The Consumption of Tourism - Tourism and Development: Concepts and Issues - page 366

environmental concern. . .the proportion of adults who behave in a consis-
tently environmentally friendly consumerist fashion is very low . Fewer than
one per cent of consumers behave in a consistently environmentally-friendly way '
(Witherspoon, 1994: 125; emphasis added).
In the present context, this suggests that it cannot be assumed that there
are increasing numbers of 'good' tourists simply because there has been an
identified spread of general environmental awareness (or a growth in demand
for 'good', responsible holidays). In other words, concern with issues such as
global warming, nuclear waste or the ozone hole does not immediately imply
that, at the individual level, tourists will be aware of or concerned about the
destinational consequences of their consumer behaviour; it does not imply
that they will adapt their behaviour to the developmental benefit of the des-
tination's environment and community. People choose different products
according to factors such as cost, purpose, availability, ease of use, substitut-
ability and expected benefits. Tourism is no exception and it is not surprising,
therefore, that 'relatively few tourists seem to make decisions based on envi-
ronmental concerns' (Swarbrooke & Horner, 1999: 204). Indeed, research has
consistently demonstrated that tourism is relatively immune to environmen-
tal concerns (or that 'responsible' tourist behaviour is motivated by factors
other than environmental concern). For example, in a relatively recent poll,
just 1% of tourists stated that their carbon footprint was an important factor
when deciding on a holiday purchase, whereas cost is the most important
consideration for 43% of tourists (Skidmore, 2008). Even despite the growing
awareness of climate change, research has shown that this is having little or
no impact on travel behaviour (see Chapter 11). For example, another study
found that the few people who expected to fly less frequently in the future
would do so as a result of a change in personal circumstances rather than
because of concerns over the environmental impacts of aviation (CAA, 2008:
49). Thus, despite the long-held belief that tourists are demanding 'greener'
holidays, the evidence suggests that environmental concern remains low on
their list of priorities when actually purchasing holiday or travel experiences.
Moreover, as the following section argues, the nature of the consumption of
tourism is such that the satisfaction of personal needs, utilitarian or other-
wise, dominates the tourist-consumer behaviour process, limiting the extent
to which tourists will adapt their behaviour to the needs of the destination.
The Consumption of Tourism
Tourist-consumer behaviour is a complex process; it is 'discretionary, epi-
sodic, future oriented, dynamic, socially influenced and evolving' (Pearce,
1992: 114). Typically, it is seen as a process or 'vacation sequence' (van Raaij &
Francken, 1984) comprising a number of interrelated stages, from the initial
need identification/motivational stage through to the actual consumption