Ninth International Conference on Tourism & Leisure Studies

Abstract

Reducing environmental impact, in addition to the negative social and economic impacts, of tourism activities is a necessary condition for achieving sustainable tourism. There are different economic instruments to encourage more environmentally responsible behavior in the tourism sector. Carbon tax (paid by tourists) is a good example of this type of economic incentive, but they are unpopular. As a more attractive alternative for tourists, carbon emission offsetting is offered. In this study, we analyze the willingness of almost 40,000 tourists to voluntarily offset CO2 emissions after their vacations in the Canary Islands, the most touristic (NUTS2) region in the whole EU. A database is available with multiple variables on the socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of tourists, their environmental awareness, the activities carried out at the destination, the characteristics of the accommodation, and the expenditure made. The methodology used is Bayesian Model Averaging (BMA) for ordered logit models to identify the determinants of tourists’ willingness to pay voluntarily to offset their CO2 emissions. The results show that tourists who consume services with the greatest environmental impact associated, such as all-inclusive services, are the least willing to voluntarily compensate. Additionally, tourists practicing nature-based tourism, with higher education and higher income levels are more willing to compensate for the emissions associated with their vacations. Under this scenario, we point to the failure of voluntarism among tourists and the need to adopt taxes to internalize the environmental impact of tourism.