Driving pro-environmental change in tourist destinations: encouraging sustainable travel in National Parks via partnership project creation and implementation

ABSTRACT

This paper explores a key challenge in introducing more sustainable transport practices at destinations: achieving modal shift in visitor travel from cars to physically active or public transport to reduce tourism's environmental impacts. It centres on using partnership led projects bringing together the many public and private sector organisations involved, to drive destination change and development. To date, research has centred on pro-environmental change for individuals and individual organisations: little is known about the mechanisms of pro-environmental change via complex multi-partner organisations. The paper reports research into the processes involved in successful projects to provide alternatives to car travel in three UK National Parks by using partnerships to obtain funding and implement change. Based on case studies informed by in-depth interviews with key stakeholders involved in pro-environmental change implementation, narratives are analysed to explain the change process, and mapped against existing literature and theories of change. Conclusions show the role of inspired individuals, supportive senior management, strong governance, better visitor experiences and, most significantly, communication and communication of the benefits of change to stakeholders. The research suggests why and how change occurs in partnerships, contributes to better theories of change and offers guidance on understanding and implementing change processes worldwide.

推动旅游目的地的环保变革：鼓励国家公园通过创建及实施合作项目发展可持续旅游s

摘要：基于对环保变革中关键利益体的深度访谈，研究英国三个国家公园成功利用合作关系获得基金及实施变革，以提供汽车旅游替代品，解释变革过程，映射现有关于变革的理论文献，探索当中的关键挑战即实现模式转换以减少旅游对环境的影响，将合作关系作为指导，聚集相关公众及私营组织以推动目的地变革和发展。总结了不同因素的作用，说明合作关系中出现变革的原因和方式，提出更佳的变革理论，提供了通用的了解及实施变革的过程指引。

KEYWORDS:

• Sustainable visitor transport
• change management
• destination partnerships
• pro-environmental behaviours
• national parks
• protected areas

关键词:

• 可持续的游客运输
• 变革管理
• 目的地合作
• 环保行为
• 国家公园
• 保护区

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments. We are also very grateful to co-editor Bernard Lane, for his encouragement and constructive comments and suggestions. Finally, we would like to thank the guest editors for their comments and input.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Davina Stanford

Dr Davina Stanford is a senior lecturer at Leeds Beckett University, Leeds, UK. Her research interests include responsible tourist behaviour, destination management and responsible tourism transport in protected areas. Davina has worked as a tourism consultant for a range of clients, including destination management organisations, local authorities, regional, national and international agencies (e.g. VisitEngland, Natural England, UNEP and UNWTO).

Jo Guiver

Dr Jo Guiver works at the University of Central Lancashire, Preston, UK, in the Institute of Transport and Tourism as a researcher. With a background and PhD degree in transport, she now focuses on tourist and leisure travel, and how it can be made more sustainable. She has written extensively about the potential of modal shift from private car to public transport.