Visitors' values and environmental learning outcomes at wildlife attractions: Implications for interpretive practice

Roy Ballantyne, Karen Hughes, Julie Lee, Jan Packer and Joanne Sneddon

Tourism Management, 2018, vol. 64, issue C, 190-201

Abstract: Wildlife tourism attractions, such as zoos and aquariums, are expected to play a major role in promoting environmental learning in society. This paper applies a refined version of Schwartz's (1992) Value Theory to develop a better understanding of zoo and aquarium visitors' personal values, and the impact of their values on their reflective engagement, learning, and self-reported changes in post-visit environmental behaviour. Findings revealed that personal values are related to post-visit environmental behaviour through the process of on-site reflective engagement. The findings highlight the importance of using a values-based approach to visitor interpretation, one that engages a broader range of visitors and enhances the impact of a wildlife tourism experience on visitors' environmental learning and post-visit behaviour.

Keywords: Wildlife tourism; Schwartz Value Theory; Zoo visitors; Aquarium visitors; Conservation learning; Environmental learning; Environmental behaviour; Environmental interpretation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:touman:v:64:y:2018:i:c:p:190-201

DOI: 10.1016/j.tourman.2017.07.015

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