B. Tech. (Department of Tourism and Hospitality Management, Faculty of Human Sciences), Vaal University of Technology. / Tourism is a fast-developing industry globally, and the impacts of tourism are
exceedingly diverse. The relationship between the environment and tourism has
assumed a unique position in research through the development of tourism studies
over the years. From an economic viewpoint, tourism is aimed at bringing income to
local communities. It also could also increase and spread economic development,
thus reducing the inequalities in income distribution by providing and creating
employment opportunities. However, from an ecological standpoint, tourism poses a
threat to the delicate environment.
Thus, the pressure on natural resources remains a major problem globally, and the
fact that tourism-related activities and facilities such as resorts contribute to the
scarcity and overuse of resources is of great concern. The rapid growth in tourist
numbers poses a significant threat to natural resources, more so tourists are
significant consumers of natural resources such as water and electricity while on
holiday. Overuse and depletion of these natural resources can cause environmental
degradation in and around a destination. Even though some tourists hold positive
environmental attitudes, they may not behave environmentally responsible while
visiting resorts, because they want to experience the destination in full.
Behavioural change is a complex process involving the interaction between numerous
variables of which attitude is only one attribute. Attitude itself is also a complex
attribute which is challenging to define and may involve multiple and even
contradictory values. Previous studies indicate that positive attitudes toward the
environment do not necessarily lead to environmentally responsible behaviour.
Researchers have found a weak relationship between attitudes and behaviour.
Although there is not a direct or linear relationship between attitude and behaviour,
they may have significant causal effects on behaviour. Suffice to say, however,
viiattitudes, especially strong specific and narrowly defined attitudes that have been
acquired through direct experience, that influence the person’s self-interest and are
accessible, have a strong effect on behaviour. For this reason, a general indication of
the variable ‘environmental attitudes’ was obtained by recoding the respondents’
identification and ratings of severe environmental problems when visiting LWR in
Limpopo. The measurement of environmental concern or rather behaviour is generally
regarded as an integrated component of broader attitudinal dispositions.
This study attempted to determine whether tourists are behaving in an environmentally
responsible manner while visiting selected resorts in Limpopo South Africa. This was
approached based on an empirical study which followed a quantitative research
design. A non-probability, convenience sampling method by means of a web-survey
was adopted. The target population for this study were tourists to all LWR (Limpopo
Wildlife Resorts) in Limpopo South Africa. Once the data was collected, it was
captured and processed by means of SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences).
Environmentally responsible behaviour of tourists visiting LWR was analysed by
means of descriptive statistics, using factor analysis and ANOVA. With the information
gathered, the researcher wanted to test if there was a difference in visitor behaviour
in comparison to their attitudes toward the environment. ANOVA was used to compare
the difference in visitor’s behaviour and attitudes while visiting resorts and the use of
factor analysis as a procedure was necessary for data reduction and summarisation.
Therefore, a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was applied to investigate how
tourist environmentally responsible behaviour differs between visitor profiles.
The data showed that females agreed more strongly with statements empathetic to
the environment than male respondents did. Furthermore, the data showed that as
one becomes older, so the agreement with the opinion of empathetic opinion to the
environment becomes larger. The apathetic environmental opinion factor shows an
opposite tendency, namely as one grows older, the agreement with the apathetic
opinion factor becomes less. Awareness has become heightened, which is shown in
the visitor’s value of nature and leads to environmentally conscious behaviour and
activities to preserve the environment. Moreover, an increased concern of the
environment has made consumers more aware of the environmental impacts of their
viiipurchase decision concerning the service industry. The increased awareness of
environmental impacts of tourism has led to the emergence of tourist called, among
others, environmentally responsible tourist. Therefore, one can say that tourist as
consumers are becoming more aware of the importance of protecting the environment
and more involved in practising environmentally friendly behaviour while on holiday.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:vut/oai:digiresearch.vut.ac.za:10352/531 |
| Date | 05 1900 |
| Creators | Maboya, M. K. |
| Contributors | Menzies, L., Dr., Slabbert, E., Prof. |
| Publisher | Vaal University of Technology |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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