Canadian travellers express willingness to change their travel behaviours owing to environmental concerns: survey
TORONTO, December 4, 2007 - Nearly two-thirds of Canadian travellers say they are concerned about global warming, the loss of natural habitats and eco-systems, and the use of child labour in developing countries, according to a study about sustainable tourism conducted by TNS Canadian Facts, a market and opinion research firm.
''During the last decade, the sustainability of tourism has become an area of concern for governments, non-profit organizations, and tourism businesses worldwide,'' said Marina Gilson, a travel and tourism analyst at TNS Canadian Facts. ''However, for significant investments in sustainability initiatives to occur, the perspectives of travellers on this issue must be considered. Do consumers understand the concept and are they willing to take action?"
Currently, the concept of sustainable tourism is not well understood among consumers. Only 8% of Canadian travellers claim to be very or fairly familiar with it. By contrast, one-quarter say they are very or fairly familiar with adventure tourism.
The sustainable tourism concept does generate a positive reaction among consumers, though, when they are given a definition (tourism that respects the local environment, culture people and economy). Eight in 10 (83%) Canadian travellers agree that sustainable tourism practices would have a positive effect on the world's future.
The study found that many Canadian travellers express a willingness to take personal action. One-third say that they would switch from a preferred holiday destination to another that supported sustainable tourism, while four in 10 would try to find and use a travel agency that adheres to environmentally sensitive guidelines. And over one-quarter (28%) say they would pay a premium for an ethical and sustainable holiday.
"These numbers are slightly higher than what our sister company, TNS UK, garnered in Europe and the USA last month in their Green Travel survey," added Gilson. "With an impressive 32% of Italians willing to switch to more ethical, greener vacations, compared to a meagre 16% of Americans, and from 7% of Britons who have actually gone so far as to make a payment towards minimizing the impact of their travelling to 12% of Spaniards who have done so, Canadians are likely to be receptive to appeals based on minimizing the environmental impacts of travel."
The TNS study illustrates that Canadian travellers believe that multiple stakeholders share the responsibility for activating demand for sustainable tourism. Three-quarters believe that businesses that market and sell tourism, and the mass media, both should ensure that information and sustainable choices are made available to travellers. Fewer travellers (64%) believe that it is the travelling public who must take responsibility for planning their trips with sustainability in mind.
"It is interesting to see how we as consumers shift the responsibility to others, even though we plan our vacations," observed Gilson. "Arguably, engaging consumers and making environmentally friendly choices readily available to the public will raise the profile of the sustainability concept."
The nationally representative Internet survey of 1,079 online Canadian travellers/intenders 18 years and older was conducted between July 18 and 22, 2007. Respondents were randomly selected from the TNS Canadian Facts Internet access panel comprising 100,000 Canadian adults.
TNS Canadian Facts www.tns-cf.com is one of Canada's most prestigious full-service marketing, opinion and social research organizations.
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