Apertourism – Thematic summary meetings on tourism

Author: Martina Catte

Field studies show that during vacations, we consume far more resources than residents do. Can we really envision a more sustainable tourism considering this fact? Is there already a typical profile of a traveler who is more attentive to the impact of their visit on the visited area? Let’s find out together.

As travelers, we are increasingly aware of the importance of adopting behavior that respects the environment of the areas hosting us during our vacations. Can we truly talk about sustainable tourism, or primarily develop a profile of sustainable tourists?

This sensitivity can only arise from a sustainable identity. We cannot pay increased attention to travel behavior until such awareness develops in everyday life. This is already happening with those who care about the environment through small gestures. For example, recycling, reducing food waste, single-use plastics, and using electricity responsibly. Or they choose to use alternative modes of transportation.

Can we then infer that those of us who adopt this behavior in our daily routines automatically behave the same way on vacation? Given how much the pandemic has changed us in recent months, disrupting our habits, we can truly imagine that there is greater scope for successfully promoting the adoption of more sustainable behavior and habits, even in daily life.

Let’s respond to the latest research on environmental sustainability in travel and individual responsibility!

Numerous studies show that despite increasing awareness among tourists about environmental sustainability, there is a significant difference in their behavior while traveling compared to their domestic routine. People tend to disregard environmental aspects during their travels, consuming far more resources than at home.

Consumption on vacation and sustainable tourism

According to Gössling et al. (2015), in the period 2010–2050, there will be a 92% increase in water consumption solely in the tourism sector.

For example, a study by the European Environment Agency tells us that travelers consume on average 3 or 4 times more water daily than residents. Meanwhile, from Gössling et al.’s study (2015), it appears that in the period 2010–2050, there will be a 92% increase in water consumption, a 164% increase in energy consumption, and a 108% increase in food consumption in the tourism sector.

Why is this happening?

It’s natural to wonder why there is such a difference in behavior between “everyday life” and “holiday mode.” The fact is, during holidays and vacations, we tend to adopt selfish behavior; we don’t want responsibilities and worries, but simply want to have fun and enjoy ourselves. If being responsible interferes with the purpose of our vacation, we simply don’t do it, especially when the context doesn’t facilitate the maintenance of sustainable behavior that we adopt daily.

Motivations and barriers are therefore diverse and refer to internal reasons that lead us not to behave sustainably. These include personal preferences, attitudes, values, knowledge of the subject, and its impact.

Especially interesting at this historical moment is the barrier of habit, characterized by a lack of conscious intention and “tunnel vision,” making it resistant to change by definition. However, when situations arise that temporarily disrupt habits, behavioral change seems more possible. For example, in an experiment conducted by Verplanken et al. on 800 residents of an English city, it was shown that habit discontinuity facilitates the adoption of more sustainable behavior. 25 cases of sustainable behavior were identified, and it was found that recent movers outperform residents.

“When habits are disrupted, it can create a ‘window of opportunity’ for behavior change. This can happen spontaneously … However, this window can also be strategically exploited to promote behavioral change.” Verplanken, B., Roy, D. (2016) Therefore, the incentive resulting from changes in context can be particularly effective, if habits cannot be maintained.

Will Covid lead to a more responsible change in habits?

What’s the first external change that comes to mind today? The pandemic!

Covid-19 is indeed shifting paradigms that govern aspects of our lives, including tourism. It forces us to consider alternatives and change our mindset to a “mood for change.” And that’s a stroke of luck for us because we don’t have to impose new behavior that will become habits; the environment around us is changing, giving us the opportunity to change automated behavior.

Events that disrupt established habits “may prompt people to change behaviors, trigger the need for information necessary for new decisions, and thinking ‘in the mood for change.'”

In a recent study by Holmes et al. (2019) conducted on a sample of 783 Canadian tourists, three characteristics of sustainable tourist behavior were identified:

Income and education influence sustainable behavior;
Behavior adopted at home influences behavior adopted on vacation;
Willingness to pay is greater for sustainable tourists;

Just like in the characteristics mentioned above, we observe three primary profiles of those considering environmental sustainability in travel: typical tourists, economical tourists, and sustainable tourists.

So who is a sustainable tourist?

Sustainable tourists are particularly attentive to the area they visit, seek and compare reports on the sustainability of companies directly related to ensuring their vacation, and discuss the topic with friends. They have a high average income, higher education levels than the average traveler, and are most often between 25 and 45 years old.

One of the three identified characteristics is that the more sustainable habits adopted at home, the more likely this behavior is maintained on vacation. Considering also that daily habits favor the adoption of sustainable behavior on vacation – and therefore the more responsibly we act every day, the more likely we are to do so when traveling. What change will Covid-19 force? Will it act as a driving force to reduce the gap we’ve talked about? Will it be a “window of opportunity” that will truly push us to maintain our daily habits even on vacation?

This will also depend on the public and private sectors, which will have a role in stimulating sustainable behavior by creating an environment conducive to maintaining habits while protecting the area.

Conclusions

Changing our habits, especially while traveling, may be difficult, but we can no longer ignore the impact of our behavior on the environment.

Radical change is not expected at the threshold of fanaticism or striving for perfection – not least because there is no definition of “perfect sustainability”: the concept of sustainable development itself is associated with the notion of “continuous improvement,” and just as there is no goal or perfectly sustainable business, neither can we as individuals and travelers be perfect (just think that merely by breathing we produce CO2…) – but what we can do is adopt behavior that has the least negative impact on the environment, in line with our needs, preferences, and goals.

Truth be told, it’s about small changes that lead to building a new mental approach that may be more inclined to change and open to accepting more challenging decisions later, both at home and on vacation.

When we look closely, our two selves self-stimulate and support each other: if we have a sustainable identity, it facilitates being a sustainable traveler and vice versa. In that sense, we cannot be sustainable travelers if we don’t have a sense of responsibility in our daily lives.

“If lots of little people in lots of little places do lots of little things, they can change the face of the whole Earth.” (African proverb)