables and the underlying relationships. Third, the survey is conducted in one specific ecotourism nation like Vietnam, and thus, the findings must also be explained in this case.Practical implicationsPolicymakers need to pay careful attention to the planning and conservation of local resources, as well as infrastructure, for ecotourism development. Moreover, the management of eco-site needs to maintain ecology properly, provide an authentic ecotourism experience to improve ecotourism destination. Otherwise, ecotourism operators should focus on marketing strategies to increase traditional and natural values and promote eco-friendly social standards for fostering demand.Originality/valueThis study examines an integrated model analyzing the impact of time perspective, environmental belief and nature-based destination on tourist attitude towards ecotourism. This study reveals the understanding of how individuals’ view towards belief in environment and location image, influences their attitude to engage in ecotourism. The study provides several implications for practice.

Environmental identity and ecotourism behaviours: examination of the direct and indirect effects

PurposeThe paper aims to contribute to theory and practice by investigating into the role of environmental identity in explaining ecotourism attitudes and behaviours by first, testing its direct effects on ecotourism attitude and ecotourism interest, and second, testing its direct and mediated effects on ecotourism intention and willingness to pay a premium.Design/methodology/approachThe study relies on primary data collected from tourists visiting the island of Mauritius. Data collection took place at several popular tourist sites located in different parts of the island. The questionnaire was self-administered and was immediately collected after completion. A total of 512 usable questionnaires were collected. A two-stage approach to structural equation modelling was used for data analysis.FindingsThe results demonstrate empirically that stronger environmental identity leads directly to more positive ecotourism attitude, greater interest towards ecotourism and a higher willingness to pay a premium. While evidence was not found between the direct link between environmental identity and ecotourism behavioural intentions, the confirmation of full mediating effects shows that stronger environmental identity also leads to an increase in tourists’ intention to engage in ecotourism activities by first influencing their attitude which then results in more favourable behaviours towards ecotourism.Originality/valueWhile the contributions of the tourists’ attitude and interest in predicting their behaviours towards ecotourism have been well established by past research, the importance of environmental identity has remained uncertain as to date, given the lack of empirical studies. This present research provides evidence that environmental identity has a major role to play in explaining the behaviours of tourists towards ecotourism products and services.

Ecotourism Participation Intention in Australia: Mediating Influence of Social Interactions

This study investigates the mediating role of social interactions between the ecotourism attitude and ecotourism participation intention of tourism students in Australia. It also examines the moderating influence of gender and length of career relationship on social interactions. Data analysis results from partial least squares–based structural equation modeling confirm a positive relationship among environmental knowledge, ecotourism attitude, landscape likability, and ecotourism participation intention. Findings also reveal that the mediating influence is further moderated by gender difference but not by the relationship length of the student's tourism career. These findings have important implications for tourism education providers in designing sustainability-related learning materials.

Residents' ecotourism participation behavior mechanism of prohibition zone in Hunan-Guangdong-Jiangxi border:A case study of national scenic area of Dongjiang lake

Ecotourism contributes to both environmental conservation and the economy, and has become the optimal choice of prohibited development zone. Local residents are the essential stakeholder groups, and thus their participation behavior plays a key role in ecotourism development. This paper, on the basis of previous findings, constructs an integrative SEM model of ecotourism cognition, attitude, participation intention and participation behavior. The primary data is collected from the residents in the National Scenic Area of Dongjiang Lake, and is analyzed with the aid of the software of SPSS 15.0 and AMOS 7.0. The findings are as follows:(1) The modified model explains 90.7% of the variance in ecotourism participation behavior,showing the strong predictive power of the model;(2) ecotourism cognition cognition has a direct effect on participation behavior with a path coefficient of 0.374;(3) ecotourism has an indirect effect on participation behavior mediated by ecotourism attitude and participation intention. Based on the above conclusions, the approaches to enhancing residents' ecotourism participation are put forward.

The Influence of Materialism on Ecotourism Attitudes and Behaviors

This study examined the relationships among materialism, ecotourism attitude, ecotourism interest, ecotourism intention, and willingness to pay a premium for ecotourism utilizing a model that was developed based on the literature. Data for this study were collected from 2,352 Italian travelers and proposed hypotheses were tested using a structural equation modeling approach. Findings indicated that individuals’ materialistic value has negative relationships with their ecotourism attitude, ecotourism interest, ecotourism intention, and willingness to pay a premium for ecotourism products and services. Findings also suggested that individuals’ ecotourism attitude would positively influence ecotourism intention, ecotourism interest, and willingness to pay a premium for ecotourism products and services.

Toward the Development of Ecotourism Attitudes among Residents of Wutai Township Following Typhoon Morakot

This study uses a questionnaire survey method to assess attitudes toward the development of ecotourism among residents of Wutai Township following Typhoon Morakot. The results show that residents held positive attitudes toward the promotion of ecotourism. Factors influencing the promotion of ecotourism are tourism service, community development, cultural continuity, and environmental conservation factor. Based on potential differences due to sex, age, and level of education, the results show that aside from significant variations on environmental conservation factors, the remaining factors did not show any significant variations. For the environmental conservation factors, the group of 31-40 year old was more likely to have positive attitudes than other age groups.

The Nexus between environmental knowledge and ecotourism attitude among the local youths in Co-educational Secondary Schools in Bondo Sub-County, Siaya County, Kenya

Kenya’s pursuit to be among the top tourism destinations globally require strategic focus as envisaged in Kenya’s Vision 2030 and the Constitution of Kenya 2010. Ecotourism supports environmental conservation as well as generating economic opportunities. It additionally emphasizes benefits to the local community and suggests that the involvement of the residents is important for the effective management of tourism. Bondo district is endowed with vast ecotourism resources yet the residents lavish in poverty. The objectives of the study were: To investigate the relationship between youths’ environmental knowledge and ecotourism attitude in Bondo district; to propose a structural relationships between, environmental knowledge and ecotourism attitude; and to recommend an appropriate strategy for community capacity building for promotion of ecotourism in Bondo District and its environs. This study used students enrolled in Form Three at 16 co-educational day secondary schools in Bondo district. Random sampling technique was used to derive representative sample from the target youth population. Structural equation modeling using AMOS (Analysis of Moment Structures) was used to develop structural models for the relationships. A strategy for community capacity building was proposed based on the relationship between environmental knowledge and ecotourism attitude (.70). Analysis indicated that residents’ environmental knowledge strongly influence attitudes towards ecotourism. Residents’ involvement in ecotourism may be stimulated through: appropriate management strategies aimed at increasing their environmental knowledge; encouraging positive ecotourism attitudes, and environmental planning that promotes residents’ affinity for local attractions.

A structural model of residents’ intention to participate in ecotourism: The case of a wetland community

Ecotourism supports environmental conservation as well as generating economic opportunities. It additionally strongly emphasizes benefits to the local community and suggests that the involvement of the residents is important for the effective management of tourism. Accordingly, this study explores factors contributing to residents’ participation intention in ecotourism management and proposes a structural relationship between their participation intention, environmental knowledge, attitudes towards ecotourism and the appeal of tourist landscapes. Analysis indicates residents’ environmental knowledge positively affects attitudes towards ecotourism, which in turn directly and indirectly determine the intention to participate in ecotourism through their individual landscape affinity. Thus, residents’ involvement in ecotourism may be stimulated through a) appropriate management strategies aimed at increasing their environmental knowledge, b) encouraging positive ecotourism attitudes, and c) environmental planning that promotes residents’ affinity for local attractions.

관광객의 환경의식이 생태관광태도에 미치는 영향

Regarding to the ecotourism for environmental conservation, tourists's consciousness and attitude on environment should be dealt with importantly more than the mass tourism. The purpose of this study is to identify the effects of the tourist's environmental consciousness on the ecotourism attitudes. As a result, it was analysed that the more people had interested in environmental problems, positive activities in the environment, the more people had the ecotourism attitudes. This suggested that for development of the ecotourism, it were needed to change tourist's attitude to friendly environment, to make higher consciousness about environmental conservation.