![Sample our Built Environment journals, sign in here to start your access, Latest two full volumes FREE to you for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5926/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Built-Environment.jpg"})
Abstract
Despite an influx of ecotourism research since the term was first coined, it is still not entirely clear why tourists choose ecotourism over other tourism experiences. While most of the previous literature assumes that ecotourism is preferred by travelers for moral reasons, emerging evidence suggests that opportunities to project one’s social status are increasingly salient factors in decision-making about travel. This article compares the relative influence of two possible predictors of ecotourism intention: environmental values (measured through the value-belief-norm theory) and symbolic conspicuous consumption (measured through expected social return). Respondents were drawn from a panel of U.S. tourists who had taken an overnight trip within the last year (n = 786). Results of a structural equation model suggest that both personal norms (β = 0.22, p < 0.001) and social return (β = 0.60, p < 0.001) explain a considerable amount of variance in ecotourism intention (R2 = 0.44), with social return having the stronger influence. These results suggest that environmental values are not the sole reason for travelers’ choice of ecotourism alternatives, and that ego-enforcing motives play an important role. The positive and negative implications of demand for ecotourism extending beyond those with strong environmental values are discussed.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Justin M. Beall
Justin Beall is a PhD student within North Carolina State University’s Parks, Recreation, and Tourism Management program. His research is focused on examining various socio-psychological predictors of environmentally relevant behavior to provide information for promoting behavior change, improving understanding of the human dimensions of natural resources, and marketing sustainable tourism products.
B. Bynum Boley
Dr. Bynum Boley, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor within the University of Georgia's Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management program. Dr. Boley’s research focuses on sustainable tourism development and how the unique natural and cultural resources of communities can be protected, packaged and marketed to jointly increase sustainability, resident quality of life and a community’s competitiveness as a tourism destination.
Adam C. Landon
Adam Landon, Ph.D., is a research social scientist with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources in the Division of Fish and Wildlife, and Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Biology at the University of Minnesota. His research interests are in environmental and conservation psychology.
Kyle M. Woosnam
Kyle Maurice Woosnam, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management in the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources at the University of Georgia, USA and Senior Research Fellow in the School of Tourism and Hospitality Management at the University of Johannesburg. Kyle’s research interests concern social-cultural and economic impacts of tourism, resident-tourist interactions within tourist destinations, and sustainable tourism development and planning. Over the course of the last 15 years, he has undertaken numerous research projects focusing on community-level tourism impacts, in more than 25 countries.