The attitude–behaviour gap in sustainable tourism

• Environmental activists understand the effects of pollution and climate change.
• But even environmental activists harm the environment by going on vacation.
• They perceive tension or guilt (cognitive dissonance) about this fact, and
• construct beliefs to reduce this tension without changing behaviour.
• Six groups of such beliefs are identified and illustrated.

This study investigates why people who actively engage in environmental protection at home engage in vacation behaviour which has negative environmental consequences, albeit unintentionally. The environmental activists participating in the study were highly aware of the negative environmental consequences of tourism in general, but all displayed an attitude–behaviour gap which made them feel uncomfortable. Participants did not report changing their behaviour; instead, they offered a wide range of explanations justifying their tourist activities. Gaining insight into these explanations contributes to our understanding of why it is so difficult to motivate people to minimize the negative environmental impacts of their vacations, and represents a promising starting point for new interventions to reduce environmentally unsustainable tourism behaviours.