Environmental Sensibility and Human Values as Factors for Forming …
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of tourists: allocentric (adventurers, individual travel types), mid-centric (individual
travel to destinations with tourist facilities) and psychocentric (packaged holidays
to popular destinations). These were based on personal conformity to societal or
personal desires of tourists. Plog (2002) further divided tourists into simple categories using personality traits to identify tourist types, making a distinction between
allocentric (venturers
1 ) and psychocentric tourists (dependables
2 ). Venturers tend to
fully engage with nature and locals, and active participation is a central part of their
holiday experience. Dependables (hedonic) are less adventurous, engaging in little
activity while on holiday, and prefer packaged holidays (Plog 2002; Heitmann 2011).
Different authors also researched motivational aspects of certain niche markets such
as sport, adventure, and ecotourism (Sung 2004; Buckley 2012; Kim and Ritchie
2012; Pomfret and Bramwell 2016).
The importance of defining ecotourist segments is in line with examining
potential environmental and social impacts. Also, it has a direct contribution
to reaching sustainability goals at environmentally fragile tourist destinations.
Different ecotourism studies considered consumer preferences and general motivations (Dolnicar and Leisch 2008; Hultman et al. 2015) as well as psychological,
behavioural and demographic characteristics of ecotourists (Kerstetter et al. 2004).
Ladkin (2000) finds that occasional ecotourists (soft type) tend to be motivated
mainly by the external/personal-oriented values, whereas frequent ecotourists (hard
eco) were driven by the internal value domain, both having a mixture of anthropocentric, eco-centric and education-centric stances. Orams (2001) and Weaver and
Lawton (2005) also made differences between “hard” and “soft” dimensions of
ecotourism, referring to the level of dedication of the ecotourist to the experience
of nature-based attraction. Thus, ‘hard’ ecotourists were prepared for discomfort to
truly experience nature, while the ‘soft’ ecotourists’ interest in natural attractions
was more superficial and highly mediated, expecting a high level of comfort. Beh
and Bruyere (2007) examined motivational aspects of different nature-based tourist
segments, outlining the existence of eight motivational factors: escape and relaxation, cultural experience, personal values and self-actualisation, learning, adventure seeking, animal pursuing, nature experiencing. These factors were used for
defining three ecotourist groups: escapists, learners, and spiritualists, with different
socio-demographic characteristics.
1 Confident, adventurous, curious, seeking challenges and new experiences, prepared to take the
risk, making quick decisions, traveling more frequently and on longer trips, using all modes of
transports, preferring unconventional accommodation and local food.
2 Home and safety loving, preferring familiar surroundings, often traveling domestically, for shorter
periods, being more conservative and avoiding risks, relying on known brands and destinations,
being less confident, rather-passive and non-demanding, prefer packaged holidays, guided tours
and all-inclusive resorts, repeatedly visiting same destinations.
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of tourists: allocentric (adventurers, individual travel types), mid-centric (individual
travel to destinations with tourist facilities) and psychocentric (packaged holidays
to popular destinations). These were based on personal conformity to societal or
personal desires of tourists. Plog (2002) further divided tourists into simple categories using personality traits to identify tourist types, making a distinction between
allocentric (venturers
1 ) and psychocentric tourists (dependables
2 ). Venturers tend to
fully engage with nature and locals, and active participation is a central part of their
holiday experience. Dependables (hedonic) are less adventurous, engaging in little
activity while on holiday, and prefer packaged holidays (Plog 2002; Heitmann 2011).
Different authors also researched motivational aspects of certain niche markets such
as sport, adventure, and ecotourism (Sung 2004; Buckley 2012; Kim and Ritchie
2012; Pomfret and Bramwell 2016).
The importance of defining ecotourist segments is in line with examining
potential environmental and social impacts. Also, it has a direct contribution
to reaching sustainability goals at environmentally fragile tourist destinations.
Different ecotourism studies considered consumer preferences and general motivations (Dolnicar and Leisch 2008; Hultman et al. 2015) as well as psychological,
behavioural and demographic characteristics of ecotourists (Kerstetter et al. 2004).
Ladkin (2000) finds that occasional ecotourists (soft type) tend to be motivated
mainly by the external/personal-oriented values, whereas frequent ecotourists (hard
eco) were driven by the internal value domain, both having a mixture of anthropocentric, eco-centric and education-centric stances. Orams (2001) and Weaver and
Lawton (2005) also made differences between “hard” and “soft” dimensions of
ecotourism, referring to the level of dedication of the ecotourist to the experience
of nature-based attraction. Thus, ‘hard’ ecotourists were prepared for discomfort to
truly experience nature, while the ‘soft’ ecotourists’ interest in natural attractions
was more superficial and highly mediated, expecting a high level of comfort. Beh
and Bruyere (2007) examined motivational aspects of different nature-based tourist
segments, outlining the existence of eight motivational factors: escape and relaxation, cultural experience, personal values and self-actualisation, learning, adventure seeking, animal pursuing, nature experiencing. These factors were used for
defining three ecotourist groups: escapists, learners, and spiritualists, with different
socio-demographic characteristics.
1 Confident, adventurous, curious, seeking challenges and new experiences, prepared to take the
risk, making quick decisions, traveling more frequently and on longer trips, using all modes of
transports, preferring unconventional accommodation and local food.
2 Home and safety loving, preferring familiar surroundings, often traveling domestically, for shorter
periods, being more conservative and avoiding risks, relying on known brands and destinations,
being less confident, rather-passive and non-demanding, prefer packaged holidays, guided tours
and all-inclusive resorts, repeatedly visiting same destinations.