The elusive impact of pro-environmental intention on holiday on pro-environmental behaviour at home

Abstract

There is limited research studying how pro-environmental behavioural intentions gained in a tourism context subsequently influence intentions and actual behaviour at home. This study reports on a three-stage study that surveys Chinese domestic tourists on holiday, and at home one week and one month after the holiday experience. The findings suggest that the stated pro-environmental intention on holiday does not convert into actual pro-environmental behaviour at home. Neither pro-environmental intention nor pro-environmental behaviour are seen to change over time or location. It is the availability of infrastructure (physical context) that affects a change, as evidenced by Dinghu Mountain National Nature Reserve, which provides environmental information and significantly more facilities to enable pro-environmental behaviour than Chinese nationals find in their daily home environment. Implications are offered for ways to apply the ABC theory to policies that seek to achieve long-term environmental behavioural change, such as strong government policy interventions.