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Tourism is without a doubt a pivot for economy growth for many countries in the world. Having more tourists will accelerate the economy. But just as the two-sides of a coin, accommodating a high number of tourists could carry several issues. One of the issues that is indisputable is waste, particularly in the tourism attractions. We heard of Bali and Komodo Island experiencing waste issues – tourists made the beaches full of rubbish. As a result, the local government temporarily shut the access to several beaches (e.g., Kuta, Seminyak) to ensure sustainability of the attractions and in a broader sense the tourism industry. Nevertheless, if these intermittent ceases keep occurring, the sustainable aspect of the economy could not be attained. The local community will experience the harshest impact.

Then, the critical question is: How could tourism destinations influence their tourists to commit to recycling while travelling? A study published in Current Issues in Tourism addresses this issue by proposing a model, based on the extended theory of planned behavior to increase positive emotions to recycle in the destination and affective commitment to recycling in general[i].

Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB)

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TPB is an extension of the theory of reasoned action where it posits that individual’s intention to perform a given behavior is dependent on the motivational considerations behind a behavior along with the efforts epitomizing it[ii]. In TPB there are three elements that influence an individual’s intention and behavior - attitude, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control[iii].

Anita has many positive memories from her travels to Singapore; thus, she displays a positive attitude toward it. Attitudes reflects the tourist’s predisposition, either favorable or unfavorable, toward the destination in a consistent way. On another note, a western tourist takes off her shoes while eating in certain restaurants in Japan because that is how people do it there. This reflects subjective norms – the extent to which a tourist is being bounded by social pressure to perform or not to perform a behavior[iii]. Finally, in the case of Anita, she would pay more attention to recycling when she travels because it is easy for her to do it. Thus, perceived behavioral control refers to the individual’s perception on the factors (e.g. ease) that facilitate or impede the performance of a behavior.

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Destination’s efforts

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Although the examples above reflect the utilization of TPB for individuals, it is apparent that organizations such as tourism destination management organizations (DMOs) could also utilize it. In their research[i], a destination could put efforts through subjective norms, perceived behavioral and situational control, and personal norms. In terms of subjective norms, the DMOs should actively communicate that the destination is an environmentally proactive destination and serious in working toward sustainability. They could create a campaign to foster that. They could also create an apps that could count the tourists’ carbon footprints.

DMOs should make the tourists aware of the recycling process in the destination while providing more facilities in the tourism attractions for it – this reflects the perceived behavioral and situational control. Then, DMOs should make tourists aware that recycling is part of their responsibilities. DMOs should also actively communicate and make it easy for tourists to report issues that they encounter while traveling in the destination. Through these, DMOs are catering for the tourists’ personal norms.

References

[i] Japutra, A., & Loureiro, S. M. C. (2020). Destination’s efforts and commitment towards recycling. Current Issues in Tourism, 23(21), 2637-2648.

[ii] Ajzen, I. (1991). The theory of planned behavior. Organizational behavior and human decision processes, 50(2), 179-211.

[iii] Japutra, A., Loureiro, S. M. C., Molinillo, S., & Ekinci, Y. (2019). Travellers' mindsets and theory of planned behaviour. Tourism Management Perspectives, 30, 193-196.

Editor

Ms. Haryani Primanti