Willingness to Pay for Sustainable Destinations: A Structural Approach

Arthur Filipe de Araújo, Maria Isabel Andrés Marques, Maria Teresa Ribeiro Candeias and Armando Luís Vieira
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Arthur Filipe de Araújo: Transdisciplinary Research Center of Innovation & Entrepreneurship Ecosystems (TRIEE), Faculty of Economic, Social and Business Sciences (FCESE), Lusofona University, 4000-098 Porto, Portugal
Maria Isabel Andrés Marques: Transdisciplinary Research Center of Innovation & Entrepreneurship Ecosystems (TRIEE), Faculty of Economic, Social and Business Sciences (FCESE), Lusofona University, 4000-098 Porto, Portugal
Maria Teresa Ribeiro Candeias: Transdisciplinary Research Center of Innovation & Entrepreneurship Ecosystems (TRIEE), Faculty of Economic, Social and Business Sciences (FCESE), Lusofona University, 4000-098 Porto, Portugal
Armando Luís Vieira: Research Unit on Governance, Competitiveness and Public Policies (GOVCOPP), Department of Economics, Management, Industrial Engineering and Tourism (DEGEIT), University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 5, 1-18

Abstract: Even though tourists increasingly value sustainable practices in tourism businesses and destinations, price is still one of the main determinant factors in their decisions. Therefore, for destination managers it is essential to understand tourists’ willingness to pay an additional price to visit a place where sustainable practices are adopted. In this context, and building on social psychology theories, the present study proposes and tests a causal model encompassing tourists’ Willingness To Pay (WTP) for sustainability in tourist destinations as well as their own sustainability attitudes, namely: Environmental Beliefs, Ecotour Attitudes, and Sustainable Consumption Behaviour. To this end, data were collected through a questionnaire survey of Portuguese tourists ( n = 567). The hypothesised relationships between the latent variables were then tested using Structural Equations Modelling (SEM) procedures. The results show that Environmental Beliefs significantly affected both Ecotour Attitudes and Sustainable Consumption Behaviour, and that the latter two significantly affected WTP. However, no significant effect of Environmental Beliefs on WTP was found. These findings provide useful insights for destination managers aiming to more effectively cater to sustainability-oriented tourists. Future research should attempt to assess the role of other determinants of WTP.

Keywords: tourism; sustainability; willingness to pay; environmental beliefs; ecotour attitudes; sustainable consumption behaviour; structural equations modelling; triple bottom line; Portuguese tourists (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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