How does interpretive tour guiding promote tourists’ pro-environmental behaviour? Evidence from Tanzania

ABSTRACT

Tour guides play a central role in the implementation of sustainable tourism practices through maximizing tourists’ appreciation and enjoyment of the destination and minimizing their negative impacts. Utilizing Stimulus–Organism–Response framework, this study aims to examine how tour guide performance directly and indirectly predicts tourists’ pro-environmental behaviour. Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Structural Equation Modelling were used to test a pro-environmental behaviour model using a sample of 396 tourists who visited Serengeti, Lake Manyara, Tarangire national parks and Ngorongoro conservation area in northern Tanzania. The results indicated that tour guides positively and significantly influenced tourists’ experience, satisfaction and pro-environmental behaviours. Further, tourists’ experience is found to positively mediate the relation between tour guide and pro-environmental behaviour. The study presents managerial implications, limitations and future research directions in light of the results.

KEYWORDS:

• Interpretive tour guide
• experience
• satisfaction
• pro-environmental behaviour
• Tanzania
• nature-based tourism

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Malek M. Jamaliah

Malek M. Jamaliah, Ph.D, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Tourism Management at the University of Jordan at Aqaba, Jordan. He received his PhD in parks, recreation and tourism management from Clemson University, USA. His research interests focus on ecotourism, sustainable tourism, climate change adaptation, and protected area management.

John T. Mgonja

John T. Mgonja, Ph.D., is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Tourism and Recreation at Sokoine University of Agriculture in Morogoro, Tanzania. Dr. Mgonja obtained his PhD in Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management from Clemson University in South Carolina, in the United States of America. Dr. Mgonja's research focuses on Food Tourism Linkages, Ecotourism, Sustainable Tourism, Community Based Tourism and Nature Based Tourism.

Mohammad M. Alazaizeh

Mohammad M. Alazaizeh, Ph.D., is currently an Associate Professor at the College of Communication and Media Sciences at Zayed University, UAE. He also works at the Department of Tourism Management, The University of Jordan at Aqaba, Jordan. His research interests focus on heritage tourism, heritage experience, visitor management frameworks, carrying capacity, tourist behavior, sustainable heritage sites planning and management, heritage values, and community and tourism impacts.

Robert B. Powell

Robert B. Powell, Ph.D., is the George B. Hartzog, Jr. Endowed Professor in Philosophy, Parks, and Environmental Ethics in the Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism Management at Clemson University. He is also the Director of the Institute for Parks, which is an interdisciplinary institute focused on providing research, training, and outreach to support park and protected area management. With graduate degrees from Yale University, his research and outreach program has taken him to over 40 countries and 6 continents and focuses on environmental education/interpretation, ecotourism, protected areas, and the human dimensions of biodiversity conservation.