IP Forte 3 - Final Report

IPForteIII ThePerceptionofEuropean TouristswithRegardto SustainableTourism
ThePerceptionofEuropeanTouristswithRegardto SustainableTourism
Belgium P.Driesen J.Heirman S.Siongers R.Verheyen E.Wichelen, van Finland J.Koivisto V.Parviainen S.Riski V. Romppanen E.Valenius Lithuania I.Krasnickaite A.Stupuraite A.Meistaite K.Lisauskas M. Paulauskas Netherlands J.L.Capelle D.Huitink Z.Meng M.Nicolaas C. Montagnani Salles Spain S.Garcia C.Gimeno S.Bartolome F.Jautz I.Caballero
Kaunas,Lithuania Kaunas,9May2011
InternationalProjectIII2011
ExecutiveSummary
The International Project Forte III (IP Forte III) is the third phase of the IP Forte program. In IP Forte I, students made an approach relevant to all tourism stakeholders (hotels, travel agencies, Tour Operators and airlines, among others) to investigate how sustainable development was perceived and which factors contributed to the success or the failure of implementing sustainable practices in the tourism sector. During IP Forte II, research was focused on one of the main stakeholders: hotels. The hotels that took part in the research were examined to determine current trends in the field of hospitality management. To complete the IP Forte (sustainability) program, IP Forte III focuses on the tourists and their demand for responsible (sustainable) tourism. To determine the demand for sustainability, tourists from five different nations are studied from five different perspectives by five different universities, from five different countries. The perspectives that will be used in order to analyze the demand for sustainable tourist routes include an economic, social, cultural, environmental, and information and communications technology (ICT) viewpoint. Each participating team was responsible for creating the parameters for each perspectives and analysing the results in order to compare with the other countries participants of IP Forte III. The research has been conducted in Belgium, Finland, Lithuania, the Netherlands and Spain. The participating countries were responsible for the following perspectives: - Environmental: Finland - Social: Lithuania - Cultural: Belgium - ICT: Spain - Economic: Netherlands Research methods used were questionnaires and an observational study. These methods were utilized in order to answer the following for each participating country: What role does sustainability play in the selection process of tourists, with respect to their destination and their activities?
Table of Contents
1Introduction ............................................................................................................................................5
1.1 Introduction to the Project ........................................................................................... 5 1.2 Main Objectives .......................................................................................................... 6 1.3 Research Questions ................................................................................................... 6
2 ResearchMethod.................................................................................................................................7
2.1 Primary Research ....................................................................................................... 7 2.1.1 Questionnaire Methodology ................................................................................. 7

3 DataResultsandAnalysisbyPerspective .............................................................................................9
3.1 Environmental Perspective ......................................................................................... 9 3.1.1 Research Objectives Relating to the Environmental Aspect................................ 9 3.1.2 Research Questions ............................................................................................ 9 3.1.3 Research Findings ............................................................................................... 9 3.1.4 Conclusions ....................................................................................................... 10 3.1.5 Recommendations ............................................................................................. 13 3.2 Social Perspective .................................................................................................... 15 3.2.1 Research Objectives Relating to the Social Aspect ........................................... 15 3.2.2 Research Questions .......................................................................................... 15 3.2.3 Research Findings ............................................................................................. 15 3.2.4 Recommendations ............................................................................................. 18 3.3 Cultural Perspective.................................................................................................. 21 3.3.1 Research Objectives Relating to the Cultural Aspect ........................................ 21 3.3.2 Research Questions .......................................................................................... 21 3.3.3 Research Findings ............................................................................................. 21 3.3.4 Recommendations ............................................................................................. 22 3.4 Internet Communications and Technology (ICT) Perspective .................................. 24 3.4.1 Research Objectives Relating to the ICT Perspective ....................................... 24 3.4.2 Research Questions .......................................................................................... 24 3.4.3 Research Findings ............................................................................................. 24 3.4.4 Recommendations ............................................................................................. 26 3.5 Economic Perspective .............................................................................................. 28 3.5.1 Research Objectives Relating to the Economic Perspective ............................. 28 3.5.2 Research Questions .......................................................................................... 28 3.5.3 Research Findings ............................................................................................. 28 3.5.4 Recommendations ............................................................................................. 32
4 GeneralConclusionandRecommendations .......................................................................................33
4.1 General Conclusion .................................................................................................. 33 4.2 General Recommendations ...................................................................................... 34

5 Appendices ........................................................................................................................................38
5.1 Appendix 1: Research Findings ................................................................................ 38 Appendix 2: Questionnaire................................................................................................. 73
1 Introduction
1.1 IntroductiontotheProject
The International Project Forte III (IP Forte III) is the third phase of the IP Forte program. In IP Forte I, students made an approach relevant to all tourism stakeholders (hotels, travel agencies, Tour Operators and airlines, among others) to investigate how sustainable development was perceived and which factors contributed to the success or the failure of implementing sustainable practices in the tourism sector. During IP Forte II, research was focused on one of the main stakeholders: hotels. The hotels that took part in the research were examined to determine current trends in the field of hospitality management. To complete the IP Forte (sustainability) program, IP Forte III focuses on the tourists and their demand for responsible (sustainable) tourism. To determine the demand for sustainability, tourists from five different nations are studied from five different perspectives by five different universities, from five different countries. The perspectives that will be used in order to analyze the demand for sustainable tourist routes include an economic, social, cultural, environmental, and information and communications technology (ICT) viewpoint.
1.2 MainObjectives
The main objective of this project is: To determine the role that sustainability plays in the selection process of European tourists with respect to their holiday destination and holiday activities. To achieve the main objective, the following sub-objectives were created: To determine whether European tourists value sustainable (public) transportation means. To determine whether European tourists make use of the tourist destinations local services. To examine whether European tourists prefer natural sights over purposely built attractions. To identify the extent to which European tourists find direct contact with local inhabitants and their local lifestyle important. To identify the extent to which European tourists value the employees of the nations that they visit. To determine the extent to which European tourists want to get acquainted with the culture of their tourist destination. To ascertain the extent to which they feel that sustainability is an important decisionmaking factor when visiting attractions and or carrying out local activities. To establish whether European tourists use the Internet and its sources to determine the tourist routes that they choose. To determine the extent to which European tourists find online sources to be credible. To identify the average amount of money that a European tourist spends when on vacation. To establish whether European tourists would be willing to pay more for certain aspects when on vacation. To identify whether European tourists would consider changing their main vacation from a high season to a low season, for both sustainable and economic reasons. To determine whether European tourists have economical reasons for spending their main holiday in their local region.
1.3 ResearchQuestions
Based on the objective of the project, the main research question is: What role does sustainability play in the selection process of European tourists, with respect to their destination and their activities?
2 ResearchMethod
2.1 PrimaryResearch
As a start, every country had to do research on a national level. The national teams mainly used the Internet, but also books, folders, face-to-face interviews and surveys to investigate tourist routes and how sustainability is implemented in these routes. 2.1.1 QuestionnaireMethodology
In order to create a reliable and credible outcome, standardization of the research methodology had to be developed. This chapter outlines the research methodology that was utilized among the five members of the IP Forte III program. 2.1.1.1 TargetGroup The following characteristics outline the target group: Interviewees had to be of a minimum age of 17 years old. Interviewees have to be able to independently make decisions for the holiday destinations that they choose. Respondents have an income. Must be of one of the following nationalities: Belgium, Finland, Lithuania, The Netherlands, or Spain.
2.1.1.2 SamplingFrame Each nation was responsible for a sample size between 50 to 100 interviewees. This results in a minimum of 250 respondents. After arriving in Kauno Kolegija, Lithuania, five international teams were formed. Every team consisted of one student from each participating country. Then, these new teams started comparing the national results to the overall results. One of the goals was to find the differences between the countries, and to come up with useful recommendations for the governments and the Tour Operators based and compare them to the overall European results. After five workshops in which the results were compared and recommendations were created, the final report was developed. 2.1.1.3 DataCollectionMethod Based on the results, the teams worked out one overall questionnaire, divided into five themes: environmental, social, cultural, economic and the use of sustainable Internet and communications technology tools. Each national team was responsible for one of the themes. This questionnaire consisted of 29 questions, with an additional five questions for the collection of classification data. A link to a Google Documents Site was sent out by e-mail to possible respondents and placed on the various online platforms. Also face-to-face interviews were conducted to reach people with limited access to the Internet. All together, 307 questionnaires were filled in. More information is to be found in the table (2.1) below.
2.1.1.4 DataAnalysisMethod 2.1 Table: detailed questionnaire information Country Belgium Finland Lithuania Spain The Netherlands Interview source E-mail Online platforms Face-to-face E-mail E-mail Face-to-face E-mail Face-to-face E-mail Social media platforms Face-to-face Number of respondents 76 36 80 57 87 Average age of respondents 28 43 22 32 34
After gaining all the results, each national team had to analyze the results of their own countrys respondents. These results were converted into pie charts and bar graphs by using Microsoft Office Excel, to get a clearer overall view. 2.1.1.5 Limitations Time Constraint As there was little time in to carry out the questionnaires (approximately two weeks). Language Barrier As the questionnaires were in English, it is possible that there were difficulties understanding the questions in the survey. Although this was less problematic for the younger respondents, it was evident that the elder generations had more problems understanding the questions. Questionnaire Translation Bias In order to help respondents understand the various what the questions were asking, the questionnaire was also translated to the national languages. Although it helped the interviewees understand the question, the questions could have been translated in such a way that it became biased to the manner in which the national team members understood the questions. Approximately 20% of all the respondents used the translation in order to comprehend a query. Comprehensive Limitation Another limitation is the misunderstanding of a question. Some queries were unclear to the respondents, by which the respondents answered how they interpreted the question. This means that every interviewee may have understood and answered the same question differently, depending on the manner in which they comprehended the query.
3 DataResultsandAnalysisbyPerspective
3.1 EnvironmentalPerspective
3.1.1 ResearchObjectivesRelatingtotheEnvironmentalAspect
The main objective of this environmental aspect is: To determine the role that environmental sustainability plays for the European tourists in the selection process of their tourist routes. To achieve the main objective, the following sub-objectives were created: To determine whether European tourists value sustainable (public) transportation means. To determine whether European tourists make use of the tourist destinations local services. To examine whether European tourists prefer natural sights over purposely built attractions. To determine whether European tourist appreciate short travelling distances. To examine whether the possibility to enhance responsible tourism matters to European tourists ResearchQuestions
3.1.2
Based on the objective of this environmental aspect, the main research question is addressed: What role does environmental sustainability play in the selection process of European tourists, with respect to their tourist routes? To find out the answer to the main research question, the following sub-questions were created: What kind of travelling European tourists prefer when choosing a tourist route? (Transportation, distances) What kind of attractions do European tourists prefer when choosing a tourist route? (Natural sights vs. purposely built attractions) What kinds of importance does local services (local food, accommodation, activities) have to European tourists when choosing a tourist route? 3.1.3 ResearchFindings
For graph and figures, please refer to appendix 1. Question 1. The possibility to use environmentally friendly transportation options (e.g. biking, walking, sailing, rowing, skiing, using public transportation, among others) is important when choosing a tourist route. The international result shows that 60% of the respondents agreed on this issue, 23% disagreed and 17% had neutral opinion toward the statement. There arent any significant differences between age or income groups. When comparing the national results, Belgian result is that vary
the most: only 48% of the Belgians agreed with the statement. For this question the Lithuanians have the highest rate of agreement (73%). Question 2. The possibility to travel shorter distances and/or locally is important when choosing a tourist route. It can be seen from the international result that there is 64% positive responds, and 22% negative. Age doesnt seem to have any influences to the answers. Income group of 2500-3499 has the least positive responses (52%) and the most negative responses (30%) comparing to other income groups. Oppositely, income group of 3500-4499 has fewer negative answers (8%) than any other income groups. Nationally, the Netherlands (48%) and Lithuania (50%) have the least negative responds. The highest rates of positive answers are from Spain and Finland, that both countries have 72% of the respondents agreeing. Question 3. The possibility to use local services (e.g. accommodation, restaurants, and activities) and locally produced food is important when choosing a tourist route. In general this statement is considered important (84%) while only 12% not important. The only age group with noticeable differences from the responds is people who are 45 years or older. They have the least agreeing answers (76%). There are also differences between income groups. In the income group 1500-2499, people have either agreeing (76%) or disagreeing (24%) opinions, there are no neutral opinions. They seem also have much larger negative responds than other ones. Income groups 3500-4499 and 4500 plus have strongly positive opinions (92%) about this issue. The latter group doesnt even have any negative answers-all the other answers are neutral. Nationally the biggest exception was Lithuania. There are only 73% of positive answers. Finland had the highest rate of positive answers (89%), and all the other countries had quite similar results. Question 4. The possibility to enhance responsible tourism (keeping in mind natures biodiversity, minimizing ones own footprint) is important when choosing a route. International results for this issue are with 56% agreeing, 18% neutral and 26% disagreeing. All the respondents have more or less similar positive opinion among all age groups, but the differences can be seen in the age group of 30-45, where the negative part (31%) is greater than the general figure. There seems to be no radical differences between any of the income groups or national results. Question 5. The possibility to experience natural sights (e.g. scenery, geological formations, waterfalls, mountains, etc.) over purposely-built attractions (e.g. Zoo, amusement park) is important when choosing a tourist route. It can be seen that this is the question with the largest positive respondents in the environmental part, with 85% agreeing. According to the answers, the older the respondents are, the less they agree to this statement (17-29 years 90%, between 30-45 years 81% and over 45 years 74%). Generally the differences between income groups arent that noticeable. Internationally, the smallest percentage comes from Finland and the most is from Spain. 3.1.4 Conclusions
Question 1. The possibility to use environmentally friendly transportation options (e.g. biking, walking, sailing, rowing, skiing, using public transportation, among others) is important when choosing a tourist route. Conclusions drawn from question 1 are that in general European tourists are environmentally conscious and they try to do their part when it comes to sustainability. The use of environmentalfriendly transportation is taken into consideration but it is still not a significant part of the decision making process when choosing a tourist route.
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The countries infrastructure can explain some differences in the results. In the Netherlands and Belgium, tourists have access to the main cities through public transportation. But in Lithuania, cycling paths are not well developed yet and there are only a limited number of them in the region. However, in Lithuania people seem to find it more important to use environmental-friendly transportations, e.g. a trolleybus and the reason to this could be the fact that it is cheap. Lithuania, Spain and Finland agreed more, due to the fact that there is a great net of public transport, which encourages people to use it more. Question 2. The possibility to travel shorter distances and/or locally is important when choosing a tourist route. A high percentage of positive answer is generated for this question. It is due to the fact that people have less time and take shorter vacations close by but more often on an annual basis. In Lithuania, there are not as many local promotions about tourism destinations as other countries; this is one of the reasons why Lithuanian tourists prefer to spend their holidays abroad. Another reason could be the higher prices paid in local tourism comparing to destinations abroad. In Spain, people have a tradition to travel short distances on their vacations due to economical reasons. In Belgium and the Netherlands, people do have money to spend so its part of their lifestyle to discover more by travelling abroad than nationally. Also they are quite small countries with comparably short distances to many European countries. This enables them to travel longer distances in a short period of time. The reason for Finns to travel nationally is the four different seasons they have in Finland. Question 3. The possibility to use local services (e.g. accommodation, restaurants, and activities) and locally produced food is important when choosing a tourist route. First of all it is noticeable that there has been a misunderstanding among the respondents considering the perspective of the question. Some of them have thought the question from cultural rather than environmental point of view. This became apparent in some face-to-face interviews and that surely affected the final results. In this question, people generally find it important to use local products and services. The Finnish respondents strongly value to have local services and food both abroad and nationally. However, because the winter in Finland is long, producing food locally year around is unsustainable and very expensive. That is one of the reasons why Finnish people dont have much local food during wintertime. Question 4. The possibility to enhance responsible tourism (keeping in mind natures biodiversity, minimizing ones own footprint) is important when choosing a route. People nowadays are more aware of the idea of the ecological footprint; they are trying to save and maintain the natural resources. In the Netherlands, the result is similar to the global one. In Lithuania the results appear to be higher comparing to the other countries, they may be more concerned with nature. Question 5. The possibility to experience natural sights (e.g. scenery, geological formations, waterfalls, mountains, etc.) over purposely-built attractions (e.g. Zoo, amusement park) is important when choosing a tourist route. In general the respondents find it important about this issue. The results from Finland and Lithuania are below the general average figure, which could be explained with the fact that big parts of these countries are still in their natural conditions and that they value their nature. Its also assumed that because nature sights are more common in Finland and Lithuania, they might not consider those as attractions. For the Spanish respondents natural sights are important which could be explained with the fact that in Comunidad Valenciana, where the Spanish questionnaires were conducted, there are no
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astonishing natural sights, except from the coast. Lack of natural sights in their region is the reason they want to experience natural sights.
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3.1.5
Recommendations
Tour Operators In each country the Tour Operators should work together with the governments to promote sustainable tourism from the transportation point of view. It would be interesting if the Tour Operators had sustainable routes figured out and they would sell those to the people who are interested. The Tour Operators and the governments could make packages for accommodation or attractions etc. where they could also include travelling tickets to sustainable transportation options or on the other hand, sustainable transportation could be included in the entrance price of attractions or for a very small amount of money the people could by a combo ticket both to the attraction and to the transportation to reach the attraction. This could persuade tourists to use these kinds of transportation more when it would be easy to have them both in the same time. Should include restaurants, which have typical local dishes in their menus (use locally produced food) in the routes and should promote it in an international way (e.g. English menus). They should promote local food both locally (e.g. giving away a brochure) and before hand on the Internet, so that the customers would get an idea what local food is about. To gain more value for the local food, the food could be prepared in front of the customers; this way customers would see the actual making process. Could promote shops, accommodation and attractions in the tourist routes that use local products as much as possible. The governments could develop certifications or symbols in which the customers can recognize the restaurants, bars and cafs who offer (only) local food and develop a touristic booklet with this information. Then the Tour Operators could use these 'booklets' for promoting the sustainable tourist routes for their customers. Together with the governments together could make a list of all the components of a tourist route like means of travel, accommodation, food, etc. According to this list, the customers could make an informed decision about each of these components and decide for themselves how sustainable they want to be and decide for themselves witch components they value most. In case of sustainable option doesnt exist or is difficult to implement, sustainability could be enhanced in other ways. Customers could be convinced about the importance of sustainability for example when travelling by airplane, there could be an option to plant a tree which would reduce the ecological footprint of the customer. Combining both natural and built attractions within the tourist routes could attract more customers to experience the routes. This would bring the nature and sights closer to the customers as the options for different kind of attractions would be clear and immediately on hand. Also the nature itself would become more familiar to the customers and they would probably start caring more about the natural issues. Both the governments and the Tour Operators could develop a strategy for advertising local tourist routes in other countries: countries with natural resources should target their advertising to countries that are more architecture-oriented and the other way around. When promoting the tourist routes with natural sights, the governments should also think the ways how to prevent for example the erosion of the ground and sights, and to maintain the biodiversity of flora and fauna. When guiding customers with instructions it should be kept in mind that the instructions (signs, paths, other materials) also follows the principles of sustainability. Instructions like do not throw garbage in the nature should be that clear that regardless of the origin or the culture of customers, it wouldnt make a difference between their actions.
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Government The governments should carry out surveys trough the local population to find out the most used type of transportation and then come up with ideas how to make it more sustainable. For example they could improve the sustainability of public transportation in busses and trains by using bio-fuel in order to minimize the bad impacts on the environment. The governments should promote public transportation by making it cheaper, making it more attractive and easy to use. In this way more people will use the sustainable transportation options. The governments could give incentive to the tourists to use public transportation instead of private cars. For example they could give a Welcome Pass for the cities that are already in use in big capital cities. With this pass the tourists have access to public transportation and discount to different tourist attractions for a small amount of money. It is suggested to use trains more instead of airplanes when travelling to the route if possible. This could be promoted and implemented with the governments common website, where customers could easily find all the information regarding to the planned tourist routes and more sustainable transportation options between different countries. Through this way customers could plan their routes in advance to be sustainable and they would also be able to experience more also during the travelling (view from the airplane is different than from the train). While travelling in the actual route, customers should have options for sustainable transportation (cycling, paddling, rowing etc.). The governments need to support these sustainable ways of transportation, for example by improving the public infrastructure providing more bicycle paths and taking care of the roads. Also the governments should make clear signs to tell the tourists where to find it so that its easy to find the transportation. They have to promote the sustainable transportation, and maybe create at least European standardized label so tourists would know which way of transportation is sustainable in their routes. The governments could give for example a lower taxation for the companies using local food or local services so these companies could give lower prices to the customers. In this way, the costs of the local products wouldnt be higher for the customers than the imported products and they might be used more. Nationally the governments should invest in educating their people by advertising, organizing seminars and giving school lessons. When starting the sustainability education since early age, the sustainability will become a way of living, not only a habit. Because of this, there could be more governmental funding for sustainable education and promotion to enhance sustainability in ones country. The focus point could be especially in management studies, because these students will be the leaders of the world economic in the future. The governments could implement more projects (e.g. a fair about sustainability) to get local people more involved in sustainability. This way they could also promote local nature better and get their people to know how beautiful and versatile their own countries are and what they have to offer.
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3.2 SocialPerspective
3.2.1 ResearchObjectivesRelatingtotheSocialAspect Determine whether the European tourist is interested in meeting local people and experiencing their lifestyles. Establish the extent to which European tourist value staff satisfaction when composing a tourist route. Determine whether the European tourist thinks that a sense of responsibility should be rewarded. Determine what direction of social sustainability gains the most attention of the European tourist. Establish the extent to what extent the European tourist values sustainable labels, or check labels and acknowledgements when composing his tourist route. Research Questions Do European tourists find it important to immerse themselves in the culture of the nations that they visit? Do European tourists find it important that local staff is treated with a sufficient level of dignity? Do European tourists find it important to receive a reduction when choosing sustainability? What aspect of social sustainability gains the most attention of the European tourist? Do European tourists value sustainable labels, or check labels and acknowledgements when composing his tourist route? Research Findings
3.2.2
3.2.3
For graph and figures, please refer to appendix 1. Question 1: When Im on a holiday/trip/weekend I find it important to meet the local people. I truly want to immerse in the life of the local inhabitants. All countries seem to have the same opinion about this question. They all find it quite important to meet the local people and their lifestyle. Only Belgium and Lithuania stands out because of the following reasons. If we look at the Belgian results, which more or less stand out because they have a 50/50 ratio as a result. There are two divergent explanations for this result. On one hand, Belgian people are accustomed to live in a multicultural environment so that might be an explanation for this higher negative figure. We can say that due to this fact Belgian people have less the intention to immerse with the local inhabitants. But on the other hand, a lot of Belgian people like to have contact with the national residents of that country. A Belgian person can easily adapt himself and likes to do this when he is on holiday. Thats probably the reason why the amount of positive answers is still high (around 50%). The Lithuanian people arent really used to a multicultural environment, the inhabitants want to experience new cultures, which they can meet in foreign countries.
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Segmentation The age groups 16-29 and 30-45 are almost equally divided. But we noticed that people older than 45 are more interested. This can be explained by the fact that the older population already has a big amount of life experience and are more aware of the importance to immerse into the local population. The income group earning more than 4500 Euro is not that interested compared to the other income groups. The majority of the income group earning more than 4500 Euro remains neutral about the importance to immerse with local people during their holidays. Question 2: When choosing a place to stay, I consider it is important that employees are treated with respect. As no particular country really stands out in this question, we would like to discuss the one that has the lowest positive rate; that would be Lithuania. The idea behind this is that Lithuanian companies treat their personnel with less respect, so that the general conviction is that employees arent treated with a high value. This does not mean that those people dont want to be treated with respect, they are just used to the opposite way. As the most countries have strict laws, labour unions and a social security system, it is almost impossible to treat your employees disrespectful. For example in Finland, due to the Finnish law, companies are forced to treat their employees well and they have to provide them with healthcare insurance. Segmentation The age group older than 45 and the income group 1500 2499 Euro both agree on the fact that employees should be treated with respect. In contrary to the younger age group and the income Question 3: When I travel in an ecological way, and get myself completely immersed in the local culture, I should get a reward/reduction for that, given by the government. In general the countries disagree. Perhaps the countries dont agree, because people want to travel in a cheaper way instead of paying more to travel ecological. So it is the countries perceptions that differ. Belgium: For this question, a lot of Belgians think its not important to get money from the government if they travel in an ecological way. Maybe because a Belgian person is quite proud of himself and doesnt want to get help from anyone else. On top of that, in Belgium, people don't think that much about sustainability yet, in contrary to other countries. Finland: Also Finnish people think this way. They think they dont need a reward, because the travelling itself is already some sort of reward. Also, Finland has got a high-income level and the sustainable tourism is developed a lot more in comparison to others. Lithuania, Spain and The Netherlands all have rather high positive results for this question, which means that it is preferable for them to get a reward or reduction for their ecological way of travelling. For the Dutch people it is usual to accept additional profits. For Lithuanian people, sustainability is not well developed there so people need incentives to become attracted. This also counts for Spain. Segmentation The youngest age group/ those who earn less than 1500 and the group 1500-2499 find it more important to receive a reduction when travelling in an ecological way. As this group probably contains the students amongst the respondents, this result can be considered rather logical. Young people are more aware of sustainability, and as they earn less, a reduction is always welcome.
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Question 4: What do you find most important: a company that takes good care for his employees (1), or a company that supports charity (7)? For this question, there is not really a positive or negative answer, nor a good or a bad answer. This is just the opinion of what the respondents think is more important. Therefore, we can conclude that many of the Belgian, Finnish, Spanish and Dutch people find it more important for companies to take care of the employees, than to support charity. The main reason for this might be because they are afraid to give their money to charity because they aren't sure where the money will be invested in. In these countries people care more about the actual things they can experience themselves. Happy employees do their jobs more productively (therefore gain more profit for a company) and they will reflect this on to the customer. On the other hand, the customer will not know about the charity funds the hotel supports, unless he has done some research or received this information through another channel. The most remarkable differences between the countries are the following: In Spain there is the assumption that business is to make profit and not to support charity The Netherlands: Another reason is because in Holland there are several charity programs that people can contribute as individuals. Finland: The state takes good care of the people that are not wealthy and supply their needs, therefore is not that relevant for the Finnish tourist that a company supports charity. Like in general, it is for Finnish people more important that the company takes good care of its employees. Lithuania stands out in here, because they seem to find both issues very important. We can link this to a question of the ICT-part about the reliability of Internet. They trust people easily, and they think charity is a good thing without knowing where the money is going. The other countries are more careful concerning charity. Also, there are several social projects and socially engaged people working on the wellbeing of the ones in need and there are also several institutions operating for the same cause. As the government doesnt fulfil all the needs of those institutions they still depend on donations. This explains the reason why Lithuanians have a higher % of answers supporting charity than the European average. As the country is in phase of development there is a concern about the wellbeing of the employees. If the employees are having a good care they will be more productive and it will benefit them, the company and the society as a whole. Segmentation When comparing the income groups, the income group 4500+ Euros has the largest group of people who consider both options as equally important. Nevertheless taking good care of employees is still most important according to the majority of the group. Question 5: When planning a trip, do you pay attention to the special labels that a particular company/hotel has received (for instance: best employer of the year)(1) or are you more guided by the experiences of people you know?(7) In all countries, people seem to trust their friends or other people with experience more than the existing labels. They are probably not really familiar with the labels that exist and dont really know the meaning of them. This might be the explanation why they like to have other peoples opinions about vacations and holiday trips. Segmentation In general, all age groups and income groups have the same results.
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3.2.4
Recommendations
Tour Operators We assume that people who book online are less informed about sustainable activities*, maybe the website should include information about various local cultures or routes that they should visit on a sustainable way, and where the tourists can meet local population. The travel agencies should promote this kind of local habits in which tourists can be immersed. In a Travel Agency clientele will get more information, thanks to the direct contact. Because this social part is missing when people book through a website, they will get fewer acknowledgements. For that reason websites should contain more information concerning sustainable tourism. Tour Operators should inform people more about local events, local museums, local bars and restaurants, Not only the informing part is important, it might be even more important to promote those things in order to be sustainable. People should be more aware about the importance of traditions. Tour Operators can create a special program for host families, so that consumers can move in on short-term basis in order to truly immerse themselves in local lifestyle. The Tour Operators should organize unannounced audits in the various organizations and should take anonymous questionnaires among the employees throughout the whole structure. From this a label can be rewarded to the most employee-friendly organizations (comparable to the best-choice hotels). This label can be used as a marketing tool for the Tour Operators. Tour Operators can decide to go a step further than mentioned in the first recommendations. If they check the organizations and they dont cope with the standards (developed by the government), they should get rejected from their catalogue and website. Tour Operators should advise companies within the tourist routes (like hotels, B&Bs, restaurants) to be sustainable (in a cheap(er) way), in order to provide this kind of service, and so to enlarge their customer potential. The Travel Agencies should also attract customers emotionally to the sustainable issues, by giving them a reward for things like using sustainable toilet paper, helping poor people on your visit to Africa for example. This reward could be a local souvenir. To convince customers to try to travel in an ecological way, reward them with some sort of reward/reduction; the government should subsidize the difference in price between travelling with an ecological package and travelling with a regular package. This way, the price of a regular and cheaper holiday should be equal to a sustainable one. In order to do this, tour operators should carry out marketing in countries such as Belgium, Netherlands and Spainwhere awareness of green tourist routes is still minimal. Here as well, the supporting of charity should be emphasized. When promoting a sustainable route, the supported charity funds should be clearly mentioned, in order to create reliability. The travel agencies could implement symbols, which enable the customers to find out how the agencies and their co-workers are working on the social perspective of sustainability. For example: they could mark these symbols in a brochure. Tour Operators should have at least one option/service on their tourist routes assortment from the social sustainability point of view. The Government should be responsible for the acknowledgement of these symbols for employee-friendly hotels/accommodations. We assume that people who book online are less informed about sustainable activities*, maybe the website should include information about various local cultures or routes that they should visit on a sustainable way, and where the tourists can meet local population. The travel agencies should promote this kind of local habits in which tourists can be immersed. In a Travel Agency clientele will get more information, thanks to the direct contact. Because
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this social part is missing when people book through a website, they will get less acknowledgement. For that reason websites should contain more information concerning sustainable tourism. Tour Operators should help the government with this issue (not making extra labels, but providing more information on this subject), because they are the ones who have to sell the accommodations with these labels to the customers. So, as an important stakeholder in this issue, they should be informed and work with the government to make these labels crystal clear. For Tour Operators: to have questionnaires concerning sustainability filled in after a customer has done a tourist route, in order for future customers to have an idea about e.g. the service, treatment of employees etc. Not only for future customers, but also for Tour Operators it will be helpful to improve the situation of the employees working in the accommodations or activities of the tourist route.
Government The government can make a website were local people can upload the characteristics features of their local region and tourist routes in which they can meet local people. The Tour Operators should use this on their websites. On European level, countries can choose several areas that tourists might find interesting. The government should increase the accessibility towards typical cultural and local inhabitants, because these are mostly not in the direct neighbourhood of the town centre. They can do this by increasing the mobility towards them. The governments themselves should promote their local habits and try to attract tourists mainly with the cultural features. When tourists participate in such cultural activities, they will automatically have direct contact with local inhabitants. It should be underlined that a government must promote local tourism in its own country. In Belgium for example, there is a governmental organization that is really busy with this aspect. And thats very important, because this way they have already been able to attract its own inhabitants to travel inside the country. Other governments should do this as well. There should be a promotion of local festivals where the tourists can interact with the local inhabitants. The government should stimulate the use of the local accommodation such as Bed and Breakfasts, local hotels and initiatives like Couch Surfing, which make it possible to interact in a more directly way with the local inhabitants and experience their lifestyle. The government should invest in language courses so the local population can interact more easily with the tourist. The Eastern-countries should get assistance with their governmental structure (social security system, labour unions etc). Simultaneously they should receive an external audit by the EU concerning this matter. This should lead to a better image of this country in which tourist development should be increased. Governments must implement a reward and penalty system to achieve a higher level of respect between employer and employee. This system shouldnt be based on a monetary value but on a publicity reward (for example employee of the year-reward). The organizations will receive free promotion. All governments and companies should provide equal human rights to everybody, no matter their gender, age, religion, believes The governments should create several standards, which the organizations should meet. The Tour Operators must verify these norms. The government should inform companies within the tourist routes (like hotels, B&Bs, restaurants) about being sustainable in a cheap(er) way and give financial support to them, in order to provide this kind of service. Customers who are interested, but dont specifically take action to travel sustainable should be persuaded to make their sustainable travel plans tangible. E.g. in Lithuania many people show interest for sustainable travelling, but mostly they dont do it.
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Make a report that indicates where the money is given to and also for what it will be used. E.g.: to ensure that charity money is not only spending on the charitys marketing campaign, but mostly on the cause they support. Although people find the aspect of employee wellbeing more important, they still think that charity is important as well. Therefore, the government should emphasize the importance of charity to tourism companies. An option is that the government implements marketing plans, for instance, Green up your business, for a greener and more sustainable way of tourism. The government can make a website were local people can upload the features of their cities and tourist routes. The Tour Operators can use this on their website. On international level, countries can choose several cities that tourist might find interesting and they can upload this. The governments should not make more labels or other actions; instead they should provide more information. Not only to the people, but also to the companies that have the labels and also those who dont have the labels. It is important to explain these actions better and give directions to the hotels. Only this way, people can get convinced of the importance of this issue.
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3.3 3.3.1 3.3.2 3.3.3
Cultural Perspective Research Objectives Relating to the Cultural Aspect To determine the role of sustainability in the selection process of the main vacation of European tourists, with respect to their destination and their cultural activities To determine the tourist demand to make local handcrafts themselves To determine how important it is for European tourists to experience traditional local food and watch its preparation process To determine the willingness to experience the lifestyle of the local inhabitants Research Questions What role does sustainability play in the selection process of European tourists with respect to destination and activities? To what extent do European tourists value the opportunity to experience traditional local food and/ or its preparation process? Are European tourists interested in experiencing the local inhabitants lifestyle? Would European tourists value an attraction more if it would be marked as sustainable? Do European tourists want to participate in local festivals and other traditional events? ResearchFindings
For graph and figures, please refer to appendix 1. Question 1: When choosing a responsible tourist route, I like to go to the museum where I can learn to make local handcrafts myself. When we analyzed the response to this question we have noticed that in general more than 65% of the total respondents would like to be able to make local handcrafts themselves. Lithuanian and Spanish respondents proved to be the most interested in making local handcrafts. The Finnish, Belgians and Dutch respondents are less willing to engage in this kind of activity. We believe that the difference for the desire to make local handcrafts between Lithuania and Spain, and the Finnish Belgians and Dutch respondents is mostly due to the fact that Lithuanian and Spanish tourists have a lot of specific traditions in their culture that are still alive. The Dutch, Finnish, and Belgian tourists are more likely to buy local handcrafts as souvenirs. When reviewing the results of the different participating countries there was no considerate difference among the age or income groups. We found that the age group over 45 years and the income group of subjects that earn between 2500 and 3499 euro is slightly more interested in making local handcrafts. Question 2: When choosing a responsible tourist route, I would like to have meals at a restaurant where I can try traditional food and drinks and/or watch food preparation process. Around 83% of the respondents were positive about this issue. The most interested respondents were Lithuanian respondents and the least interested respondents are Belgian and Finnish respondents. When we considered groups segmented by age and income, the age group between 30 and 45 years old is slightly more interested in experiencing traditional food and drinks. The income group below 1500 euro is least interested.
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Lithuanian tourists are most interested in trying local traditional dishes because they do not have a lot of different cultures within their society and they want to try something new. Dutch, Belgian, and Finnish tourists have lower interest in these activities because their countries are multicultural and are already used to the idea of eating and trying food from foreign countries. Question 3: When choosing a responsible tourist route, I would like to use accommodation services in such a place where I can experience the local peoples lifestyle. Comparing answers from the all the participating countries, we can say that there are no clear differences between the respondents willingness to use local accommodation and experience the local lifestyle. In general we can conclude that the most part of the European population like to get to know the local traditions (approximately 65%). There are slight differences between the 5 different countries participating, but they are not important or significant. The respondents that have the most interest are Finnish (69.3%) and the lowest are the Belgian respondents (59%). Again the reason for the Belgian people is that they live between different cultures so they are used to it already. The Finnish people live in cottages and because this is very close to nature, they are more down to earth and so they adapt more easily, so they will usually not stay in fivestar hotels but in more simple and humble places where they can meet the local people and local habits. From the data it shows that the majority of the respondents gave a negative feedback to this question. There is some difference between the different countries, the Dutch for instance do like to use accommodations where they can experience the local peoples lifestyle. Question 4: When choosing a responsible tourist route, I would like to visit such cultural attractions that are certified as sustainable. An average of 66% of the interviewees responded positive to this question. This indicates that European tourists are moderately interested in a certification for certain cultural attractions. Question 5: When choosing a responsible tourist route, I would like to participate in various local festivals and traditional events. To this question 77% of the respondents replied positive. There were no differences between the national results worth mentioning. 3.3.4 Recommendations
TourOperators
When the tour operators are offering cultural tourists routes, they should inform people where they can find the Museums that already offer the possibility to make your own local handcrafts. They can add to the description of the museum what features it offers and what consumers can not only watch or experience, but also what activities there are available. Tour operators should provide some sort of travel package or cultural tourist routes where tourists can immerse themselves in local culture and the museums, which are offering to do the local handcrafts, are included in the total price. Tour operators should let customers to know the importance of the sustainability. When there is an increase in a price then customer should be informed about this and should be explained that he is paying more for the sustainability reasons and why. Tour operators should involve more local people in the welcoming process. Tour operators should promote more local hotels instead of the big hotels chains.
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Tour operators should make more use of local guides, because they have richer knowledge about their country and they can give useful advises. It is also an improvement for the locals to enrich their attitude to the foreign languages. Tour operators should emphasize why the cultural route or attraction has been marked as sustainable and what kind of benefits it generates. (Like uses 20% less water or electricity, which is good for the environment).
Government
The government should put more general and clearer explanations in several languages in the museums. The government should try to make all kinds of transport to be sustainable and every transport company should receive subsidy. The government should implement the marketing strategy. The government should increase mobility to create easier access. They should take an example from Finlands marketing strategy to implement the sustainable certifications/ labels in the other European countries. For instance, the Green Key and Blue Flag etc. arent well known. There is quite a big difference between North and the rest of Europe when it is concerning sustainable/ Eco-labels. The government should organize more local festivals to promote countrys native culture. Local inhabitants often do not realize what their native country has to offer. The government should give the labels for cultural attractions, and if there is already such kind of labels, they should be developed more. The government should support museums to stay sustainable and it can help them to offer different collections and exhibitions. The government should organize The European cultural day in all countries of the Europe once a year. The government should provide a certificate for the restaurants, which use local products and prepare local and traditional dishes. The government should stimulate the museums to offer these kinds of activities by offering subsidies to museums that do offer the possibility to make your own local handcraft. The government could stimulate local festivals that the tour agencies advertise among the tourists, where cooking shows, to show how traditionally dishes are prepared, and workshops for making local traditional handcrafts yourself are offered by locals. This will stimulate the attractiveness of a sustainable tourist route. The government should set a strict set of criteria for marking an attraction sustainable. It has to be a reward for the attraction to receive this status.
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3.4 InternetCommunicationsandTechnology(ICT)Perspective
3.4.1 ResearchObjectivesRelatingtotheICTPerspective
Determine the criteria in the decision making process while choosing between responsible tourist routes Determine the use of ICT among European tourists. Establish to what extent the European tourist uses ICT tools when planning a sustainable tourist route and the possibility of offering new ones in a more efficient way. Determine how different countries feel about the reliability of social media and opinions of various acquaintances when composing a tourist route. Establish to what extent ICT tools help the European customer and if they have improved his way of booking. Establish to what extent customers consider Internet as a way to help other travellers with their opinions or just to get information for them. ResearchQuestions
3.4.2
What is the attitude of European tourist towards other peoples opinions and the use of the ICT tools as a source of information such as Web 2.0 (Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace), search engines (Google, Yahoo, Safari, among others), map navigation systems (Google maps, Yahoo Local, among others), images from Google Images, Flickr, among others and specific Web page site reviews? Does the European tourist use the Internet for sharing his experiences and media concerning sustainable routes (forums, official web-sites, Facebook)? How reliable are the opinions of people on the Internet and do they differ between different cultures. ResearchFindings
3.4.3
For graph and figures, please refer to appendix 1. In general, before choosing a responsible route, people consult other opinions on Web pages. When talking about social networks, not everyone uses Facebook, Twitter or other social websites, especially Belgium and Finland, to obtain information about responsible tourism routes. Therefore, people do not tend to write about their experience or upload photos on Blogs or Facebook due to the little use of these websites. Nearly everyone uses search engines such as Google, Yahoo as a source of information and therefore also use map navigation systems provided by these search engines (Google maps). On the other hand, images are not commonly used on the Internet. For example, Flicker or Google images are not necessary tools, because nowadays everyone has their camera and do not have the knowledge on how to use Flicker properly. Quite a few people use specific Web page reviews to obtain information when planning their trips. This question has an average of 67% positive answers. This number is once again confirmed by a number of 40% of people distrusting all the information and opinions they find in the Internet. Finally, a large majority of the respondents, around 71%, find that Internet is not only used to inform people but also is a useful way to communicate, exchange opinions and helping in the decision making process.
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Question 1: Before I choose a responsible route, including sustainable ones, I consult other peoples opinions (on web pages such as Trip advisor) to see what they think about it. There is still a difference between the highest percentage and the lowest one (80%-50%). In Lithuania people prefer mouth-to-mouth communication in general. Question 2: I always consult my friends and family through the Web 2.0 (Facebook, Twitter, Myspace) to inform myself and obtain documents about all type of responsible tourist routes. Mostly the younger generation has Twitter and Facebook account, but the Finnish who has been interviewed had an average age of 40, so they dont have Facebook or Twitter, which leads to negative results. The Lithuanians had the highest percentage of positive responses, although Internet is very developed in Lithuania, people prefer to take advice from someone they know. Question 3: After having made a sustainable tourist route, I write about my experience and also upload photos on the Internet (forums, official web-sites, Facebook). There are no big differences between national results, as every country has a comparably low positive result in the use of social websites. This fact could be by the reason of elder people dont use social networks as much as younger people. Also they are concerned about the security of their personal data, which they dont want to share. Furthermore, social networks usually dont cover all detailed information about a hotel or destination. So that people cannot get everything they need through for example Facebook or twitter. Question 4: When Im planning my trips, I use as a source of information and recommendations search engines (Google, Yahoo, Safari, among others). All the nations use search engines as their main source of information. Google is a very advanced website which finds exactly what you are looking for. You can find extremely detailed data and even plan every single step of your whole trip. Question 5: When Im planning my trips, I use as a source of information and recommendations map navigation systems (Google maps, Yahoo Local, among others). Because of the fact that people use GPS and have it on their phones, the use of Google maps etc. becomes less important. Spain has the highest percentage using Google maps because they are really involved in technology and like to share the places they are going to visit in collaborative map navigation systems. Comparing search engines and navigation systems, images are used less. This might be because people search for information through Google, where pictures are automatically shown. For example, in Finland, people can get instructions on their phones by local companies. Thats why image websites are being used less than the other systems. Question 6: When Im planning my trips, I use as a source of information and recommendations images (Google Images, Flickr, among others). Nowadays everyone has their own camera to make photos; therefore they do not need the Internet. Programs such as Flicker are rather hard and complicated to use. For that reason, these programs are used less. Question 7: When Im planning my trips, I use as a source of information and recommendations specific Web page site reviews. Spain and Belgium have the highest use of specific site reviews. For example, the Spanish and the Belgians often use TripAdvisor and Booking.com. But in general the use of these sites is
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really low, because they are very specific websites not in Lithuanian language. Furthermore, the public are not aware of these sites. Question 8: I believe that all the information and opinions a person can reach on the Internet regarding responsible tourism and sustainable routes are highly reliable. All countries seem to be more or less careful with the information they find on the Internet. We can conclude from this that they probably look for information, but not always believe what they find. Only the Lithuanians stand out in this result, as their figures are a lot higher than the other countries. This because they have special forums about different topics (i.e. also concerning sustainable tourism) and those forums are highly reliable for them. Question 9: Internet in my opinion is not only worthy to inform people, but is also a useful way of communication, posting opinions and helping other people in making decisions regarding responsible tourism. We expected a higher use of the Internet. Apparently the general idea in peoples minds is that the Internet is only there to inform, and for leisure. The Belgians use the Internet the least, they like to inform themselves, but they do not like to share their own experiences, while the Spanish think opinions posted on internet are not reliable, they think their opinions are not going to be taken into account, so they dont post on Internet themselves. The Internet is not sustainable at itself, but it contributes to the sustainable development. Important changes are communicated, new innovative techniques, new responsible tourism trends and many other things. 3.4.4 Recommendations
Tour Operators Use of Social Medias: Facebook, Twitter among other social Medias are increasing popularity every day. The creation and updating of Social Medias enables the interactivity with consumers and among them. It is a good tool to promotion of hotels and destinations since it is possible to post pictures and the consumers can express their opinion about the products and services offered. Using Social Medias the companies will also be able to reduce costs with printing. Green Websites: www.greenpages.be and www.groupon.nl are examples of web pages that have a sustainable offer, perhaps an entire ready-made route that could be personally made. The more they book a tourist route with them (for example accommodation, gastronomy, services), the bigger the reduction will be. Promotion of online booking: When customers book through internet, they should be offered by Tour Operators some kind of incentives (extra facilities on the hotels for example some kind of discounts on services) for products like hotels or services included in tourist routes that are sustainable. This could also include the idea of green pages. The Tour Operators could plant a tree in this case in a nice forest or to substitute the incentive explained above. Online Check-in via Internet and phone promotion: It is already available for consumers the online check-in but it is not yet available for all companies. The process is interesting for both companies and consumers: Consumers: it is time saving since the consumers do not need to wait in lines. Companies: it is cost saving because it will reduce the use of paper and save working time for its employees. Increase the reliability of companies website: When giving comments to websites such as booking.com and TripAdvisor, it could be a good idea to secure the information in order to make it a bit more reliable. This integrated secure payment system should be more advertised in online media. For example, after a stay in a hotel, customers should receive an original code and reservation number related to their reservation so that they could use it to make comments only to the reservation they just
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made. Government Promotion of the Internet use: The government should advertise more the payment online and educate the population to be able to use the payment systems online. Improve the reliability and security of internet: They should create a service to control the reliability of booking sites in general, and specifically the booking sites that claim to be sustainable. Furthermore they should provide a list of sites that are approved to be reliable and secure. Also customers should be given the possibility to select criteria in order to compose a tourist route according to their own needs. Creation and/or promotion of green labels website: The government should advice companies to become member of Web pages that support labels such as the green key or similar and get their certifications. When customers book via these Web sites they should be rewarded with a reduction. Creation of websites to promote sustainable tourism routes in different languages: the government could create special platforms, such as TripAdvisor, promoting sustainable routes. There should be a single and complete Web site built by some department of the government that explains the whole idea of sustainability applied to tourist routes in order that they have criterion to choose among the entire offer available for a tourist route. Improvement of national websites making it available in several languages: It is still difficult for a large amount of the population in Baltic countries to understand the languages that are available on the national websites (English or Spanish for example). Creation of mobile guides: Provided by the government agencies, for example guides that people can download through the internet and put on their cell phones. So the people dont need to buy any paper guides because they can just download it. There is also the possibility to charge for the service. Twitter points: These are very similar to the special picture points in some attraction parks, where they invite people to make a picture of a certain place, view or monument. You can invite people to Twitter or update their Facebook status about this certain place and to tell what and how they felt when they were there by using hash tags, for example #nameofthemonument. Other people can use them as well to give their own opinions. Use of Social Medias: The reasons mentioned for the use of Social Medias for Tour Operators are also applicable for governmental agencies. It is possible to promote sustainable destinations. Information up to date on the governmental agencies website: Up to date information helps to increase the reliability of the website
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3.5 EconomicPerspective
3.5.1 3.5.2 3.5.3 ResearchObjectivesRelatingtotheEconomicPerspective To identify the average amount of money that a European tourist spends when on vacation. To establish whether European tourists would be willing to pay more for certain aspects when on vacation. To identify whether European tourists would consider changing their main vacation from a high season to a low season, for both sustainable and economic reasons. To determine whether European tourists have economical reasons for spending their main holiday in their local region. ResearchQuestions How much money does a European tourist spend when (s) he is on their main vacation? Are European tourists interested in spending more money on sustainable activities, accommodation, transportation, and or gastronomy? Would European tourists consider changing their main vacation from a high season to a low season vacation for economic reasons? Are there any sustainable or economic reasons for European tourists to spend their main vacation within their local region? ResearchFindings
For graph and figures, please refer to appendix 1. Question 1: How much do you spend (per person) when you are on your main vacation? In general, European tourists spend between 601 to 800 Euros when planning their main vacation. The table below indicates the money spending differences among the various countries that were researched. Country International Belgium Finland Lithuania The Netherlands Spain Tourist Spending in Euros (Per Person) Between 601 800 Between 601 800 Between 601 800 Between 801 1,000 Between 401 - 600 More than 1,000 Between 601 400 Between 201 400 Percent of National Population 22% 24% 25% 25% 35% 26% 28% 27%
From this table, it can be seen that most Lithuanian tourists spend less (between 401 and 600 Euros) in comparison to the other European countries tourists who, on average, spend between 601 and 800 Euros during their main vacation. The reason for Lithuanian tourists to spend less in comparison to the others tourists is because the average income of a Lithuanian employee is 750 Euros (approximately 220 Euros), which is much less than the average Western-European employee. Interestingly, Spanish tourists also had a low spending amount when on vacation: less than 200 Euros. The amount of Spanish tourists (28%) that indicated this is almost equal to the percentage
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of Spanish tourists who indicated that they spend between 601-800 Euros when they are on vacation. An almost equal percentage (27%) of the Spanish tourists indicated that they spend less than 200 Euros per person when they are on their main vacation. The high percentage of tourists who spend less than 200 Euros when they are on their vacation is indicative of the fact that Spanish individuals love to travel within their nation, as the Spanish culture possesses rich heritage and traditions. It is important to highlight, however, that 72% of the respondents in Spain did not inform how much their monthly income is, making it difficult to see a relationship between the income and the average spending per tourist during their main holiday. In Finland and the Netherlands, one fourth of the tourists are willing to spend more than 1,000 Euros per person during their main holidays. When comparing the average income of the respondents in all the countries where the research was conducted, it is notable that in Finland and in the Netherlands the average income of the respondents is higher than 5,000 Euros and 2,000 Euros respectively. It is also important to mention that the average age of the respondents in Finland are above 40 years old (have security in terms of their finances). Question 2: a) Which tourism or leisure activity would you pay more for if it were sustainable? This part of the economic section was focused on which tourism or leisure activity a tourist would pay more for if it were sustainable. In the table below the results for tourism or leisure activities from the participated countries can be found. In overall, the respondents of the participated countries had chosen local area/products as first choice; this was similar to the results of Belgium and the Netherlands. It was assumed that these respondents value local produced products more than hotels, because they prefer something can stay rather than hotels. The highest percentage is local area/products with more than half of the respondents, followed by airplane and hotel, respectively 59% and 57%. Hotel was chosen in the second place for the general analysis, but for Finland (55% of their respondents), Lithuania (44% of their respondents), and Spain (11% of their respondents), hotel was the first choice. Moreover, Spanish respondents also have equivalent percentage of respondents of willing to pay for hotel. Finland has hotel with more than half respondents as well, but airplane and local area/products were not listed in the top three choices of tourism or leisure activities. They thought experiences are way more important than transportation, thats why they have quite a high rate on organic food and drinks. Lithuanian people think they have a beautiful nature and landmarks, thats why they would like to pay more for historical landmarks. Choices for tourism or leisure activities indicated in general and of the participated countries, if a person is willing to pay more if it were sustainable. st nd Participated 1 choice 2 choice 3rd choice countries General Local area/products (13%) Hotel (12%) Organic food (8%) Belgium Local area/products (58%) Hotel (57%) Airplane (33%) Finland Hotel (55%) Organic food (50%) Organic drink (44%) Lithuania Hotel (44%) Local area/products (38%) Historical landmark (28%) Netherlands Local area/products (69%) Airplane (59%) Hotel (55%) Spain Hotel (11%) Local area/products (11%) Food (10%)
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b) If you indicated that you are willing to pay more for a category, what percentage more of your travelling budget would you dedicate to sustainable activities? In general, the highest three choices for tourism or leisure activity a tourist would pay more for if it were sustainable: local area/ products, hotel and organic food. The results show that the most choices are on the rage of 6-10%. Lithuanian, Dutch, Belgian and Spanish figures show us that it applies to local area/products, hotel and organic food. In Finland, hotel, organic food and drinks are the results, which stand out. General results for the Local area/products, hotel and organic food, in which tourists are willing to pay more of their travelling budget if it the activities were sustainable. General, % of the travelling budget <5% 6 - 10 % 11 - 20 % 21 - 30 % >30 % Local area/products (% of the respondents) 25 38 26 8 3 Hotel (% of the respondents) 29 36 14 10 11 Organic food (% of the respondents) 34 39 20 5 30
Question 3: If you are willing to pay more for one or more of the categories in question 2, please indicate why these are important to you? The reasons given by the respondents, if they are willing to pay more for a sustainable tourism or leisure activity when choosing a tourist route. Reasons why a tourist would pay more for a sustainable tourism or leisure activity Because if we do not pay more for these aspects, they will reduce the vacation's level of comfort Because it increases the income in the zone of reference and contributes to the areas' growth I believe monuments should be kept intact; therefore financial support is needed by tourist. I would not mind paying more for local products/food/activities because I am interested in these aspects I would not mind paying more for sustainable reasons/the future Not applicable Sustainability is important (interest/ opinion) The selected category is responsible for a lot of pollution Amount of respondents 19 20 10 50 26 123 50 9
In general, the most 2 popular reasons are I would not mind paying more for local products/ food/ activities because I am interested in these aspects and sustainability is important (interest/ opinion). However, some respondents did not understand this question well; or they just did not want to answer this question, because it would take too long to answer it. For that reason the non-applicable part has the highest amount. When analyzing the results (in Appendix 1) of each participating country, various opinions were given. This may be caused by the different cultural perception of these participating countries. For the Netherlands, the most popular reason is I would not mind paying more for sustainable reasons/the future and sustainability is important (interest/opinion). Spain has for the most two popular reasons: I would not mind paying more for local products/food/activities because I am interested in these aspects and because it increases the income in the zone of reference and contributes to the area. The most popular reasons for Finland are: sustainability is important (interest/opinion) and I would not mind paying more for sustainable reasons/the future. Lithuania and Belgium did not any response for this part.
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Question 4:During the low seasons (i.e. Not the winter, nor the summer holidays), tourist destinations tend to be cleaner, have better environmental quality, generate more employment for the local people, and tend to be cheaper for tourists. For the reasons stated above, if you could change your holiday period, would you consider changing your main vacation from a high season to a low season period? Countries International Belgium Finland Lithuania The Netherlands Spain Yes 75% 85% 83% 47% 70% 79%
Quite a high percentage of respondents have answered yes to this question, with international percentage of 75% and a highest national percentage of 85% from Belgium. The lowest percentage was from Lithuania with 47%, yet it was certainly not a small amount. When the results were cross analyzed with income classification, it was interesting to see that lower income groups (<1500, 1500-2499, 2500-3499) have more positive answers than higher income groups (3500-4499, >4500), as expected. However, here it is noticeable that many of respondents WANT TO, but do not actually GO in low seasons, due to the reason of their work or family members schedules. The result only shows the intention, but not the will to take action. Question 5: a) Are there economic reasons for you to spend your vacation holidays in your local region? What are your reasons? Countries International Belgium Finland Lithuania The Netherlands Spain No 64% 83% 64% 76% 74% 48%
64% of total respondents have answered No to this question. Belgium is again with the highest percentage of 83%, while Spain is the lowest of 48%. It can be seen from the result that economic reasons barely affect people from Belgium, the Netherlands and Lithuania to travel in their local region. Following by Finland, people care slightly more than the above stated 3 countries. Spanish people are affected by economic reasons to travel in their local regions the most. When we cross analyze the result with income classification, it can be seen that income plays a slight role as well. If seems the group with lowest income (less than 1500 Euros) care less than middle income one on this issue, b) If there were, what were your reasons for spending holiday in your local Countries International Belgium Finland Lithuania
Reason Cheaper in own country No reason Cheaper in own country No reason
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The Netherlands Spain
No reason Cheaper in own country
Most respondents in question 5a have chosen No, thats why there arent many reasons indicated here. However, we do see that people are willing to take holidays in their local regions because its cheaper than travelling abroad. 3.5.4 Recommendations From the findings, it is clear that people are ready to pay more for sustainability; there is a demand as well as a market for it. The readiness to pay more for sustainability is especially apparent for hotels and local/area products. Based on the pre-mentioned findings, the following recommendations were developed. Tour Operators When a tour operation offers a sustainable route, it is important for them to let customers know that they are paying more for sustainability reasons (as sustainable routes are usually more expensive than non-sustainable routes). The Tour Operators should let the customers know of the importance of sustainability so that when there is an increase in price the customer is aware its for the betterment of the environment. From the findings, it can be seen that most European tourists do not mind changing their main vacation from a high-season period to low-season period. Therefore, Tour Operators should promote low-season vacations more heavily. Moreover, Tour Operators should focus on sustainable vacations during this period, as they can be offered at a lower price (in comparison to high-season sustainable tourist routes). Hence, Tour Operators should innovate and design more seasonal routes containing interesting activities and food; by promoting and enforcing sustainable vacations during low seasons, it will bring more economic benefit to the touristic destinations. For example, by generating more jobs and income, and also having less impact on the environment. Government Data analysis indicated that tourists tend to doubt the benefits of being sustainable by paying more for the good or service. To minimize the doubt that customers have when purchasing a sustainable good or service from a firm, the government is recommended to implement an organization specialized in the auditing of firms who offer sustainable services. This particular organization should then be authorized to give a verification that indicates the credibility of the firms sustainability services. This can be done making a EU-wide symbol which firms are authorized to utilize in any of their communication medias. Raise more awareness by providing information about being sustainable and the benefits of being sustainable in hotels, airplanes, and other sites or transportation means that are often used by tourists. By raising awareness of the benefits of sustainability, it might influence customers to become greener, or at least allow customers to make a conscious decision when considering to purchase a good or service that is sustainable. It is advised to give a subsidy or tax cut to transportation companies who offer sustainable transportation means to enforce transportation companies to go green. Make sustainable activities more attractive through implementing a miles system: Green Miles. This miles system can be used in order to save miles or points that may be exchanged for discounts on goods or services members are on holiday.
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4 GeneralConclusionandRecommendations
4.1 GeneralConclusion
The following chapter answers the main research question: To determine the role that sustainability plays in the selection process of European tourists with respect to their holiday destination and holiday activities. Concluding from the data analysis that was established in the previous chapter, it can be said that European tourists do have an interest in being sustainable, nevertheless have limited access or knowledge of the various sustainable routes that exist. This conclusion is based on the fact that 60% of all the respondents indicated that they are willing to use environmentally friendly transportation. The enthusiasm for sustainable public transportation is especially apparent in Lithuania, where 73% of their participants indicated that they would be willing to utilize green transportation. Also, with regard to the environmental aspect, nations who are infrastructure-oriented should promote their country in nations that are more nature-oriented and vice-versa. Moreover, a high number of respondents (82%) indicated that they use search engines to find tourist routes and information regarding them, which is followed by navigation sites such as Google-Maps (75%). The role of sustainability is clearly visible in the cultural part of this questionnaire. From the results that were received from the participants it can be concluded that especially the participation in festivals and events is of utmost importance. Their underlying thought is that this gives a great possibility to meet the local culture and traditions by immerging into the total process. In contrary to the previous point the making of local handcrafts is not that popular in some nations. The Spanish and Lithuanian population in contrary to the Finnish, Belgian and Dutch are very much interested in participating the making of handcrafts itself, while the others would rather overlook the total process. Another important factor in this aspect is the local food. The main reason for this could be that when people go abroad they can enjoy the local and traditional food in the right context. This is particularly important for people in the age group from 30 to 45 years. The younger population probably cannot afford to pay for many of these traditional dishes and prefer to eat at fast food chains such as McDonalds or Burger King for example. The possibility to enjoy accommodation at the homes and even working with the local population in order to really integrate into their lives is not an essential point for the participants. Concerning the social aspect, the participants still have some difficulties. For example, the Spanish population does not like to meet the local inhabitants of the place they are visiting during the tourist routes. In the contrary, the Dutch people show more interest to immerse in the local life. Also the people that earn more than 4500 Euro have more interest in it. An interesting fact is that there is a mutual understanding concerning the question that companies need to treat employees with respect. The general idea is that people dont want a reduction coming from the government, except the youngest participants, probably because they have less money than the age group between 30 and 45 years old. This is quite strange, because we had the general idea that people would like to receive a discount when they could get one.
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The difference between the countries concerning the question that makes the people choose between charity and a company that takes good care for his employees is also something that is worth pointing out. The only country that generally favours charity is Lithuania while the preference of the other countries goes out to the other aspect that is highlighted in this country. On average European tourists spend approximately 601 800 Euros when on vacation and a majority indicated that they do not have economic reasons for spending their holiday in the local region. However, many (70%) did indicate that they would consider changing their min vacation from a high-season vacation to a low-season period. Moreover, European tourists are prepared to spend between 5 to 10% more on local/area products and hotels.
4.2 GeneralRecommendations
ENVIRONMENTAL PERSPECTIVE Government: The governments should carry out surveys through the local population to find out the most used type of transportation and then come up with ideas how to make it more sustainable. Governments should promote public transportation by making it cheaper and making it more attractive and easy to use. In this way more people will use the sustainable transportation options. Government could improve the sustainability of public transportation in busses and trains by using bio-fuel in order to minimize the bad impacts on the environment. National governments should invest in the educating of their people by advertising, organizing seminars or giving school lessons. When starting a sustainable education from early age, the sustainability will become a way of living, not only a habit for people. Therefore there could be more governmental funding for sustainable education and promotion to enhance sustainability in ones country. The focus point could be especially in business studies, because these students will play a leading role in the future world economy. The government could implement more projects (e.g. a fair about sustainability) to get local people more involved in sustainability. This way they could also promote local nature better and get their people to know how beautiful and versatile their own countries are and what they have to offer. SOCIAL PERSPECTIVE Government: The government can make a website were local people can upload their features of their cities and tourist routes in which they can meet local people. The Tour Operators should use this on their websites. On European level, countries can choose several cities that tourists might find interesting. The Eastern-countries should get some help with their governmental structure (especially social security system, trade-unions). At the same time they get an external audit by the EU about this matter (if a country image is more secure, tourists are more comfortable to see the nation). They should imply a regulation for
34
companies especially in the tourism sector to do a personnel questionnaire. So the companies can be graded on the working conditions/ employee satisfaction. They have to achieve a certain grade in order to receive a certain personnel-friendly label. When grades are bad/ not good enough, the companies will get a fine and have to do some improvements concerning the working conditions.
CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE Government: They could stimulate local festivals that the tour agencies advertise among the tourists, where cooking shows, to show how traditional dishes are prepared, and workshops for making local traditional handcrafts yourself are offered by locals. This will stimulate the attractiveness of a sustainable tourist route. The government should set a strict set of criteria for marking an attraction, product or leisure activity as sustainable. A company can be rewarded, if it is sustainable and given a sustainable status by the government. Moreover, they should give those who are using sustainability or sustainable logos as marketing tool to gain personal profit, a fine. Also, they should take an example from Finlands marketing strategy to implement the sustainable certifications/ labels in the other European countries. For instance, the Green Key and Blue Flag etc. arent well known. There is quite a big difference between North and the rest of Europe when it is concerning sustainable/ Eco-labels.
Tourism agencies: When the Tour Operators are offering cultural tourists routes, they should inform people where they can find the Museums that already offer the possibility to make your own local handcrafts. For tourists who prefer watching, rather than making their own handcrafts, they can also watch the process of making the local handcrafts. They can add a description of the museum in brochures, information on websites or information on social media. Also which features it offers and what consumers can watch or experience, but also which activities there are available. Thus the complete programme they offer, so the consumer can know in advance what to expect. INTERNET AND COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY PERSPECTIVE Government: The government should create a service to control the reliability of booking sites in general, and specifically the booking sites that claim to be sustainable. Furthermore they should provide a list of sites that are approved as reliable. Also customers should be given the possibility to select criteria in order to compose a tourist route according to their own needs. Additionally, to increase the knowledge of sustainability, travel agencies and governments should gather all the information needed into one page. They should check their official website on a regular basis, to make sure updated and correct information is online. This way the customers would become more aware of the sustainability and would probably be attracted to different sustainable tourist routes options.
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In fact travel agencies loose customers due to the popularity of Internet. But what they can do is working with the government and interfering more on the Internet. For example, travel agencies and hotels can open a Facebook page or use other social media with all detailed information on it in order to promote their products so that people dont have to view thousands of WebPages and choose one of them; this provides for an easier selection process. Facebook is easy to use and more informal, customers can not only see the information about their booking, but also other customers review and comments, which makes it more trust worthy. They should promote sustainable tourist routes, and explain all the issues in the page, so that people dont have to surf on different pages, which use a lot of energy and time.
Tourism agencies: When customers book through the Internet Tour Operators should offer them some kind of incentives (extra facilities on the hotels for example some kind of discounts on services) for products like hotels or services included in tourist routes that are sustainable. This could also include the idea of green pages. The Tour Operators could plant a tree in this case in a nice forest or to substitute the incentive explained before.
ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVE Government: From earlier findings we have found out that customers doubt the implementation of the sustainability aspects that they pay extra costs for. There should be surveys done among companies and Tour Operators to show to customers. It is really important for companies and Tour Operators to convince customers that they will get what they pay for, sustainable tourism is worth a try, and people should realise that there are sustainable activities happening. To minimize the doubt that customers have when purchasing a sustainable good or service from a firm, the government is recommended to implement an organization specialized in the auditing of firms who offer sustainable services. This particular organization should then be authorized to give a verification that indicates the credibility of the firms sustainability services. This can be done making a EU-wide symbol which firms are authorized to utilize in any of their communication medias.
Tourism agencies: Raise more awareness by providing information about being sustainable and the benefits of being sustainable in hotels, airplanes, and other sites or transportation means that are often used by tourists. By raising awareness of the benefits of sustainability, it might influence customers to become greener, or at least allow customers to make a conscious decision when considering to purchase a good or service that is sustainable. In this example, a Tour Operators can offer a sustainable route, it is important for them to let customers know that they are paying more for sustainability reasons (as sustainable routes are usually more expensive than non-sustainable routes). The Tour Operators should let the customers know of
36
the importance of sustainability so that when there is an increase in price the customer is aware it is for the betterment of the environment.
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5 Appendices
5.1 Appendix1:ResearchFindings
The following data illustrates the preliminary research findings and an analysis of the survey results. The total number of collected surveys is 306. Before looking at the data below, it is important to highlight that the scale from 1 to 7 on the graphs represents: 1 Completely disagree 4 Neutral or no opinion 7 Completely agree
The numbers 2 and 3 express variations of feelings and emotions when disagreeing with the statement, whereas 5 and 6 express variations of feelings and emotions when agreeing with the statement.
Environmental Perspective
38
39
40
Social Perspective
41
42
43
Cultural Perspective
44
45
46
Internet and Communications Technology (ICT) Perspective
47
48
49
50
Economic Perspective
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
5.2 Appendix2:Questionnaire
74
75
76
77
78

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IPForteIII ThePerceptionofEuropean TouristswithRegardto SustainableTourism

2.1 Primary Research ....................................................................................................... 7 2.1.1 Questionnaire Methodology ................................................................................. 7

4.1 General Conclusion .................................................................................................. 33 4.2 General Recommendations ...................................................................................... 34

5.1 Appendix 1: Research Findings ................................................................................ 38 Appendix 2: Questionnaire................................................................................................. 73

3.3 3.3.1 3.3.2 3.3.3

Reason Cheaper in own country No reason Cheaper in own country No reason

The Netherlands Spain

No reason Cheaper in own country

Internet and Communications Technology (ICT) Perspective

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