ABSTRACT

Consumption paradoxes create challenges for truly sustainable production and consumption practices across industries. This is also visible in tourism. Although today’s consumers have a greater consciousness of their own environmental footprints, demand for leisure travel appears insatiable as expressed in constantly growing international tourism until 2019. With the aim to achieve transformation towards more sustainability in future tourism, the lens has turned towards the consumer’s central role in the fulfilment of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. This article puts experienced tourists into the spotlight and aims to explore whether and how the experienced tourist’s desire for eudaemonic and immersive experiences can contribute to more sustainable travel patterns. It adopts a supply-demand perspective through a mixed-methods research design implemented in Germany and New Zealand. Results demonstrate that tourists with higher self-assessed experience levels are more likely to travel for eudaemonic reasons and adopt sustainable travel patterns compared to less experienced tourists. This article argues that experienced tourists are central in the transformation towards more sustainable tourism futures and that a better understanding of them is needed. These novel insights advance theory and practice, contributing to closing existing knowledge gaps related to sustainable consumption in a tourism context.

摘要

消费悖论为真正创造了挑战跨行业的可持续生产和消费实践。这在旅游业中也可见一斑。虽然今天的消费者对自己的环境足迹有了更高的认识，但到 2019 年，国际旅游业不断增长，休闲旅游的需求似乎无法满足。 为了实现未来旅游业向更具可持续性的转型，镜头已转向消费者的中心在实现联合国可持续发展目标方面的作用。本文将有经验的游客置于聚光灯下，旨在探讨有经验的游客对真实和沉浸式体验的渴望是否以及如何有助于实现更可持续的旅行模式。它通过在德国和新西兰实施的混合方法研究设计采用供需视角。结果表明，与经验不足的游客相比，自我评估体验水平较高的游客更有可能出于幸福的原因旅行并采用可持续的旅行模式。本文认为，经验丰富的游客是向更可持续的旅游未来转型的核心，需要更好地了解他们。这些新颖的见解推进了理论和实践，有助于缩小与旅游环境中可持续消费相关的现有知识差距。本文认为，经验丰富的游客是向更可持续的旅游未来转型的核心，需要更好地了解他们。这些新颖的见解推进了理论和实践，有助于缩小与旅游环境中可持续消费相关的现有知识差距。本文认为，经验丰富的游客是向更可持续的旅游未来转型的核心，需要更好地了解他们。这些新颖的见解推进了理论和实践，有助于缩小与旅游环境中可持续消费相关的现有知识差距。