Tourist Perceptions of Environmentally Friendly Innovations

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Tourist Perceptions of Environmentally Friendly
Innovations

• Kathleen Andereck
• Department of Recreation Tourism Management
• Arizona State University

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Introduction

• Along with the environmental movement, tourism
  businesses began incorporating environmentally
  friendly practices.
  
• At least partly motivated by market forces.
• Articles have discussed best practices, but few
  have considered tourists perceptions of green
  practices.

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Purpose

• Purpose is to investigate tourists perceptions
  of environmentally responsible and innovative
  business practices.
  
• Analyzed attitudes of tourists toward green
  practices in tourist spaces.

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Methods

• Visitors to the Arizona Welcome Center, and the
  Holbrook and Springerville Arizona Chamber of
  Commerce offices were surveyed on randomly
  selected days for a year.
• Trained travel counselors enlisted vacationers
  visiting Arizona for four weeks or less.

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• Respondents completed a short on-site
  questionnaire and took a longer diary
  questionnaire with them to mail back later.
  
• Reminders were sent to non-respondents.
• The response rate for diaries was 76 for an n of
  855 for the entire year.
  

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• The questionnaire asked visitors
• Importance of seeing environmentally friendly
  efforts, such as recycling bins, at tourism
  businesses and sites.
  
• Perceived value of several specific practices,
  such as landscaping with native plants and water
  use reduction programs.
  
• Questions about traveler characteristics, travel
  behavior, demographics.

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Findings

• Seeing environmentally friendly practices at
  tourism sites and businesses is important to
  people. More than half reported it is quite to
  extremely important (mean3.7 on 5 point scale).

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• Specific efforts are also important
• Landscaping with native plants 4.1
• Energy efficient systems/energy conservation
  4.1
  
• Recycling programs 4.0
• Renewable energy systems 4.0
• Gray-water systems 4.0
• Environmentally compatible architecture 3.9
• Items made of recycled materials 3.8
• Recycling items (maps, trail guides) 3.7
• Water use reduction programs 3.7
• Composting toilet systems 3.5
• Items of natural/organic materials 3.4
• (scale 1 not valuable 5extremely valuable)

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• Demographics
• Women feel green practices are somewhat more
  valuable than men.
  
• Unmarried people do too.
• Younger respondents value green practices more
  highly than older respondent.

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• Activities
• Importance of seeing environmentally friendly
  efforts correlated with importance placed on
  sightseeing natural area activities cultural,
  arts and heritage activities and adventure
  activities. Not correlated with VFR, visit Grand
  Canyon, entertainment, shopping, sports, golf,
  resort stays, business.
• Same is true with value placed on green practices
  except it also is correlated with entertainment.
  
• Seems it is the outdoor recreation tourists that
  favor green practices.

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• Motives
• Highest motive correlations (higher to lower)
  found between perceptions of value of green
  practices and learning about the natural
  environment, experiencing nature, being
  physically active, viewing scenery.
• Highest motive correlations (higher to lower)
  found between importance of environ-mentally
  friendly practices and being physically active,
  experiencing nature, and learning about the
  natural environment.
• Similarly, nature tourists are those to whom
  green practices matter the most.
  

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Discussion

• There are high levels of importance and value
  placed on environmentally friendly practices at
  tourism and recreation businesses.
  
• Tourists motivated by nature experiences had more
  positive views of environmentally responsible
  practices.
  
• Are younger and less likely to be married.
• Others have suggested a generation gap,
  politically correct, or socially desirable?
  

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• Most of the green practices are in place in
  Arizona at limited sites.
  
• Visitors perceptions have not been documented.
• Visitors place value on such practices, but
  visitors motivated by nature experiences do so to
  a greater extent.
  
• (but are not aware of many being practiced)
• Suggests visitors are supportive of such measures
  and operators should take into account when
  planning.