Tourists´ willingness to pay for green hotel practices

Abstract

It is critical to gain a better comprehension of customers’ desire to stay at eco-friendly hotels and support their efforts by paying a premium, as it can lead hotels still hesitant to become greener to start considering this possibility. This dissertation is particularly aimed to find out whether there is a relationship between environmental concerns of tourists and their willingness to pay (WTP) a premium for green hotels. The study thus explores such constructs as WTP and environmental worldviews, but also delves into preferred green hotel practices, as understanding WTP for each specific practice is important to design more efficient sustainable programs. In this study, environmental worldviews are measured by the New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) scale, which constitutes a major part of the questionnaire. The results of the study are produced primarily by means of differences between groups tests and association tests. The main finding is a strong and positive correlation between WTP and concern for the environment, but the study also provides with results on amount of premium guests are ready to pay, preferred green practices, and a brief profile of environmentally conscious customers. These findings will be particularly interesting for hoteliers, as they can use this information for altering their marketing and pricing strategies. Besides, hotel managers should notice that, for conscious customers, hotel experience is more than just a stay and should satisfy their beliefs and values. Hotels are therefore encouraged to include guests’ environmental worldviews to target market analysis to adjust investments in sustainable practices.