Image Matters: Incentivizing Green Tourism Behavior

Abstract

Understanding the factors that motivate tourists to engage in pro-environmental behavior is an increasingly important topic in the tourism industry. In order to incentivize such green behavior, lodging properties often offer incentives to tourists who are willing to participate in property-level sustainability programs. Unfortunately, incentivizing participation in such initiatives is a difficult task, as tourists’ willingness to engage in pro-environmental behavior often depends on a number of situation-specific factors. Accordingly, the purpose of this research is to advance the understanding of the motivating factors that underlie tourist reactions to sustainability programs. Based on the tenets of motivation crowding theory, this research demonstrates that such reactions depend not only on the nature of the incentive that is offered but also on the image of the destination in which the property is located.