Communicating Sustainable Nature-Based Tourism
A Mixed Method Approach to Investigate How Swedish Destination Marketing Organizations Promote Nature Destinations on Instagram
Franziska Ewigleben
Department for Media Studies
Master Program in Media and Communication Studies (120 hp) Course: Master Thesis
Supervisor: Anna Roosvall
Date of Submission: January 6, 2020
Communicating Sustainable Nature-Based Tourism
A Mixed Method Approach to Investigate How Swedish Destination Marketing Organizations Promote Nature Destinations on Instagram
Franziska Ewigleben
Department of Media Studies, Stockholm University
Abstract
Around the globe, sensitive nature destinations suffer from media-mediated mass tourism.
Especially, the social media network Instagram is often made responsible for these events as its emphasis on visuals is claimed to foster people’s ambition to reproduce photographs of themselves in the epic sceneries they see online. Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs) face a particularly big challenge in using Instagram. While they aim at attracting enough tourists to satisfy the local tourism industry’s needs, they need to apply a careful promotion to avoid attracting more tourists than the natural environments can cope with. Focusing on Sweden as case study, this thesis aims at identifying and exploring how Swedish DMOs currently promote vulnerable nature destinations on Instagram and what significance these economically driven communication agencies thereby attribute the protection of the natural resources. Theoretical implications from sustainable destination management and environmental psychology are employed to develop different communication strategies that enhance the destination’s sustainable image as well as attempt to encourage pro- environmental behavior among tourists. A mixed method design is applied which is dominated by an extensive quantitative content analysis and complemented by a more limited qualitative semiotic analysis. The findings reveal that the implementation of sustainable communication strategies is of varying importance for the six Swedish DMOs considered in this study. In general, their effort of using communication tools to enhance sustainable nature-based tourism is still very low. Future research is advised to investigate in the production as well as audience site to gain further insights in how economic interests might hinder a more sustainable branding and to examine how effective the developed communication strategies actually are in influence people’s behavioral intentions.
Keywords:
Sustainable Nature-Based Tourism • Instagram • Destination Marketing Organization •
Social Marketing • Tourist Gaze • Environmental Psychology • Content Analysis • Semiotic
Analysis • Sweden
Table of Contents
1 Introduction ... 1
2 Background ... 4
3 Theoretical Framework and Literature Review ... 7
3.1 The Creation of Meaning in Visual Representations of Nature Destinations ... 7
3.1.1 The Concept of Representation and the Notion on the Tourist Gaze ... 8
3.1.2 Instagram-Induced Reproduction of Nature Destination Photography ... 11
3.2 Sustainable Destination Development ... 13
3.2.1 Different Approaches to Sustainability and Corresponding Forms of Tourism ... 13
3.2.2 Sustainable Destination Management Tools... 16
3.3 Motivating Pro-Environmental Behavior among Nature Tourists ... 19
3.3.1 Environmental Knowledge and Awareness ... 20
3.3.2 Emotional Connection to the Natural Environment ... 21
3.3.3 Sense of Group Belonging ... 22
3.3.4 Environmental Values and Egoistic Benefits of Pro-Environmental Behavior ... 24
3.3.5 Locus of Control ... 25
4 Methodology ... 26
4.1 Mixed-Method Design ... 26
4.2 Content Analysis ... 27
4.2.1 Strengths and Weaknesses ... 27
4.2.2 Sample ... 30
4.2.3 Coding & Data Analysis ... 32
4.2.4 Validity and Reliability ... 33
4.3 Semiotic Analysis ... 35
4.3.1 Strengths and Weaknesses ... 35
4.3.2 Sample ... 36
4.3.3 Application of the Method & Analysis... 36
5 Results ... 37
5.1 The Representation of Natural Spaces ... 37
5.2 The Representation of People ... 39
5.3 Included Sustainability Approaches ... 41
5.4 Sustainability Approaches and the Representation of Natural Spaces and People ... 46
5.5. Semiotic Choices and their Implementation in Sustainability Approaches ... 48
6 Discussion and Conclusion ... 52
6.1 Representation of Natural Spaces ... 52
6.2 Representation of People ... 53
6.3 Inclusion of Sustainability Approaches ... 54
6.4 Interplay of Sustainability Approaches and the Representation of Natural Spaces and People 55 6.5 Semiotic Choices and their Implementation in Sustainability Approaches ... 56
6.6 Limitations and Future Research ... 56
References ... 57
Appendix ... 68
List of abbreviations
DMO = destination marketing organization UGC = user-generated content
NBT = nature-based tourism
PEB = pro-environmental behavior
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1 Introduction
At Trolltunga, Norway, “hundreds of tourists lin[e] up for hours for their turn to get the Instagrammable snap” (Maclean 2017). In Hamilton, Canada, a farmer speaks of a “zombie apocalypse” after 7 000 photo tourists tramped down the plants on his sunflower field (Holson 2018a). In South Africa and Namibia, an international animal protection organization fights against geo tagging to protect sensitive rhino populations from spontaneous media-induced mass tourism (Holson 2018b). At the Horseshoe Bend, United States, visitor numbers have increased from 100 000 to 2 million within 8 years due to the spot’s “iconic photo” guarantee (Simmonds et al. 2018). At Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon, China, less than two weeks after its opening, “the world’s highest and longest glass bottom bridge” had to close again as it could not handle the big hurry of snapshot-hungry tourists (Miller 2017).
These are only a few examples of a worldwide phenomenon: photos of destinations which portray tourists in epic sceneries are widely shared on social media and eventually attract uncontrollable masses to the very spot. In public discourse, there is broad agreement on that Instagram’s visual emphasis has particularly fueled this development (Williams 2019; Holson 2018b; Miller 2017; Maclean 2017). Sensitive nature environments, which are increasingly important for the tourism industry (Adomßent & Stoltenberg 2011: 134), are particularly affected and, at worst, destroyed by such events (Holson 2018b).
In the meanwhile, first private initiatives like the Instagram account Public Lands Hate You (@publiclandshateyou) have formed which attempt to counteract the photo tourists’
destructive behavior at nature destinations by critically reposting environmentally harmful
actions captured on photographs (Canon 2019). While this can be regarded as a positive, initial
step, this thesis asks how officially commissioned destination marketing organizations
(henceforth DMOs) relate to nature, people and sustainability in the context of the above
described problems when promoting nature destinations to tourists on Instagram. Being
principally concerned with attracting enough tourists to assure the flourishing of the local
tourism industry, such organizations face a particularly great challenge in balancing economic
versus environmental interests (Font & McCabe 2017: 871). Simultaneously, environmental
issues will eventually also lead to economic troubles since nature-based tourism destinations
are inextricably linked with each other.
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Besides being held up in clashes of interests, however, DMOs are also generally said to be late implementers of socially critical themes (Godtman Kling, Margaryan & Fuchs 2018: 11). In line with this, C. Michael Hall (2014) criticizes that marketing strategies which aim at provoking a respectful handling of the destination’s resources among tourists have so far been widely understudied in tourism research (Hall 2014). The literature review conducted for this thesis supports this critique. Research on the use of Instagram among DMOs is still largely concerned with examining the importance of the platform for destination branding and its actual implementation based on economic goals (see Bernkopf & Nixon 2019; Thelander & Cassinger 2017; Uşaklı, Koç & Sönmez 2017; Fatanti & Suyadnya 2015). Only few studies have so far investigated in how social media can be used to enhance sustainability in media-induced tourism processes. Henrikki Tenkanen et al. (2017) and Anna Hausmann et al. (2017) have for instance analyzed how social media information can be used to control visitor streams in national parks. Up to this point, no study has examined how nature-based tourism (NBT) can carefully be promoted on social media with respect to the ecological and social needs of the destination. Further, while many case studies have analyzed how DMOs attempt to influence their online destination image on social media platforms (e.g. see Bernkopf & Nixon 2019; Lian
& Yu 2017; Stepchenkova & Zhan 2013), no research was found that investigated how DMOs currently attempt to influence visitor streams and behavior in their online marketing activities.
To fill this gap, this thesis aims at identifying and exploring how Swedish destination marketing organizations currently multimodally (visually and linguistically) promote vulnerable nature destinations on Instagram and what significance these economically driven communication agencies thereby attribute the protection of the natural resources.
Applying a mixed method design, the implementation of nature destination branding of six Swedish destination marketing organizations on Instagram will be examined. Thereby, the major part of the research is based on a content analysis study which in a minor, second step is complemented by a semiotic analysis. In so doing, the following four research questions will be answered:
RQ 1) How do the Swedish DMOs represent a) the natural space, and b) people in the
communication of their Instagram accounts?
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RQ 2) Which approaches to sustainability do the DMOs take and how many posts make use of such sustainability-promoting tools in their communication?
RQ 3) Which aspects of their representation of the natural space and people are predominantly used in the posts that refer to sustainability?
RQ 4) In which way do the DMOs apply specific semiotic tools when communicating their sustainability measures?
While the first three research questions are addressed in the content analysis, the semiotic analysis is applied to answer the last question. The findings of the second research question will be used to construct the sample for the third and fourth question.
In a first step, the thesis provides some background information on the Swedish nature-based
tourism industry. The subsequent theoretical frame and literature review starts with providing
an understanding of how photographs convey (touristic) messages by referring to the concept
of “representation” and the notion on the “tourist gaze”. After that, an overview about
diverging definitions of sustainable development will be provided and the differences
between sustainable and eco-tourism are pointed out. This will be complemented by
discussing specific management tools, which enable a sustainable development of
destinations, and how these measures can be effectively communicated. In addition to supply-
side measures, insights from environmental psychology, which intend a behavioral change
among tourists, and their communicative implementation are presented. In the following, the
methodological challenges of the mixed method approach are discussed and complemented
by critical considerations of both methods’ strengths and weaknesses. The following
presentation of the study’s findings as well as their discussion are based on the four research
questions. Finally, the conclusion highlights the study’s major results and their contribution to
the field of research as well as discusses limitations and provides indications for future
research.
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2 Background
The tourism industry has become an increasingly profitable branch of the Swedish economy.
The annual revenues of the Swedish tourism industry have grown by 43% over the last ten years (Tillväxtverket 2019c), while the amount of overnight stays has increased by 28 % during the same period (Tillväxtverket 2019b). In 2018, the branch earned about 337 billion Swedish kronor
1which accounted for 2,6% of the country’s gross national product (Tillväxtverket 2019c). While the revenues of the domestic market still outweigh the international sales, the latter have increased by 104% over the last decade (six times more than the domestic segment, see ibid).
The increasing importance of the international market becomes even more evident when relating its revenue share to the percentage of overnight stays
2made by foreign visitors: While the international visitors made up only 27% of Sweden’s visitors in 2018 (Tillväxtverket 2019b), they generated 43% of the annual returns (Tillväxtverket 2019c). Regarding the growth rate of the overnight stays, the international segment is again stronger than the domestic one (7 respectively 1% between 2017 and 2018, see Tillväxtverket 2019b). While most visitors continue to come from Norway and Germany, followed by Denmark, the number of visitors from the United States has increased tremendously over the last two years which makes the country the fourth biggest foreign market today (ibid). Despite this development, however, the domestic visitors, who make up 73% of all visitors, remain the industry’s most important market (ibid).
With domestic and incoming tourists combined, Sweden had over 65 million commercial overnight stays in 2018 (ibid) and hence outweighs its Scandinavian neighbor Norway (which only counted 33 million overnight stays the year before, see Innovation Norway 2019).
Regarding the distribution of overnight stays throughout the year, however, strong seasonal differences - especially during the summer season - become apparent: 42% of all commercial
1 According to Tillväxtverket (2018) the number encompasses all touristic consumption made by leisure and business visitors from the domestic and incoming market [23, page number!].
2 Overnight stays are a common way to express visitor data as the real numbers of visitors (meaning including same-day visitors) are impossible to capture. According to Tillväxtverket (2019a) their numbers only include officially listed tourist accommodations and hence ignore accommodations booked on community platforms such as Airbnb (Tillväxtverket 2019b).
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overnight stays were made between June and August (Tillväxtverket 2019b & 2018a
3]. Among foreign visitors, it was even more than 50% of all overnight stays [ibid
4].
Besides seasonal differences, there are also regional disparities: The Swedish counties (Stockholms län, Västra Götalands län and Skåne län) in which the country’s three biggest cities (Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö) are situated are the regions that could record most overnight stays (Tillväxtverket 2019b). In the Stockholm region only, it was more than 14,5 million. Two rather rurally oriented, neighboring regions (Dalarnas län and Jämtlands län) showed the fourth respectively the fifth highest number of overnight stays (with around 5 respectively 3 million, see ibid).
Especially for such rural areas the Swedish government envisions tourism as a promising opportunity to economically appreciate entire regions (Näringsdepartementet 2015). Being Europe’s fifth biggest country by area (Worldatlas 2019), Sweden in particular offers a great spatial potential for nature-based tourism. In 2015, only 3% of the country’s land surface was developed (mostly by transport infrastructure and housing) and just another 7% was used for agricultural purposes (SCB 2018a). On the other hand, 70% was covered by forests (ibid). In order to protect its natural spaces, Sweden was the first country in Europe to establish nature conservation areas in terms of national parks in 1909 (Swedish Institute 2013-2019 & Sveriges Nationalparker
). Today, the country consists of 30 national parks (Swedish Institute 2013-2019
& Naturvårdsverket 2019a) and combined with over 4000 nature reserves (Swedish Institute 2013-2019), more than 11% of the land and the freshwater resources are protected by law (SCB 2018b). The Swedish Right to Public Access allows visitors to experience these vast natural environments and facilitates NBT. The law permits everybody to freely move in Swedish natural environments, to pick wildly growing fruits and vegetables, and even to camp on natural grounds as long as the visitor handles the natural resources with care (Naturvårdsverket 2019).
In order to examine to what degree NBT is already established in Sweden, Lusine Margaryan and Peter Fredman (2017) took a closer look at different NBT businesses. Besides specific
3 The number was calculated by the author using the annual overnight stays (65.050.292, see Tillväxtverket 2019b) and the number of overnight stays made during the summer season (27.572.644, Tillväxtverket 2018a).
4 The number was calculated by the author using the number of all overnight stays made by foreign visitors in 2018 (17.356.948, Tillväxtverket 2019b) and the number of foreign overnight stays between June and August 2018 (8.719.619, Tillväxtverket 2018a).
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nature-based activities, their investigation also included infrastructure and accommodation businesses that have a direct link to nature experiences (2017: 148). In total, they could identify 2 046 companies that were already directly engaged in NBT (ibid: 150). However, the report revealed that only a small minority, about 20%, of the service providers were able to generate all their profit from this branch. The vast majority had to connect their NBT offers with other business forms (ibid). These low-income proportions are also reflected in the branch’s annual sales, which only account for 1% of the revenues of Sweden’s entire tourism industry (ibid; Tillväxtverket 2018b). Thus, the desired economic benefits stayed away so far.
In line with general tourism numbers stated above, Margaryan and Fredman also found a strong dependence on the summer months among the NBT companies which again resulted in only a small number of employees that were hired during the entire year (2017: 150). While the employment rate within the entire Swedish tourism industry increases much faster than the average rate on the Swedish job market (Tillväxtverket 2019c & 2018b), Margaryan and Fredman’s findings suggest that at least within NBT this trend does not result in an increase of perennial employments. Hence, Swedish NBT needs further development to offer secure sources of revenue for the rural population.
Official numbers of nature-oriented tourists in Sweden are still missing. Fredman and
Margaryan (2014) explain that the lack of a generally accepted definition of NBT complicates
the statistical measurements (2014: 10). Until today, only a few survey-based investigations
offer insights into NBT-oriented consumer choice. A survey that was directed at Swedish
citizens could for example reveal the population’s general appreciation of natural
environments and show that 80% of the respondents regularly to very often spend time
outside in the nature during longer holidays (Fredman, Ankre &
Chekalina2019: 15). In doing
so, hiking and cycling are among the most popular outdoor activities. The latest examination
by Tillväxtverket (2015) indicates that in contrast to Swedish citizens, foreign visitors tend to
spend less time in Swedish nature. The findings show that foreign tourists mostly enjoyed
shopping activities and culinary offers and also visited cultural places more frequently than
natural spaces (e.g. 16,4% stated to that they had visited specific architectural sites while only
10,8% went hiking in forests or mountains, see ibid). In order to develop meaningful offers for
the target group of nature-interested tourists, Sweden’s official destination marketing
organization Visit Sweden (2016) conducted its own study on the demand of nature-based
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activities and found that non-winter activities are a lot more requested than snow-dependent offers (ibid: 10). Among the most popular activities of this target group are hiking, boating, bathing, nature watching, cycling, canoeing and visiting national parks (ibid: 16). While there is no figure available on the number of tourists for most of the activities, Naturvårdsverket (2018) could identify a general increase of national park visitors during the previous years, which supports the hypothesis of a growing trend for nature tourism.
In 2015 the Swedish government invested 70 million Swedish kronor to enable the destination marketing organization Visit Sweden - which is 50% state-owned (Visit Sweden 2018) - to increase its marketing activities around sustainable nature-based tourism (Näringsdepartementet 2015) and to thereby establish Sweden as a leading nature destination on the global market (Jonevret et al. 2018). Therefore, it is especially interesting to explore in how far this has already had an impact on the DMOs communication strategy.
Being the national head organization, it is also suggested that a change in Visit Sweden’s approach to sustainability, might also motivate changes in smaller DMOs.
3 Theoretical Framework and Literature Review
The theoretical framework and literature review are divided into three parts. The first subchapter is concerned with social constructivist theories and attempts to provide an insight into how meaning is produced and conveyed. The second subchapter focuses on the conflict between economic and environmental interests in sustainability approaches and suggests several managerial action tools which can be implemented and communicated by a DMO to become more sustainable and to be perceived in that way. Considering studies from environmental psychology, the last chapter aims at developing communication strategies that provoke pro-environmental behavior among tourists.
3.1 The Creation of Meaning in Visual Representations of Nature Destinations
As mentioned above several examples have shown so far that photos, which were widely
shared on social media, caused an uncontrollable mass tourism to the depicted destinations
that, at least partly, resulted in a devastation of the places. Thereby, the consequences for
natural environments, which are particularly vulnerable, have been especially adverse. To
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understand how photos of nature destinations can go viral and eventually attract masses of tourists, it is necessary to grasp how meaning about places is created and how we have learned what an especially meaningful and thus attractive destination is. Firstly, the concept of “representation” and the notion on the “tourist gaze” will be considered. Secondly, the potential of social media (especially Instagram) to influence the perception of destinations will be discussed.
3.1.1 The Concept of Representation and the Notion on the Tourist Gaze
Stuart Hall, Jessica Evans and Sean Nixon (2013) describe representation as “the production of meaning through language” (2013: 2) which will only be successful if the two “systems of representation” (ibid: 3) are available: On the one hand, people need to share the same concepts for material or rather abstract things in their heads. On the other hand, they also require the same signs, in terms of words, images or sounds, (and the knowledge to interpret them and connect them to the corresponding mental concept) in order to communicate about these concepts (ibid: 3&5). According to the researcher, only the interplay between both systems (which for Hall, Evans and Nixon is the actual process of representation) can add meaning to something (ibid: 5). Andreas Ziemann (2011) and Niklas Luhmann (1986) go even further and claim that things or happenings (such as environmental issues) do not exist in our world until they are communicated in society (Ziemann 2011: 89; Luhmann in Kruse 2011: 70).
The concept of representation is embedded in social constructivist theory, (Hall, Evans &
Nixon 2013: 11) which supports the academic paradigm that meaning is not naturally intrinsic to things but that it is socially constructed by humans (ibid: 11; Rose 2001: 10-11). By making use of a variety of signs and being able to reach a bigger audience, it is suggested that media plays a specific role in giving and shaping meaning (Cox 2007 in Cox 2013: 23). But whereas linguistic signs are limited to the language area they exist in (Hall, Evans & Nixon 2013: 9), visual signs can often be globally applied and interpreted. However, for all kinds of signs it is important to note that whenever meaning is exchanged between people and signs must be interpreted, the meaning changes slightly because individual interpretations will always depend on previous experiences as well (Hall, Evans & Nixon 2013: 17; Godemann &
Michelsen 2011: 6).
In their book on the “Tourist Gaze 3.0” John Urry and Jonas Larsen (2011) point to the
influence that photographic images - since their invention in the mid-18h century (2011: ch.1,
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p.10) - have had on the tourist’s expectation about a destination and on the way to look at a destination (the tourist gaze). Urry and Larsen argue that just like photos are not able to depict an objective reality because they only depict small, deliberately chosen snippets and leave away others (2011: ch.1, p.10 & ch.7, p.10; de Witt 2011: 80; Rose 2001: 19), the way tourists gaze at destinations also happens in a biased manner (Urry & Larsen 2011: ch.1, p.2).
According to the researchers, due to the ever-repeating reproduction and distribution of as well as eventual exposure to similarly composed destination photographs (ibid: ch.1, p.3-4), (potential) tourists have learned what is expected to see at a destination and what is worth to look at (and to be photographically reproduced). Subconsciously, tourists then apply this socially constructed gaze to every tourist destination. Interestingly, similarly to Ziemann and Luhman’s argument that nothing does socially exist before it is communicated, Dean MacCannell (1999) claims that “anything is potentially an attraction. It simply awaits one person to take the trouble to point it out to another as something noteworthy, or worth seeing” (in Urry & Larsen 2011: ch.1, p.9).
In so doing, specific signs need to be represented that on the one hand fit the tourist’s anticipation, and on the other hand can also be gazed upon and once again be photographically reproduced (ibid: ch.1, p.4). Regarding nature destinations, such signs commonly stand in comparison to today’s hectic, urban lifestyle (ibid: ch.5, p.9) and are often embedded in what Urry and Larsen call the “romantic gaze” (ibid: ch.1, p.13). Frequently depicted wide landscapes and unscathed natural resources symbolize what nature is constructed to offer humans: a healthy lifestyle and the possibility to relax. It becomes more prevalent that this perception of nature, however, is solely built on social constructions (Saarinen 2004: 438) when we consider that nature was thought to be something dangerous a few centuries ago (Hall, Müller & Saarinen 2009: 131). In line with Hall, Evans & Nixon (2013), this verifies that the natural resources themselves just like all other objects do not mean but that it is us humans who - in representational processes - create and attribute such meaning to them (see 2013: 11).
Further, based on a specific composition, nature photography often romanticizes nature and promises the viewer to be able to experience natural environments in complete solitude (ibid:
ch.1, p.13). Among communication strategists it is therefore very popular to promote nature
destinations as wide, massive, and seemingly untouched wilderness that is gazed upon by a
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single person (ibid). Disturbing elements that would ruin this idyll such as infrastructural or agricultural equipment are deliberately left out of the picture (ibid: ch.5, p.9-10). In a
“hermeneutic circle” this depiction gets permanently reproduced by tourists as individual travel memories, and then again by destination marketers to keep up the destination image (Mak 2017: 282). For Urry and Larsen this finally results in a “selfperpetuating system of illusions” (Urry & Larsen 2011: ch.1, p.4). Visual social media, which allow both tourist and professional images to reach a wide audience in no time, facilitate and boost this permanent reproduction. A look at the most popular hashtag of the Norwegian rock overhang
“Trolltunga” on Instagram (#trolltunga; #trolltunganorway) reveals with what precision the famous romantic gaze is reproduced by visitors:
Figure 3.1: Reproduction of the romantic gaze at Trolltunga, Norway, shared on Instagram (#trolltunga/
#trolltunganorway)
While depicted solitude is crucial for the romantic gaze, some photos deliberately depict locals
or tourists to convey specific subtle messages. Locals are often featured to make the depicted
scene more believable (ibid: ch. 7, p.13). Being home to the depicted place, they might be
regarded as witnesses of the nature’s intangible beauty. In contrast to that tourists are rather
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featured to allow the viewer imagining being in place of that depicted tourist or as Urry and Larsen phrase it “[they] guide the reader's fantasies and make them seem realizable” (ibid: ch.
7, p. 14).
Further, Urry and Larsen describe a new representation of natural environments, namely those that cannot only be gaze at, but such that people can actively get engaged with by touching it and moving freely inside of it (ibid: ch.5, p.10).
This new approach seems to challenge the dominant romantic gaze and it is worth exploring in how far destination marketing organizations make use of it.
3.1.2 Instagram-Induced Reproduction of Nature Destination Photography
The social media service Instagram was launched in 2010 and acquired by Facebook in 2012 (Mattern 2017: 4). Today, it is one of the most popular social media platforms. In July 2019 the service could count 1 billion active users (Clement 2019b) that are spread all around the globe (Clement 2019a). Among the biggest social media networks, Instagram clearly has the most substantial focus on visuals. Numbers from 2018 reveal that 95 million still or moving images were daily uploaded on the platform (Lister 2019). Thereby, visuals of natural environments enjoy great popularity. For example, the account of the National Geographic is currently the most followed brand on Instagram (behind the brand Instagram itself and famous personalities, see Boyd 2019). Similarly, the hashtag “#nature” is in the top 20 of the most frequently used hashtags on platform (Influencer Marketing Hub 2019).
Most Instagram users are between 18 and 34 years old (Clement 2019c). This group does almost equally consist of females and males and is often referred to as “millennials”
(Cambridge Dictionary 2019; Philip Schofield Archive 2017; Expedia). Studies conducted by tourism industry stakeholders between 2016 and 2017 reveal that compared to other generations, this age group considers positive social media feedback more important than the
“authentic experience” of a destination (Expedia). Further, they much rather tend to decide on their next holiday destination based on the content they consume on social media (ibid) and how well a destination does on photos for Instagram (Philip Schofield Archive 2017).
These studies do thus acknowledge social media (including Instagram) a great ability to
influence consumer choices and with the growing significance of Instagram researchers
increasingly suggest DMOs to get involved with the production and distribution of social media
content in order to contribute to the online image of their destinations (Hanan & Putit 2014:
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473; Baksi 2016: 43-44; Paniagua & Huertas 2018: 725). Due to its visual focus, the use of Instagram is thereby pivotal to influencing the visual destination image, which Denis Bernkopf and Lyndon Nixon (2019) define as “the image of a destination as formed through the exposure to visual media” (2019: 147). Especially because of the fast-moving nature of social media content (see Murray 2008 in Urry & Larsen 2011: ch.7, p.20) and the permanent changes of destination images (Silva, Kastenholz & Abrantes 2015: 28), this paper suggests that a consistent engagement of the DMO in online content production is necessary.
However, while social media increase the repetitive, hermeneutic reproduction of similar destination content (as described above) which can be influenced by destination marketers, the platforms no longer endow DMOs with the exclusive potential to create a destination image as it was possible in previous promotional media. As social media allow professionals as well as lay people to participate in the production and exchange of destination images, the on-going development of the online (visual) destination image and the establishment of what is worth to gaze at has become more pluralistic and thus democratic (also see Urry & Larsen 2011: ch.5, p.3 & ch.7, p.9&15). Comparative studies even suggest that the consideration of user-generated content (UGC) of a tourist destination is crucial for DMOs to be able to have some influence on the online destination image at all: On the one hand, DMOs will not be able to communicate their intended destination image if it differs too much from the image produced by UGC (Mak 2017: 281). On the other hand, it was shown that social media users believe that UGC conveys a more accurate and credible image of a destination than content produced by a DMO (Bernkopf & Nixon 2019: 159). Bernkopf and Nixon do therefore recommend including UGC in the online content shared by DMOs (ibid: 146). Regarding the six DMOs whose Instagram accounts will be analyzed in this thesis, this recommendation has already been widely implemented: While Visit Sweden for example completely assigns its account to other Instagrammers who then repost UGC (Visit Sweden, Instagram account:
@visitsweden), other DMOs let tourists overtake their accounts for shorter periods such as
during holiday seasons or frequently repost UGC directly under the hashtag “#repost” (see
e.g. Svenska Turistföreningen, Instagram account: @stfturist). While the described research
underlines the power of UGC in influencing destination images, this paper argues that focusing
on DMOs’ Instagram activities is still crucial as they are the only big participants on Instagram
that have an interest in attracting tourists in a controlled manner so that destinations can
appropriately cope with the arriving tourists.
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This chapter explained that what people expect from destinations and the way they perceive and look at them have been shaped by the meanings (derived through social constructions) that were attributed to them. Over time such meanings have been reinforced by the repetitive distribution of similar visual signs in representational media. Today, visual social media such as Instagram offer a specific potential for a diverse range of content producers to create and distribute meanings about destinations which makes a strong destination image projected by a DMO even more important to control visitor streams.
3.2 Sustainable Destination Development
3.2.1 Different Approaches to Sustainability and Corresponding Forms of Tourism
Related to the exposure of environmental destructions, frequently demands for a more sustainable dealing with our planet raise. Studies show that around the globe media coverage, which used terms of the sustainability vocabulary, has increased within the last decades (Holt
& Barkemeyer 2012: 5, Fischer, Haucke & Sundermann 2017: 618; Bonfadelli 2010: 266).
However, often times different meanings are attached to this terminology (Fischer, Haucke &
Sundermann 2017: 621-623; Glavič & Lukman 2007). In academic research, a frequently cited definition of sustainable development is taken from the Brundtland Report on “Our Common Future” which says that “Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”
(United Nations 1987; among others cited in Min, Lee & Zhao 2018: 95; Godemann &
Michelsen 2011: 5; Milwood & Roehl 2019: 373; Praničević & Peterlin 2015: 65; Andilolo 2017:
129). This vision is often thought of as being achievable by recognizing the interdependence between economic, social and ecological needs and attaining a balance between these three areas which are often referred to as the “three pillars of sustainability” (see Purvis, Mao &
Robinson 2018, Jutla 2016: 138, and Hamid & Isa 2017: 303). For Ott, Muraca and Baatz (2011), however, this model of a “weak sustainability” does not attribute ecology the necessary importance as the natural world would permanently need to compete with the other two equated pillars. According to the researchers this eventually means “the preservation of natural resources would be a meaningful and feasible goal only if it proved to be more efficient when compared to other income types” (2011: 19). Richard R. Jurin, Donny Roush and K.
Jeffrey Danter (2010) express similar criticism with regards to the dominant position of
economic goals in society. They urge to rethink and re-establish our understanding of wealth
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by replacing financial demands with psychological needs which would position our wellbeing in the center of a desirable lifestyle (2010: 20). By creating a balanced relation between the human kind and the natural environment, “growth” would then also “get[…] redefined as becoming better, not bigger” (ibid: 22).
To strengthen the natural world’s stance within the scope of sustainable development, Ott, Muraca and Baatz introduce the concept of a “strong sustainability” which highlights the importance of nature for the human world (2011: 19). Instead of positioning the natural environment next to the economy and the society, the theory insists that the development of both latter pillars is directly based on the ecology, which makes it necessary to pay more attention to it. Therefore, the researchers demand that “natural capital should be at least maintained at a constant level for the sake of future generations” (ibid).
Just as there are different approaches to sustainability in general, there also various types of tourism that promise to ensure a sustainable development of tourist destinations. Thereby, a similar distinction between a weak and a strong concept of tourism that focuses on sustainable destination development can be observed, depending on the significance destination managers’ attribute natural resources. With specific regards to nature destinations, this paper looks at the two concepts of sustainable tourism (weak sustainability) and ecotourism (strong sustainability) to exemplify this distinction.
Sustainable tourism can be attributed a weak sustainability orientation as it takes a very human-centric perspective. It is concerned with the interests of visitors, the depending tourism industry (Schroeder & Hahn 2013: 180-181; World Tourism Organization), the local community (World Tourism Organization; Meuser & von Peinen 2013: 85) and the chances for the next generations of humans (Schroeder & Hahn 2013: 180-181). If included in a definition at all, the biosphere’s needs are only mentioned after the enumeration of humans’ economic and social desires (e.g. see World Tourism Organization).
Ecotourism (also sometimes referred to as “green” or “responsible tourism”, see Dolnicar
2006: 238) on the other side takes a rather biocentric stance. The International Ecotourism
Society (2019) defined it as “responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the
environment, sustains the well-being of the local people, and involves interpretation and
education” (ibid). This definition has been widely adopted in tourism research (see Dolnicar,
Crouch & Long 2008: 200; Dolnicar 2006: 239; Nilsson 2006: 138, Hanifah & Webb 2017: 9-
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10). Whereas sustainable tourism only aims at reducing negative impact of the human on the environment whenever economic interests allow, ecotourism encourages conserving the natural environment by offering financial benefits for the industry and raising awareness for the environment’s needs among tourists (The International Ecotourism Society 2019). The concept clearly incorporates a sustainable approach that is concerned with the creation of economic incentives for the host community and the local tourism companies as well (ibid;
Dolnicar, Crouch & Long 2008: 200). In contrast to the concept of sustainable tourism, however, the economic benefits will not be generated at the expense of the natural resources but rather by the conscious examination of it.
The term “nature-based tourism” only refers to “forms of tourism that use natural areas and resources in a wild or undeveloped form with the purpose of enjoying natural areas and/ or wildlife” (Hall, Müller & Saarinen 2009: 134 relating to Godwin 1996) and thus does not necessarily incorporate any sustainable efforts (ibid). In Scandinavian countries, however, the terminology “sustainable nature-based tourism” is frequently used which according to C.
Michael Hall, Dieter K. Müller and Jarkko Saarinen (2009) serves as an equivalent to ecotourism (2009: 134).
It is often suggested that the interests of marketing and sustainability are opposing each other
because of the different aims of short-term profit maximization and long-term nature
conservation (Font & McCabe 2017: 870871). However, both components are crucial for the
well-being of the human world as financial benefits just like an intact natural environment
increase the living quality of the human population. Still, the implementation of sustainability
approaches in the tourism systems is often avoided because of its frequent association with
high-cost efforts (Dolnicar 2006: 238 referring to Berry and Ladkin 1997) even though there
are good reasons for such an investment: First, there is an increasing demand among
consumers to purchase sustainable tourism alternatives (Font & McCabe 2017: 875). Second,
due to the size of the industry, its wide reach of customers and its immense complicity in
environmental issues, the tourism industry has a lot of potential to cause great effects by
already applying only small measures (Middleton 2013: 142). Third, the tourism sector could
become a pioneer in terms of sustainability as a transformation of this big industry branch
could encourage smaller industries to appreciate the practicality of sustainable actions and
thus follow the positive example (Borseková, Vanová & Petríková 2015: 156). And fourth,
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globalization as well as changes in mobility patterns and technologies led to an increased offer of similar destinations on the international market which requires a high competitiveness of the destinations (Maheshwari, Vandewalle & Bamber 2011: 200). According to J.R. Brent Ritchie and Geoffrey I. Crouch (2003) a competitive destination can only be maintained if the destination’s unique-selling points (comparative advantages) are managed effectively in the long run (competitive advantage) (2003: 23; see also Malakauskaite & Navickas in Estevão, Ferreira & Nunes 2015: 122). Hence, nowadays comparative advantages alone will no longer suffice to create enough financial revenue for a region. Vulnerable nature destinations, especially, need to be managed with foresight.
In line with Ott, Muraca and Baatz (2011), this paper suggests that a strong environmental focus (as pursued in eco-tourism or sustainable nature-based tourism) is crucial to keep the attractiveness of a nature destination in the long run as every destination only has a limited amount of resources at its disposal (Coşar, Timur & Kozak 2015: 211) and as there is a lot of potential for fast developing competitors as nature destination do not require a lot of touristic infrastructure that needs to be build up over a longer period of time. Due to its embeddedness in entire, sensitive ecosystems (Meuser & von Peinen 2013: 91) and depending on the natural environment as major attraction, it is thus argued that nature destinations should be managed with a particularly ambitious orientation towards environmental sustainability. It is suggested that Swedish DMOs thus would do well in promoting a sustainable nature-based tourism.
3.2.2 Sustainable Destination Management Tools
The literature from the field of tourism management and green marketing, which aims at promoting products as environmentally friendly (Cox 2013: 286), suggests a wide range of managerial action possibilities that could contribute to a sustainable tourist destination and serve as a basis for communication activities. These vary from environmental policies, managing tourist streams and mediating between economic and ecological respectively social interests, to developing appropriate infrastructure and supporting sustainable hospitality businesses.
Many researchers argue that the most crucial skill for destination managers is to be aware of the destination’s “carrying capacity” before introducing any measures (McCool 2016: 104, Karlsdóttir 2013: 150; Bastmeijer & Lamers 2013: 73; Petterson 2006: 174; McCullough et al.
2018: 19; Fredman & Tyrväinen 2010: 186). According to McCool (1994) “Carrying capacity is
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frequently defined as the amount of use that can be accommodated in an area without significantly affecting its long term ability to maintain the social and biophysical attributes that produced its recreational value” (in Dolnicar, Crouch & Long 2008: 198). Thus, destination managers need to examine how many tourists at the maximum can visit the destination simultaneously and over a specific period of time so that neither the natural environment nor the host community are negatively impacted. Carrying capacity hence has an ecological and a social component (Graefe et al. 1984 in McCullough et al. 2018: 8). Capacity limits can be satisfied by constantly checking signals such as “overcrowding”, “visitor satisfaction” and
“plant and wildlife mortality rates” (McNicol 2016: 188). If the limits are not observed, the enduring congestion will eventually also result in negative economic consequences.
An efficient tool to prevent an overload of a destination is to apply what Hogne Øian et al.
(2018) call the “diversification strategy” (2018: 47). According to this, this paper suggests that marketing efforts should aim at distributing the tourists already before they decide on their holiday destination. This can be achieved if one offers and promotes a diverse range of destinations based on various locations, seasons and activities (Font & McCabe 2017: 877).
Additionally, regarding the geo tagging function of Instagram, it is increasingly recommended to not use this function if the risk is high that masses of tourist’s might be attracted to a specific location once it is promoted on social media (Holson 2018b).
Destinations like the Balearic Islands, and lately New Zealand, try to compensate negative impacts on the environment caused by congestion and reckless tourist behavior with taxes that tourists need to pay when staying at the destination (Conghaile 2018; Zeit Online 2019).
However, the success of such policies that in retrospect aim to remedy resulting damage (such as tourist taxes) cannot always be guaranteed (see Øian et al. 2018: 68).
Instead, it is suggested that the money should be used to build up (and communicate the availability of) appropriate infrastructure that enables the access to and experience of nature and simultaneously provides tourists with the possibility of acting more environmentally friendly (Dolnicar 2006: 244). Examples for such infrastructure are the provision of official parking spots, public toilets and recycle stations or the expansion of hiking trails. According to Fredman & Margayan (2014) Sweden already disposes of a good infrastructural supply (2014:
9). While an increase in infrastructure is necessary, some researchers recommend to not
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overdo the expansion of infrastructural supply as it might attract even more tourists (Øian et al. 2018: 67).
Regarding touristic infrastructure, Font and McCabe (2017) argue that most of the touristic companies in a destination need to have a sustainable approach to create an authentic, sustainable image of the entire destination (2017: 877). The certification of sustainable businesses with eco-labels can help communicating the destination’s sustainability efforts and facilitate consumer decisions (Chin, Chin & Wong 2018: 263). However, while Sweden was the first Nordic country to establish such a certification (“Nature’s Best”, see Gössling & Hultman 2006: 2), only few companies have so far used the possibility to get certified (Margaryan &
Stensland 2017: 559).
All in all, there are many possibilities for destination managers to create and promote a sustainable destination brand. Based on a defined capacity limit, policies such as the support of sustainable businesses, the provision of appropriate infrastructure and the consideration of non-industrial stakeholder’s opinions and ideas could be implemented. Again based on these, marketing strategies like presenting a diversity-rich content and promoting sustainable businesses and a good infrastructure that likewise protects the environment can eventually be developed and communicated.
Further, this literature review showed that several available destination management
strategies only attempt to minimize the impact of negative tourist behavior on the
environment and do not try to change the behavior itself. While researchers like Thirumaran
and Raghav (2017) are convinced that reducing the impacts through reducing the number of
arriving tourists (by employing a de-marketing strategy, see 2017: 408) is the only way to
protect the environment, several other researchers suggest that next to the supply-side
measures presented above, marketing efforts should also focus on educating tourists and
raising awareness for environmental issues (Ramkissoon, Weiler & Smith 2012: 260; Dolnicar,
Crouch & Long 2008: 197-198; Dolnicar 2006: 244). Therefore, the subsequent chapter will
include insights from environmental psychology to offer a holistic set of sustainable marketing
strategies that DMOs can employ.
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3.3 Motivating Pro-Environmental Behavior among Nature Tourists
Environmental psychology explores the manifold interplays between the human and the natural world (Kollmuss & Agyeman 2002: 239). Thereby, a part of the discipline is particularly interested in the determinants of pro-environmental behavior (henceforth PEB). Anja Kollmuss and Julian Agyeman (2002) define this practice as “behavior that consciously seeks to minimize the negative impact of one’s actions on the natural and built world (e.g. minimize resource and energy consumption, use of non-toxic substances, reduce waste production)”
(ibid: 240). While a vast number of studies have already been conducted in this area, providing unambiguous results, clear implementations for other disciplines (e.g. marketing and communications) remain difficult. Especially, vague definitions of the different factors (ibid:
248) as well as varying methodological approaches (ibid: 242) complicate comparing the findings. However, based on literature reviews and selected studies, several indications on which factors as of today are assumed to have a positive influence on people’s environmental behavior will be given in this chapter. These concentrate on knowledge, attitude, emotional involvement, altruism and egoistic incentives. This paper has no intention to attribute one factor a higher importance than another one. Instead the author agrees with Kollmuss and Agyeman that all components are essential to provide a holistic view on the complex interactions between them (ibid: 257). At this point it is crucial to remark that there are more factors such as a person’s gender, education, economic or social situation which have proven to have some impact on the environmental behavior (ibid: 244). As such determinants are, however, hardly prone to get influenced by a DMO’s communicative marketing campaign, they will not be considered any further.
The results from environmental psychology about the above-mentioned components will
respectively be complemented by insights from social marketing to show how communication
strategies, which are supposed to encourage a PEB, could look like. Social marketing describes
promotional actions and communication plans that intend changes in attitude and behavior
on the consumer side (Hall 2014, Cox 2013: 17). Combined with the green marketing
approaches mentioned in the previous chapter, these strategies will serve as theoretical
foundation for the subsequent analysis, which intends to prove their current implementation
in online destination marketing material.
20 3.3.1 Environmental Knowledge and Awareness
In the beginning, theories in environmental psychology considered solely cognitive processes as being decisive for the development of PEB. One of the earliest models hypothesized that the provision of cognitively processible information about environmental issues would build up knowledge. This in turn, would lead to an increased mental awareness of the human impact on the natural resources resulting in a change of behavior (Kollmuss & Agyeman 2002: 241).
However, while it is widely accepted that knowledge is one determinant of PEB, many researchers today are convinced that this influence is limited (ibid: 250) and that the mere focus on knowledge and resulting awareness ignores the impact of affective processes on behavioral outcomes (Cheng & Wu 2015: 570). Despite this wide support among environmental psychologists, some communication specialists, however, still tend to assume that only the provision of information (to increase the environmental knowledge) is enough to change people’s behavior (e.g. see Jurin, Roush & Danter 2010: 22). Robert Cox strongly criticizes these attempts and blames the failure of many campaigns on this one-sided approach (2013: 233).
Further, motivating pro-environmental behavior by activating cognitive processes will only be successful when a lot of attention is paid to what information should be presented and how.
While there is agreement that education on environmental issues is crucial, it is often said that only the simultaneous provision of proposals for specific alternative action will lead to a shift in behavior (Kruse 2011: 73; Cheng & Wu 2015: 559-560; Kollmuss & Agyeman 2002: 243).
Thus, it is suggested that the DMO’s online promotion efforts should equip the tourists with specific advices on how they could reduce their individual, negative impact on the environment at the particular destination. This also includes informing them about specific sustainable destination management measures (such as eco-labels) and using a specific sustainability vocabulary (e.g. as proposed in Schroeder & Hahn 2013: 183) to assist guiding the tourist through the manifold offers. In the particular case of Sweden, foreign visitors also need to receive clear guidelines on what rights and duties are included in the Public Right of Access (Øian et al. 2018: 73-74).
Further, studies have shown that the information provided needs to be sufficient, however, it should do without including detailed professional knowledge and terminology (Kollmuss &
Agyeman 2002: 250). Other researchers also claim that negatively constructed meanings such
as those that blame tourists for their non-sustainable behavior are less effective than
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positively framed meanings that kindly ask tourists to act more environmentally friendly (Xavier Font and Scott McCabe 2017: 874; Kollmuss & Agyeman 2002: 255).
In line with constructivist theory, it is also worth remembering that due to individual interpretations, the information provided will most likely always be perceived in a slightly different way than it was intended by the sender (Hall, Evans & Nixon 2013: 17; Godemann &
Michelsen 2011: 7). Additionally, it is hypothesized that people tend to only embrace new input that does not conflict their beliefs and values (Kollmuss & Agyeman 2002: 254-255). Both processes strongly limit the communicator’s sphere of influence.
3.3.2 Emotional Connection to the Natural Environment
Several psychological constructs devote themselves to the emotional connection human beings can adopt with their natural surroundings. However, the boundaries of these constructs are often blurred. The findings of studies that were concerned with the following three concepts are considered in this part: a) “Emotional involvement” which Kollmuss &
Agyeman describe as being “the extent to which we have an affective relationship to the natural world” (2002: 254), b) “environmental sensitivity” which Peterson (1982) called the
“affective attributes that result in an individual viewing the environment from an empathetic perspective” (in Cheng & Wu 2015: 560), and c) “place affect” which Ramkissoon, Weiler and Smith (2012) define as “the emotional bond people share with a place” (2012: 260). Although the latter concept differs more strongly from the other two as its application is not limited to natural areas only, all three concepts clearly contain some overlaps. Therefore and in consideration of the limited space in this thesis, the findings will be treated jointly to be able to make general statements about the impact affective processes have on an individual’s behavior.
Numerous studies have found that people who have an emotional connection to the natural place are more likely to show PEB than people who lack such a relation (Ramkissoon, Smith &
Weiler 2013: 447; Cheng & Wu 2015: 570; Dolnicar 2006: 249; Dolnicar, Crouch & Long 2008:
206). In their survey on PEB among national park visitors Ramkissoon, Smith and Weiler (2013)
for instance could show that place affect in contrast to (rather) cognitive-based testing
variables was the only determinant for both low and high effort PEB (2013: 447). Such findings
suggest that encouraging an emotional link between humans and nature entails a lot of
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potential to motivate people to act more environmentally friendly. This paper, hence, advises DMOs to incorporate this in their communication strategy.
However, researchers add for consideration that the emotional connection is a matter of time and will be strengthened the more often a person directly experiences the place (Beery &
Wolf-Watz 2014: 199; Ramkissoon, Smith & Weiler 2013: 446). Ramkissoon, Smith and Weiler for example hypothesize that many of their participants had high scores on place affect because the majority of their sample consisted of repeat visitors (2013: 466). Hence, according to the researchers, prompting tourists to revisit a specific nature destination could be one of the ways to increase emotional bonding (ibid: 451).
Coming back to the managerial task of providing suitable infrastructure to enable a sustainable nature-based tourism, some researchers suggest that this should also include ensuring a high ecological quality of the natural place, which then needs to be incorporated in the DMO’s communication as well. Examinations could namely show that people tend to build up a stronger emotional connection to natural spaces that are based on a well-functioning eco- system (Park et al. 2011 and Hipp & Ogunseitan 2011 in Ramkissoon, Smith & Weiler 2013:
451).
Additionally, specific signs that carry an emotional value for many people could be integrated into the DMOs messages. Such signs could be children or endangered animal species as Kollmuss & Agyeman point out in their reflection on the previous success of “campaigns to protect big mammals” (2002: 253). In line with the explanation above on the appropriate way to deliver cognitive information, this paper suggests that signs which carry affective attributes also need to be picked carefully. Instead of employing abstract symbols, the message must enable the receiver to decode the emotional value with ease. To give an example, it is hypothesized that campaigns that fight for the protection of widely unknown insects, would be less successful.
3.3.3 Sense of Group Belonging
Besides place affect, Ramkissoon, Weiler and Smith also studied the effect of “social bonding”
on PEB. According to their understanding, the term describes the interactions between
humans (e.g. tourist to local/ tourist to tourist) at a specific place (2012: 260). They ascertained
that visitors who stated to have had good relations with other people at the national park
were more likely to perform high-effort PEB at that place in the future (Ramkissoon, Smith &
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Weiler 2013: 448). Thus, marketing efforts could encourage encounters between people and add faces to their destinations. The researchers further suggest that observing other people’s PEB might support their own behavior (ibid). This effect could be mediated by delivering visual evidence that shows people engaging in environmental conservation. At this point, however, it needs to be noted that depicting groups and social interactions contrasts with Urry and Larsen’s observation on the prevalent use of the romantic gaze in nature photography (see above). Therefore, it is likely that DMO’s tend to neglect such depiction even though research supports its potential.
Gerhard Reese (2016) developed another concept suggesting increased PEB through reinforcing a person’s sense of group belonging. In contrast to only a few locally oriented social interactions, which social bonding requires, the “common human identity model” has a wider focus. The foundations of his framework lie in social identity theory and self-categorization theory. These theories suggest that individual identity building is always defined through bigger groups that the individual feels being part of (2016: 522-523). According to Reese, connecting to such groups also results in adopting the group’s needs and values. When such groups then are reassembled into bigger and even bigger clusters that eventually encompass the entire humanity, a common human identity can be created among the group members (ibid: 523). Identifying oneself with the world’s population, thus, would not only mean to be aware of but even to be sympathetic about the interests of people on the other side of the planet - including environmental concerns. He builds upon studies that ascertained a relation between people who feel being part of the group of all humans and their worries about the natural environment (Reysen & Katzarska-Miller 2013, and World Value Survey, Waves 5 and 6, 2005 - 2014 in Reese 2016: 526) and suggests that this group identity will lead to an easier recognition of environmental justice issues (ibid: 523).
As Reese mentions in 2016 (ibid: 528), and according to the research presented in this thesis,
no appropriate communication tool that could provoke a common human identity has been
developed yet. Even more, no paper from the field of environmental communication or social
marketing was found that invested in Reese’s model at all. However, as Reese - referring to a
study from Shilling, London, & Liévanos (2009) - states assessments of environmental
injustices could cause PEB as those would “help [to] raise individuals’ acceptance for certain
policies” (2016: 524). While it is unlikely that DMOs would communicate environmental justice
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issues which would risk reducing the destination’s attractiveness, this paper suggests two other ways of approaching environmental justice: the organizations could remind tourists that the local population equally wants to enjoy the nature (relating to redistribution and recognition) or they could incorporate positive messages of successful policies that for example enable local participation in the decision making (referring to representation).
Similar to the appraisal of environmental justice, it is suggested that providing an understanding of the cultural meaning natural resources entail for the local population, could increase PEB. Boehmer-Christiansen and Skea (1991) found that due to the cultural significance of forests in Germany, the local population would act more environmentally friendly in these areas (in Kollmuss & Agyeman 2002: 249). Applying the common human identity model suggests that cultural norms would equally become part of the group of all human’s value system. Hence, providing the receiver with an insight into Swedes’ cultural connection to natural resources, could motivate PEB among future tourists. Successfully applied, this could also pull down one of the greatest barriers that hinder tourists to behave eco-friendly at the touristic destination, namely - as Sara Dolnicar, Geoffrey I. Crouch and Patrick Long call it - the egoistic “unwillingness to put up with discomfort” during holidays (2008: 206).
3.3.4 Environmental Values and Egoistic Benefits of Pro-Environmental Behavior
