Influencing sustainable behavior in tourism & hospitality

Tourism’s future greatly depends on its capacity to meet a growing demand without increasing its environmental footprint or its pressure in communities at the destination, however current tourism development is unsustainable. On top of this, the understanding of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in the tourism industry is limited.

The question therefore arises how to influence the behaviour of actors in the tourism supply chain (providers and consumers) to show better sustainable behaviour. Together with the social background of a person, values are considered a stable antecedent of behaviour and might therefore predict not just immediate, but also future choices (Stern et al, 1995; De Groot and Steg, 2008).

There are many types of behaviours that actors in the tourism chain make consciously or subconsciously, like for example purchasing regional products when on holiday for tourists, or choosing for a stringent environmental certification system as a hotel, that positively or negatively impact sustainability.

This session is geared towards sharing research on influencing actors in the tourism supply chain by connecting to their values, as to show better sustainable behaviour.