Sustainability paralysis in travel consumption: A Reddit study

Abstract

Sustainability remains at the centre of debates around the impacts of travel and tourism. This study uses Reddit travel forums to understand the complexities of negotiating the meaning and practice of sustainability in travel contexts. Specifically, we focus on the emergence of “ sustainability paralysis”, a form of “analysis paralysis” where travel consumers struggle to (i) articulate what sustainability means, or (ii) to find a (perfect) solution to the various sustainability crises associated with travel (e.g. overtourism and climate change), or (iii) to fashion a compromise they can rationalise and live with. The analysis reveals that sustainability paralysis can lead to tourists feeling overwhelmed, accepting defeat, “tuning out”, and in some cases, resorting to conspiracy theories about who is responsible. Our findings have important implications for how we frame and communicate the sustainability agenda, and suggest that misinformation and over-information may be crippling our effectiveness to face the wicked problem of climate change and other environmental challenges where travel consumption is implicated.