Environmental Sensibility and Human Values as Factors for Forming …
253
The ‘Eco-sensible’ tourist cluster showed certain sensibility towards environmental issues, which was probably induced by a social value system, popularity
of eco-responsible behaviour, promotion of sustainable tourism and extreme media
attention. Therefore, soft tourists might be easily reoriented towards becoming true
ecotourists, and in this regard, we consider it as a soft ecotourist segment. While
‘soft ecotourism’ is relatively popular and has characteristics of mass tourism that
can generate substantial revenue, ‘hard ecotourism’ tends to be an extremely limited
market segment. The study also confirmed that contemporary travellers exhibit
increasing concern regarding environmental impacts, and are more likely to choose
low-impact and more sustainable travel options. Additionally, the percentage of
travellers who do not consider ‘eco-friendly’ tourist products continues to decline
(currently at the level of about 35%), which is consistent with the findings of CREST
(2018).
The research has several limitations. The applied model was driven only by
internal ‘push factors’ (intrinsic motivations), while there is limited knowledge of
the potential role of pull factors that are influenced by the existing supply side. Also,
the European Social Survey did not include data on tourism participation, so we may
consider findings related to ‘potential tourist segments’ then true tourist segments.
Also, there is a possibility to include other aspects of perception and motivation, as
well as to apply different statistical tests in some prospecting work.
References
Balmford A, Green JMH, Anderson M, Beresford J, Huang C, Naidoo R, Walpole M, Manica A
(2015) Walk on the wild side: estimating the global magnitude of visits to protected areas. PLoS
Biol 13(2):e1002074. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1002074
Beh A, Bruyere BL (2007) Segmentation by visitor motivation in three Kenyan national reserves.
Tour Manage 28(6):1464–1471. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2007.01.010
Blamey RK, Braithwaite VA (1997) A social values segmentation of the potential ecotourism market.
J Sustain Tour 5(1):29–45. https://doi.org/10.1080/09669589708667274
Buckley R (2012) Sustainable tourism: research and reality. Annal Tour Res 39(2):528–546. https://
doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2012.02.003
Butcher J (2008) Ecotourism as life politics. J Sustain Tour 16(3):315–326
Center for Responsible Travel—CREST (2018) The case for responsible travel: trends and statistics
2018. Center for Responsible Travel, Washington. https://www.responsibletravel.org/docs/The_
Case_for_Responsible_Travel_2018_FINAL_FOR_WEB.pdf. Last Accessed 3 Dec 2020
Cohen AS, Praytag G, Moital M (2014) Consumer behavior in tourism: concepts, influences and
opportunities. Curr Issues Tour 17(10):872–909. https://doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2013.850064
Cohen E (1979) Rethinking the sociology of tourism. Annals of Tourism Research 6(1):18–35.
https://doi.org/10.1016/0160-7383(79)90092-6
Cohen E, Cohen SA (2012) Current sociological theories and issues in tourism. Annal Tour Res
39(4):2177–2202. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2012.07.009
Crick-Furman D, Prentice R (2000) Modeling tourist’s multiple values. Annal Tour Res 27(1):69–92.
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0160-7383(99)00041-9
Crompton JL (1979) Motivations for pleasure vacation. Annal Tour Res 6(4):408–424. https://doi.
org/10.1016/0160-7383(79)90004-5
253
The ‘Eco-sensible’ tourist cluster showed certain sensibility towards environmental issues, which was probably induced by a social value system, popularity
of eco-responsible behaviour, promotion of sustainable tourism and extreme media
attention. Therefore, soft tourists might be easily reoriented towards becoming true
ecotourists, and in this regard, we consider it as a soft ecotourist segment. While
‘soft ecotourism’ is relatively popular and has characteristics of mass tourism that
can generate substantial revenue, ‘hard ecotourism’ tends to be an extremely limited
market segment. The study also confirmed that contemporary travellers exhibit
increasing concern regarding environmental impacts, and are more likely to choose
low-impact and more sustainable travel options. Additionally, the percentage of
travellers who do not consider ‘eco-friendly’ tourist products continues to decline
(currently at the level of about 35%), which is consistent with the findings of CREST
(2018).
The research has several limitations. The applied model was driven only by
internal ‘push factors’ (intrinsic motivations), while there is limited knowledge of
the potential role of pull factors that are influenced by the existing supply side. Also,
the European Social Survey did not include data on tourism participation, so we may
consider findings related to ‘potential tourist segments’ then true tourist segments.
Also, there is a possibility to include other aspects of perception and motivation, as
well as to apply different statistical tests in some prospecting work.
References
Balmford A, Green JMH, Anderson M, Beresford J, Huang C, Naidoo R, Walpole M, Manica A
(2015) Walk on the wild side: estimating the global magnitude of visits to protected areas. PLoS
Biol 13(2):e1002074. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1002074
Beh A, Bruyere BL (2007) Segmentation by visitor motivation in three Kenyan national reserves.
Tour Manage 28(6):1464–1471. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2007.01.010
Blamey RK, Braithwaite VA (1997) A social values segmentation of the potential ecotourism market.
J Sustain Tour 5(1):29–45. https://doi.org/10.1080/09669589708667274
Buckley R (2012) Sustainable tourism: research and reality. Annal Tour Res 39(2):528–546. https://
doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2012.02.003
Butcher J (2008) Ecotourism as life politics. J Sustain Tour 16(3):315–326
Center for Responsible Travel—CREST (2018) The case for responsible travel: trends and statistics
2018. Center for Responsible Travel, Washington. https://www.responsibletravel.org/docs/The_
Case_for_Responsible_Travel_2018_FINAL_FOR_WEB.pdf. Last Accessed 3 Dec 2020
Cohen AS, Praytag G, Moital M (2014) Consumer behavior in tourism: concepts, influences and
opportunities. Curr Issues Tour 17(10):872–909. https://doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2013.850064
Cohen E (1979) Rethinking the sociology of tourism. Annals of Tourism Research 6(1):18–35.
https://doi.org/10.1016/0160-7383(79)90092-6
Cohen E, Cohen SA (2012) Current sociological theories and issues in tourism. Annal Tour Res
39(4):2177–2202. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2012.07.009
Crick-Furman D, Prentice R (2000) Modeling tourist’s multiple values. Annal Tour Res 27(1):69–92.
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0160-7383(99)00041-9
Crompton JL (1979) Motivations for pleasure vacation. Annal Tour Res 6(4):408–424. https://doi.
org/10.1016/0160-7383(79)90004-5