Tourists' explicit and implicit attitudes towards conservation messages

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of the paper is to comparatively analyse explicit and implicit attitudes of visitors from sun and beach destinations towards two types of visual conservation messages: persuasive and prohibitive.Design/methodology/approachA quantitative empirical investigation of transversal section was carried out using a structured questionnaire. The geographic area of study is located in the Mexican Riviera Maya. The data was collected between the months of September 2016 to January 2017 from a total of 129 actual visitors of 12 different nationalities. Student t tests analyses were conducted to measure difference between explicit and implicit attitudes towards both types of messages.FindingsPersuasive visual messages of conservation shown to be effective at both, explicit and implicit, levels, while prohibitive ones were less effective than persuasive ones ay implicit level, corroborating that the persuasive messages are more effective than prohibitive ones, and that the implicit measurements tend to offer information that is not always revealed by explicit means.Practical implicationsResults can be exploited by those who are tasked with maintaining a delicate balance between tourism and the environment to achieve greater impact in developing the attitudes they need to show to their tourists, through the design and creation of persuasive conservation, even barrier, visual messages that are able to draw well to the visitors' subconscious and unconscious.Originality/valuePersuasive visual messages of conservation are produced to be effective at both explicit and implicit levels. However, inhibiting messages prove to be less effective with regard to persuasive messages at the implicit level, which reinforces that persuasive messages are more effective. Effective than the prohibitive ones and that the Implicit measurements offer information that is not always disclosed by explicit means. Persuasive messages aim at persuading and the recipient is not interested on the message. There is a possibility that the recipient will react negatively. Therefore, messages should be prepared using an indirect approach.