An explanatory model of the ecotourists behaviour: management strategies for tourism sector

Concern for the environment, which is of interest to academia, the business world and society in general, has meant the development of green marketing in the last half century. Environment can influence consumer behaviour and specifically the way tourists consume. The promotion of ecotourism, through information and communication, must be based on the identification of the different behaviour models to which marketing strategies are directed, according to needs, motivations, interests, expectations, behaviours and attitudes. The main research goal of this study is to determine the internal and external factors that influence the consumer behaviours identified as ecotourists, as well as the factors that shape their purchasing intentions. The theory of planned behaviour has shown its usefulness because its object (i.e., intention to perform a behaviour, taking into account that in the intentions are the factors that motivate the behaviour), through attitudes and beliefs, is the prediction and understanding of the way individuals behave. A model that facilitates the understanding of the ecological behaviour of ecotourists has been developed, starting from the value-belief-norm model towards the environment, to which a construct related to the theory of planned behaviour has been incorporated, in order to better understand the behaviour of ecotourists. The method used to analyse the causal model has been the structural equation modelling, and the sample used amounts to 403 ecotourists within a country characterized by the importance of tourism sector in its economic growing: Spain. The main result obtained indicates that the proposed model is useful to know the ecological behaviour of ecotourists. Specifically, it has been facilitated the knowledge of the factors that affect the intention to do ecotourism and to pay more to consume this type of activities. It could be useful for professionals of tourism sector to analyse and improve their ecological marketing strategies