Using persuasive communication to co-create behavioural change – engaging with guests to save resources at tourist accommodation facilities

ABSTRACT

Unsustainable consumption of energy and water by tourist accommodation will escalate if incremental global tourism growth and business-as-usual approaches continue. Guests use more than half of the energy and water at accommodation facilities and so have a partnership role to play in saving resources. Our study is the first to measure the impact of persuasive communication on guests’ resource consumption behaviour (energy and water use) and stay satisfaction. It used an innovative intervention based on interpersonal communication, sequential influence and eco-feedback. Guests’ (n = 759) consumption of electricity, gas and water was monitored at four fully self-contained cottages using smart meters, over a period of 304 days. An ethnographic study, action research and departure survey examined if pro-environmental persuasion could encourage guests to save resources, how guests responded to the intervention and measured whether pro-environmental persuasion affected guest satisfaction. Results show that guests who received the intervention used significantly fewer resources, 80% claimed they tried to save and their overall satisfaction was not negatively affected, while reasons to save/not save were complex. A resource-saving persuasion model is proposed for further research, practitioners are recommended to install pro-environmental infrastructure, train staff to engage customers, and identify responsible channels for fiscal savings.

KEYWORDS:

• Persuasive communication
• accommodation energy and water saving
• behaviour change
• reciprocal exchange
• guest engagement

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

C. Warren

Christopher Warren (MSc; PhD Candidate) is the founder of Christopher Warren & Associates. He is a tourism practitioner, qualified trainer and assessor, and has contributed as a board member to community, local government, regional, state and national tourism bodies for over 14 years. Christopher's research interest is sustainability-oriented innovation and he has undertaken projects which integrate visitor behaviour, resource management with natural and cultural heritage. He has lived in four continents and worked in 18 countries.

S. Becken

Dr Susanne Becken is the Director of the Griffith Institute for Tourism and Professor of Sustainable Tourism at Griffith University, Australia. Susanne has led government-funded research programs and consultancy work in New Zealand, Australia, Fiji, Samoa, Tunisia and for UNWTO, UNISDR and UNESCO. Susanne is on the editorial boards of Annals of Tourism Research, Journal of Travel Research, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, Journal of Policy Research in Tourism, Leisure and Events, and the Tourism Review.

A. Coghlan

Dr Alexandra Coghlan is a Senior Lecturer in Tourism at Griffith University's Department of Tourism, Sport and Hotel Management. Her primary research interests focus on the process of adding positive social and environmental outcomes to tourism experiences, mainly in volunteer tourism, environmental education, transformative experiences and nature-based tourism more broadly.