Abstract

The aim of this article is to examine how tourists value the performance of two mass tourism destinations with regard to sustainability. The study was conducted with a quantitative approach, using a questionnaire given to tourists at tourist offices on the island of Rhodes, Greece, and in Rimini, Italy. The questionnaire had scales measuring the tourists’ satisfaction with the destination and their hotels from a social and environmental sustainability point of view. The mass tourists were prompted to rate the level of importance of those factors. The study concludes that mass tourists view environmental sustainability’s value at the two mass tourism destinations differently. The mass tourists in Rhodes do not see environmental sustainability as an important value. The mass tourists in Rimini indicate improvement in some environmental variables as important to the tourists’ satisfaction. Another conclusion is that the mass tourists do not prioritize sustainability issues when travelling and are mainly travelling to the destination for sun, sea, and sand. Therefore, the challenge is to make them aware of and to value social and environmental sustainability. The theoretical contribution from this study is that there is a fifth paradigm where sustainable tourism and value co-creation is in focus. The practical implication from this study is that destinations must be aware of what tourists’ value as important attribute since mass tourist destinations mainly attract tourist that want sun, sea, and sand.