Details
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1541-1554 |
| Number of pages | 14 |
| Journal | Journal of sustainable tourism |
| Volume | 24 |
| Issue number | 11 |
| Early online date | 24 Feb 2016 |
| Publication status | Published - 2016 |
Abstract
Air travellers have had the option to purchase voluntary carbon offsets (VCOs) available to them for almost a decade, yet adoption rates remain low. Drawing upon diffusion of innovations theory, and based on a sample of 449 German long-haul tourists, we analyse knowledge of VCOs, and using logit regressions, the probability of their purchasing VCOs. We investigate the profile of people who have actually purchased VCOs, unlike many earlier researchers who used stated preferences data to estimate willingness to pay. Our findings reveal that the drivers of adoption are primarily linked to lifestyle factors, including being young, adventurous, and having a vegetarian/low climate impact diet. A proportion of tourists are aware of VCOs but have not practiced offsetting to date, although they are positive towards the idea, are used to make donations, and are committed to environmental issues. Persuading travellers belonging to this group to actively engage in using VCOs is an important task for future VCO market development. It will be necessary to compare best-practice/less best practice airline policies, explore how to make VCO schemes more visible, and more closely examine the adopters market segment to improve communication strategies and encourage increased uptake of VCOs.
Keywords
- adoption, Climate change, diffusion, innovation process, tourist behaviour, voluntary carbon offsetting
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Social Sciences(all)
- Geography, Planning and Development
- Business, Management and Accounting(all)
- Tourism, Leisure and Hospitality Management
Sustainable Development Goals
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In: Journal of sustainable tourism, Vol. 24, No. 11, 2016, p. 1541-1554.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Increasing adoption of voluntary carbon offsets among tourists
AU - Segerstedt, Anna
AU - Grote, Ulrike
PY - 2016
Y1 - 2016
N2 - Air travellers have had the option to purchase voluntary carbon offsets (VCOs) available to them for almost a decade, yet adoption rates remain low. Drawing upon diffusion of innovations theory, and based on a sample of 449 German long-haul tourists, we analyse knowledge of VCOs, and using logit regressions, the probability of their purchasing VCOs. We investigate the profile of people who have actually purchased VCOs, unlike many earlier researchers who used stated preferences data to estimate willingness to pay. Our findings reveal that the drivers of adoption are primarily linked to lifestyle factors, including being young, adventurous, and having a vegetarian/low climate impact diet. A proportion of tourists are aware of VCOs but have not practiced offsetting to date, although they are positive towards the idea, are used to make donations, and are committed to environmental issues. Persuading travellers belonging to this group to actively engage in using VCOs is an important task for future VCO market development. It will be necessary to compare best-practice/less best practice airline policies, explore how to make VCO schemes more visible, and more closely examine the adopters market segment to improve communication strategies and encourage increased uptake of VCOs.
AB - Air travellers have had the option to purchase voluntary carbon offsets (VCOs) available to them for almost a decade, yet adoption rates remain low. Drawing upon diffusion of innovations theory, and based on a sample of 449 German long-haul tourists, we analyse knowledge of VCOs, and using logit regressions, the probability of their purchasing VCOs. We investigate the profile of people who have actually purchased VCOs, unlike many earlier researchers who used stated preferences data to estimate willingness to pay. Our findings reveal that the drivers of adoption are primarily linked to lifestyle factors, including being young, adventurous, and having a vegetarian/low climate impact diet. A proportion of tourists are aware of VCOs but have not practiced offsetting to date, although they are positive towards the idea, are used to make donations, and are committed to environmental issues. Persuading travellers belonging to this group to actively engage in using VCOs is an important task for future VCO market development. It will be necessary to compare best-practice/less best practice airline policies, explore how to make VCO schemes more visible, and more closely examine the adopters market segment to improve communication strategies and encourage increased uptake of VCOs.
KW - adoption
KW - Climate change
KW - diffusion
KW - innovation process
KW - tourist behaviour
KW - voluntary carbon offsetting
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84959049953&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/09669582.2015.1125357
DO - 10.1080/09669582.2015.1125357
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84959049953
VL - 24
SP - 1541
EP - 1554
JO - Journal of sustainable tourism
JF - Journal of sustainable tourism
SN - 0966-9582
IS - 11
ER -