PACKAGE HOLIDAYS AND SUSTAINABILITY: THE TOURISTS’ PERSPECTIVE

This paper is aimed at understanding if package tourists are interested in sustainable travel experiences, and at identifying areas of priority towards more sustainable hotels’ operations and management. A survey questionnaire has been designed including items related to the sustainability of the vacation, and submitted to package tourists in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, receiving 307 responses. A descriptive statistical analysis and an importance-performance analysis has been performed. Findings show that package tourists demonstrate a high interest in sustainability, even more than in classic features of the holiday. Results also highlight that more efforts should be made to move towards more sustainable business practices in all areas of business, concentrating on the environmental preservation, promotion of local culture an interactions with locals, avoiding tourists “enclavization” within the hotel area