Abstract
Ecotourism has been increasingly promoted as an environmentally appropriate form of tourism across the globe. The impact of ecotourism on the destination environment, however, depends on on-site tourist behaviour. It is crucial for ecotourism planners and managers to understand the factors affecting on-site behaviours of ecotourists so that environmentally responsible behaviour can be encouraged. This paper explores the factors influencing tourist environmental behaviour (TEB) using the reasoned action approach. Data were collected through a survey of 230 tourists visiting the Annapurna Conservation Area in Nepal. Results indicated that the variation in TEB is explained by three psychological variables (i.e. environmental attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioural control) as well as one sociodemographic characteristic (i.e. age), and two trip attributes (i.e. trip duration and group size). Theoretical and managerial implications of research findings with respect to ecotourism development are discussed.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 1-16 |
Number of pages | 16 |
Journal | Tourism Planning and Development |
DOIs | |
State | Accepted/In press - Aug 20 2016 |
Keywords
- attitude
- Ecotourism
- environmental education
- environmentally responsible behaviour
- interpretation
- sustainable tourism
- trip attributes
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Development
- Business and International Management
- Tourism, Leisure and Hospitality Management