Why Tourists Are Going Green Tourism Essay

Published Date: 23 Mar 2015

Why tourists are going green?

With increasing environmental awareness and consciousness of tourists and tourism businesses, there has been a growing trend towards green practices. The advancement of new technologies has made people in a better position to acquire information in less time required, where effective decision making are being made. Going green is a necessity for most of the people, hotels, airlines and tourist visiting places, as people nowadays are more concern for the environment. If the tourist can make the effort to be green at his place so what happens when he goes travelling? This is where hotels are more and more adopting green practices, when planning for your trip, in one click, people can view on internet the different practices the hotels are using. "There is a growing amount of evidence indicating that consumers are choosing products or avoiding others based on their impact on the natural environment" ( Mohr and Webb 2005; Tilikidou 2007).

Hotels are initially located in places of exceptionally natural beauty, in historic cities and in places which are developing their tourism sector, it is seen that hotels are doing more harm to the environment and an unlimited exploitation of limited resources. As per the statistics of the UNWTO, 2011, there were 980 million tourist arrivals worldwide and this is predicted to augment in the years to come. This increase of travelers has put the natural environment in a difficult situation: water consumption, energy, waste management, loss of biodiversity, food and an effective management of cultural and natural heritage areas which are significant for the promotion of a sustainable green tourism industry. This is where the hotel industry is more and more adopting green practices whereby satisfying the consumer's new trends and being environment consciousness.

1.2 Why hotels need to be eco-friendly?

Environmental issues have indeed taken a huge place in the day to day operations in many tourism businesses, including Mauritius. Hotels such as Le Prince Maurice, Hilton, Beachcomber, Lux* Belle Mare, recently Voila Bagatelle, has since some years started to follow the green principles and many of them have been awarded for that. (Appendix A) Consumer behavior is an important factor for the hotels in order to attract and retain their customers. Hotels have various reasons why they need to be eco-friendly such as a feeling of social responsibility, governmental regulations, and economic benefits (Bohdanowicz, 2006). Nevertheless, as the amount of green hotels continues to augment, current research about consumers' opinions of them is lacking (Lee, Hsu, Han & Kim, 2010).

With the new trend of consuming green, hotels are taking into consideration consumer's opinions about the environment by incorporating them in their management/marketing decision-making (Bohdanowicz, 2006; Lee, Hsu, Han & Kim, 2010; Mensah, 2006). This is where it is noted that the promotion of green principles do lead to the hotel's competitive advantage in the tourism industry. If the customers had a nice experience during their stay, where they will come again to the hotel, whereby being loyal to it and to its environment practiced that have implemented (Graci & Dodds, 2008). Hence, it is seen that it is a must for hotels to be in the level of most customers expectations.

Moreover, hotels are not implementing green concepts just because of being environment conscious, it is also the fact that the trend has been that tour operators has increased their attention within this industry. Although tourism provides business opportunities for local companies, it nevertheless has an impact on the natural environment. With the growing of mass tourism, the effects of the development of tourism in certain regions which used to be untouched environment have caused many problems. As a result, the progress of so-called 'green' hotels has become one of the more important recent innovations in the tourist sector. Green hotels may be distinguished from ordinary hotels in that they aim to use products and services that minimize the consumption of water and energy, and reduce the output of solid waste, in order to protect the environment from the further depletion of its natural resources (GHA, 2010) Imported lifestyle is not always desired by the host community so this is also why hotels try to integrate themselves to the lifestyle of the people.

1.3 Mauritius: tourism sector

Tourism is the third pillar of the economic sector in Mauritius and it has from years now been reputed for its 3S, that is Sea, Sun and Sand. Mauritius has actually around 115 hotels with and arrival of 950,000 (CSO, 2011). People from different origins have been building infrastructures on the natural escapes of Mauritius, consciously or not to form a new nation. With time the island has experience degradation in terms of natural & cultural resources and it is seen from the types of tourists coming to Mauritius which has changed. More and more, the types of tourists coming to Mauritius expect to have some aspects of green elements in the hotel they are staying.

The green revolution has impacted all facets of the society and all sectors of the global economy. Tourism brings both positive and negative impacts for a country, thus sustainable development is important for an island which rely much on its tourism sector. Day by day people are being more alert about environmental issues, terms such as eco-friendly, recycling are being integrated in daily tasks for the preservation of the environment. With worldwide consciousness and trend of being eco-friendly, Mauritius also has launched a new concept that is Maurice ile Durable (MID), 11 April 2011. MID is a vision and mission whereby it is explained by being more environment conscious, such as developing in a sustainable way with our limited resources. For example, a recent campaign was "To zeT to taC", whereby this was a strategy from the government to protect the environment by preventing people to throw rubbish anywhere they want.

Thus, with the limited resources available, the increasing pollution and with the increase of non biodegradable wastes, this is where also the MID project has arisen. Although as per the environment protection act of 2003 by the Ministry of Environment, most of the hotels in Mauritius must have waste water treatment plans, yet many of the hotels do not follow the rules and do not adopt good environment practices. Mauritius has often been criticized for the fact of engaging into enclave tourism, but the enclave model has been to certain extent an advantage where it was restricting the number of visitors and their activities to specific areas, away from local people, thus at least limiting the negative impact of tourism (Kokkranikal et al., 2003).

Much research has been done to sustainability of countries but none of them has precisely adapted it to a local context, an island. Hotels in Mauritius are largely dependent on the physical environment in which it operates, where resorts usually use its physical environment as part of its unique selling proposition. Thus, for the purpose of this research the study will lay emphasis of tourists' perception/motivation on green aspects in a local context whereby diversifying from the normal context of Sea Sun and Sand which attract mass tourism to the island. This study will take more into consideration a type of niche market which caters more for green aspects.

1.4 The need of this study

During my 6 months internship in Seychelles, it has made me conscious to be surrounded by such a natural environment and this is where while choosing the subject of the dissertation, it was obvious the study of green arises for the context of Mauritius.

Tourist motivation and behaviors are often determined, in part, by the desire for an environmental learning experience and this is where the aims of this study are to analyze:

An analysis of consumers traditional way of choosing a conventional hotel and consumers choosing a green hotel

The extent to which consumers are willing to pay (WTP) for green practices

Factors influencing tourists attitudes and behavior towards green practices - responsible tourists

Analyzing consumer behavior - Theory of Planned behavior

The extent to which green practices forms part of the organizational culture of the hotel and how will it benefit in a the long term perspective

To what extent is green practices a competitive advantage for the company

1.5 The dissertation consist 5 main parts, namely,

Chapter one: Introduction

The introduction will highlight some factors of why consumers and hotels are adopting some green principles.

Chapter two: Literature Review

This chapter will provide an overview of the some previous research, theories, models that were used, and which will also be used for the purpose of this study. This section will as well cover some main research on consumer behavior and green tourism.

Chapter 3: Research Methodology

This section will describe the various methods of how this study shall be conducted: surveys, pilot testing, sample size, constraints, primary and secondary sources of data. It will also consist of developing the questionnaire to understand consumer behavior in green tourism.

Chapter 4: Analysis and Discussion

In this chapter, the results obtain during the survey, shall be analyzed and hypotheses will be explained. It will also analyze to what extent tourist are willing to go green.

Chapter 5: Recommendation and conclusion

This section will give recommendation to the problem found during the research, improve certain ways of doing things in hotels in Mauritius so as it can operate smoothly to achieve customer satisfaction.

Chapter 2

Literature Review

This chapter has the purpose of giving an overview on previous research work, theories and models used to for the completion of this study. The first part will illustrate some reviews of some main research within the hospitality industry. The second part will describe some theories concerning consumer behavior and the final section will talk about effectiveness of this study as well as the hypotheses.

"The most important thing is to forecast

where customers are moving and to be

in front of them."

(Philip Kotler)

Green Tourism

2.1 Tourism- sustainable development

To understand why responsible tourism has been pointed as the solution to the negative impact of tourism, we shall first look at some concepts tourism sustainable development. The concept of tourism development has been formed in equivalent with that of sustainable development which was influenced by some major events such as: Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA, 1973) conference 'Tourism Builds a Better Environment', followed by the World Tourism Organisation (WTO) publication of Manila Declaration on World tourism in 1980 and the adaptation of Agenda 21 for the travel and tourism industry. The principles for sustainable tourism (WTO, 1995) were produced during the conference which was held in Lanzarote and where the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development recommended national governments, along with the private sector and stakeholder, to work towards the formulation and adoption of a global code of ethics for tourism as recommended in the Manila Declaration.

The theory of sustainable tourism development has been debated by many authors such as Garrod and Fyall (1998), Swarbrooke (1999) on its appropriate definition, but the simplest one adheres to the one closely to the wording of the Brundland report from which has evolved - tourism: ". . . meets the needs of present tourists and host regions while protecting and enhancing opportunity for the future" (WTO, no date). However, this definition is easy to understand yet to some extent it can be interpreted as others, it may both be as strength and its weakness as well. As per the study of McKercher, 1993, debate this definition, as both industry and conservation movements can ". . . legitimize and justify their existing activities and policies although, in many instances, they are mutually exclusive . . . thus exacerbating rather than resolving development/conservation conflicts". Other studies such as Godfrey (1998:214) avoid the debate by proposing that sustainable tourism ". . . not an end in itself, nor a unique or isolated procedure, but rather an interdependent function of a wider and permanent socio-economic development process".

The tourism development of the hotel industry in Mauritius faces much challenge due to the importance the government lay on its competitiveness as a regional player and thus it makes an interesting case to study. In this context, the government has developed the National Tourism Development Plan (NTDP) in 2002 (amended in 2008 for improvements) where it reinforces the island's previous and current position as high- quality and up market tourist destination (Deloitte & Touche, 2002). It was implemented due to the fact that the government was concerned about the impacts of tourism on the fragile Mauritius's ecosystems. And thus, it is seen from recent years, Mauritius has changes its ideal model of Sea- Sand-Sun model of bringing mass tourism into a more niche market whereby nowadays more and more hotels in Mauritius are engaging in green practices.

2.2 Reasons hotels are going green

Green practice research has grown steadily since the 1970s (Hartmann and Ibanez, 2006). Before going into details the reasons why hotels engage in green practices, let us first define what a green hotel is. According to the Green Hotel Association (GHA, 2008), green hotels are environmentally friendly lodging facilities which employ management that participate in and initiate environmentally sustainable programs. Products are defined as "environmentally-friendly" if in some way they aim at reducing a product's negative environmental impact. Programs such as water saving techniques, energy reduction, and waste consolidation are frequently used within green hotels.

The hotel industry has always been judge, to be a dirty industry in the sense that it releases toxic materials or causes gross pollution into the environment but it is like any other service sector companies. The success of tourism, as well as the hotel industry, largely depends on the availability of a clean environment. Hotels cause damages to the environment such as: consumes valuable raw materials such as energy, water, food, plastics of which require disposable, a number of undesirable emissions including CO2, CFCs, noise, etc. But all these is cause by its location, as for example, since the hotel may be situated in a unique place, it might require the use of private car rather than public transport, this might be unimportant and yet significant when added together. Consumption of environmental resources in an unbalanced manner creates overburden on the supporting environment. In combination with the general concept of environmental industries, green hotels rely on natural lodging facilities using operation techniques that have a minimum impact on the environment, while maintaining their business environment to provide clients with green products, green services, and living environments that are natural, healthy, clean, and comfortable. Clients thus are educated about nature and the history of protecting as they lodge (Tourism Council Australia Jointly with Commonwealth of Australia, 1998; Green Hotels Association, 2002; The state Economic and Trade Commission, 2003).

According to Foster et al. (2000), the hospitality and tourism industry is under pressure to become more environmentally friendly from the following forces:

Consumer demand;

Increasing environmental regulation;

Managerial concern with ethics;

Customer satisfaction

Maintenance issues related to the physical plant; and

The need for aesthetics.

2.2.1 Consumer Demand

Within the hotel sector, increasing numbers of customer prefer to choose a green lodging facility that follows environmentally friendly practices, showing concern about the seriousness of ecological degradation (Han, Hsu, & Sheu, 2010; Manaktola & Jauhari, 2007). Taking into consideration the interest of consumers need of being eco-friendly, nowadays many hotel firms seek to integrate customers' rising concerns about the environment in their management/marketing decision making (Bohdanowicz 2006; Lee, Hsu, Han, & Kim, 2010; Mensah 2006). Consumers being conscious about the environment, this creates the demand for the green hotel niche. Since demand for green hotel attributes are rising, current consumers attitudes and perceptions are important to study (Bohadanowicz, 2006). In the study of Manaktola & Juahari, 2007, a survey was conducted among Indian lodging consumers about their attitudes towards green practices in the lodging industry in India and it was found that 22 percent of the respondents seek out environmental properties.

For hotel operators, it is a must to understand what are the attributes guest are looking for, in order to make their hotel attractive and retain them. Studies have also shown that policies and practices geared toward managing and improving the environment can enhance a destination and consequently a lodging property's competitiveness (Hassan, 2000; Mihalic, 2000; Huybers, 2003). Research works has shown that hotels offering green characteristics may experience higher customer retention rates as consumers are devoted to a particular hotel and the environmental practices in place (Graci & Dodds, 2008). Moreover the article of Shaw, 2000, has shown that the Colony Hotel located in Maine found that their occupancy increased by one fourth when they began positioning themselves as a green hotel. For this reason it seems right and beneficial for lodging facilities to adopt policies and practices aimed at reducing the overall negative impact on the environment (Claver- Cortes et al, 2007).

2.2.2 Cost Cutting & Competitive advantage

There are various motives for a company or a hotel to be driven by green initiatives: the need to keep competitiveness, or using green initiatives to invest profitability; legitimization, or the company's need for improvement based on established regulations, values, norms and beliefs; and ecological responsibility, or the need for the form to meet its social obligations (Bansal and Roth, 2002). In the hospitality and tourism industry, academic works on the subject of environmental management, environmental pressures for change are often discuss, but most of the time it is focus on reducing costs and saving resources to stop future cost issues. This may be due to the obsession with high fixed costs and low return on investment typical of this industry (International Hotels Environment Initiative in 1993 and 1995), Kirk (1997), Middleton and Hawkins (1998), Green Globe (1994), Forte (1994), Ton et al. (1996).

Willingness to adopt green practices for hotel properties appear to be beneficial and business driven, as well as for consumers who have various reasons for going green and purchasing green products and services. Thus, it is likely that lodging operations as business entities will assess the financial viability of investing in green initiatives. Hence, hotels will take up green initiatives if they lead to profitability factors such as cost savings, competitive advantages, employee loyalty, increased customer satisfaction and retention, or if they facilitate the hotel to comply with, or circumvent governmental regulations or minimize exposure to operational risks. Across Asia, many independent hotels have also engaged in green practices as one of their core strategies. Damaí Lovina Villas in Bali, Indonesia, for example, has effectively reduced cost by reducing waste and energy usage. The resort partners with a local research center that gives the resort with environmentally safe agricultural and household products. The resort's restaurant use 80% of its ingredients from its own organic garden and local farm. The farm has been able to reduce its crop production costs by 90% and increase crop production by 20% by practicing sustainable farming, such as using permaculture to reduce water consumption and increase crop health and using composting instead of using chemical fertilizers. Using recycling practices has led the resort to eliminate the need to send solid waste to a landfill seven hours away (Ernst & Young, no date). This fact has also been demonstrated by the study of Graci & Dodds, 2008, that hotels can make considerable cost cutting in operating costs by engaging in green techniques.

The first example of an environmentally friendly expansion with a cost-savings benefit was the appearance of cards in hotel rooms, such as in Mauritius, the first hotel was with Coco Beach hotel which use this system in 1998. This was an "easy win" for the hotels as cost savings were made for virtually zero outlay (Ernst & Young, no date). By implementing green practices, it means to say that hotel is changing its habits whereby it will have to do investment in green habits that are usually different from conventional hotel (Kasmin, 2004) and hence, from a business standpoint, such investments must be acceptable and result in economic benefits and advantages for the lodging facility. Chief among these benefits is cost saving (Cheyne and Barnett, 2001; Rivera, 2002; Gonzalez-Benito and Gonzalez-Benito, 2005; Lynes and Dredge, 2006; Graci and Dodds, 2008). In fact, cost advantages in the form of financial savings are one of the most important factors that determine whether a company implements environmental initiatives (Graci and Dodds, 2008).

In the hotel industry, employee turnover is one of the biggest problems of the hoteliers. It has been found in studies, employee involvement in eco-friendly practices lead to a reduction in the turnover of the cost of the property. Employees feel themselves engage in the hotel practices whereby making them loyal and also being environment conscious (Graci & Dodds, 2008). This also avoid the hotels the cost of hiring and training new employees. Hence, hotel properties can construct competitive advantage for themselves.

"Sustainable competitive advantage exists with the ownership or a valuable resource that allows the organizations to perform better or more efficient than their competitors" (Graci & Dodds, 2008, p. 256).

Engaging in green practices, has also led the hotels to attract more customers. Customers are very much conscious of the environment nowadays, they feel themselves more comfortable staying in a good environment instead of a purely conventional one (Gustin and Weaver, 1996). This engagement also leads hotels to have a good image, such as in Mauritius, "Le Prince Maurice" from the Constance group is very much known for its green practices both locally and internationally and each year it has many repeated customers which come because of the principles that it is engaged in.

Reasons consumers are going green

Responsible tourists

In the study of Poon (1993) and Urry (1995), it was argued that mass tourism will soon come to an end, tourism, in whichever way is practiced or presented, is still massive. Many studies have argued about the alternative fact, or the term, of tourist being more responsible/ ecotourism/ green consumerism, while being on holidays. A person consuming green products or being a responsible tourist, as per the study of Wood and House, 1991, define the alternative as being 'good tourists', Swarbrooke, 1999, as 'green tourists'. Swarbrooke also discuss on the level of a person of being green. The description is explained below.

Table 1: Shades of green tourists

Not at all green

Light green

Dark green

Totally green

Read what brochures say about green issues and about sustainable tourism

Think about

green issues

and try to

reduce

normal water

consumption

in

destinations

where water

is scarce, for

example

Consciously

seek to find

out more

about

particular

issues and to

become

more actively

involved in

the issue, by

joining a

pressure

group, for

example

Use public

transport to

get to

destination

and to travel

around, while

on holiday

Boycott

hotels and

resorts which

have a poor

reputation on

environmental issues

Pay to go on

a holiday to

work on a

conservation

project

Not take

holidays

away from

home at all

so as not to

harm the

environment

in any way,

as a tourist

Source: (Swarbrooke: 1999)

As it is shown in the above table, Swarbrooke has shown that there are different levels of 'greenness', on the other hand the table illustrate only the environmental issues. According to Swarbrooke the totally green consumer would not go on holiday because of his consciousness of the environment; however this will surely have an impact on the multiplier effect in the economy, such as for an island which relies mainly on tourism. Yet this model has many other contradictions, as for example, a person who works on an environmental project and he uses his personal transport to go to work, where will he be placed? Some parents, being psycho centric, not willing his children being exposed to other cultures, which category do they fit in? Also, the model shows also only one unique way of going, from light green to dark green.

Environmental concern or green consumerism was defined in a study as "the degree to which people are aware of problems regarding the environment and support efforts to solve them and or indicate the willingness to contribute personally to their solution", (Dunlap and Jones; 2002, 285). Other studies have shown that knowledge about the environment generally motivates ecologically and environmentally responsible consumer behavior in disparate parts of the world (Haron, Paim and Yahaya 2005; Lee and Mascardo 2005; Fryxell and Lo 2003).

2.2 Reason Purchasing green products and Influencing factors

According to Kaplan (1991), the state of one's knowledge about an issue significantly influences one's decision making regarding that issue. In the study of Ibrahim, Aliagha, and Khoo's in 1999 has concluded that information and awareness about recycling were both important predictor of environmentally behavior. Based on Ajzen's (1988) theory of planned behavior consumers' environmental purchasing intensions and behavior may be influenced by a number of factors, such as the individual's knowledge and motivation, the ability to perform the behavior and the opportunity to behave in an environmentally-friendly way (Pieters, 1989; Olander and Thogersen, 1995). A Canadian Study (Laroche, 2002) found that people who were highly informed about environmental issues were more willing to pay a premium price for green products. However, another study (Tilikidou, 2007) found that consumers would buy green products when there were no price differences.

Even though consumers have expressed concerns about the environment, these concerns have not translated into purchase or consumption of green products or services (Wong et al, 1996; Peattie, 1999; Crane, 2000). As Johri and Sahasakmontri, 1998; and Lubieniechi, 2002 discuss in their research work, it is also the fact that consumers often perceive many green or eco-friendly products or services as expensive and unattractive, mainly when the latter is compared to non-green products and services. Although it has been found that some consumers may, for example, accept a lower functional performance in order to buy a product that delivers environmental benefits, the environmental benefits in itself is neither the primary benefit sought nor the primary motivation for purchase (Speer, 1997; Ottman 2001.) "Green's is seldom the over-riding determinant of product or brand choice but just another benefit or attribute that adds value, usually a 'feel good' factor to the overall product" ( Wong et al, 1996, p. 269).

Furthermore, consumers seems to be price sensitive when purchasing green products and services (Madese. 1991), and are usually not willing to pay a premium for such items (Wasik, 1992; Manaktola and Jauhari, 2007; kasim, 2004). Consumers who buy green or environmentally friendly products and services must perceive the quality as equal or superior to the usefulness provided by traditional non-green ones. This is important as customers are unwilling to accept a lower quality green product or service especially at a higher price (D'Souza et al, 2006).

Moreover, it was found in research works, many people prefer to stay at a green hotel for an educational purpose. As it was define by the Commonwealth Department of tourism (1994, p.17),

'Ecotourism is nature-based tourism that involves education and interpretation of the natural environment and interpretation of the natural environment and is managed to be ecologically sustainable.'

This definition recognizes that 'natural environment' includes cultural components and that 'ecologically sustainable' involves an appropriate return to the local community and long-term conservation of the resource. Green hotels, is a source of learning opportunity for consumers which are naturally curious and crave for knowledge. It is a sort of new experience and benefit for the consumers. In a study in New Zealand, it was found that over 75 percent of its survey had a positive observations of ecotourism locations and "agreed that ecolabels" should be used (Fairweather et al., 2005). In Mauritius, hotels such as the Lux Belle Mare, display much information about its green practices where people can see and read and makes their own opinion about such practices. This not only expands people's knowledge about the environment, but allows them to visually connect the information and see how it is applied within the hotel.

Staying is a green hotel usually makes the person a sense of positive feeling of having done something good to the environment and this feeling make the consumer to frequent the same hotel again (Manaktola & Jauhari, 2007). In this way, hotels, having a certificate or accreditation on environmental protection, benefit a lot from customer retention and as well consumers benefit from a unique experience in staying in a protected environment. Lam and Hsu (2006) agree on the frequency of certain types of past behavior had a direct influence on behavioral intention when choosing a destination, while Lee and Choi (2009) showed that past experience was an accurate predictor of behavioral intention in the hospitality and tourist sectors.

Consumers' values and beliefs need to be taken into consideration when examining the influences that affect the purchasing decisions (Hoyer and MacInnis, 2004). Environmental values play a primary role in pro-environmental behavior: values affect people's beliefs which then have influences on personal norms that lead to consumers' pro-environmental behaviors (Reser and Betrupperbaumer, 2005; Stern, 200). In the Study of Mainieri et al. (1997) it was found that consumer beliefs were "positive predictors of (1) the number and type of goods purchased because of their environmental claims, (2) the impact of environmental safety on respondents' purchase decisions, and (3) general environmental buying behaviors" (p. 199). Thus, in Mauritius, that is a local context, it is found that this fact can be seen by the number of people who buys the various products found in the local market in Port Louis. There is green and non- green products, many tourists were seen to buy craft products which are more environmentally friendly. Concerning hotels, as per the hotel Lux Belle Mare, the tourists involve themselves in the green environment to adapt themselves by protecting the environment. Thereby also meaning that image strongly influences a consumer's decision-making process and behavior by offering mental shortcuts when processing purchase data (Kotler & Gertner, 2002).

2.2.1 Demographics

The trend of tourist arrival in Mauritius is mainly the Europe market and from hotel statistics it is mostly old persons and repeating ones. Numerous studies have made attempts to identify demographic variables that correlate with environmental consumption. Using demographic charateristics as a predictor of green perception is a common tool for green consumer profiling as demograhic information is relatively easy to obtain (Diamantopoulos, Schlegelmilch, Sinkovics, & Bohlen, 2003) and is considered an easy method to identify market segmentation (Straughan & Roberts, 1999). Age, Gender, education, income, and family size have been found to be significantly correlated with environmental behavior (Roberts 1996; Roberts and Bacon 1997; Schwartz and Miller 1991).

Studies have found that young adults are influence by their children in adopting green practices. Research work has shown that women are generally the key target for environment friendly products as they often make purchase for housework on behalf of men and also they are more environment conscious (Diamantopoulos et al,2003 and Davidson and Freudenburg, 1996). Moreover, the development of distinct gender roles has led most researchers to argue that women are more likely than men to hold attitudes consistent with green movement because women will, as a result of social development and sex role differences, more carefully consider the impact of their actions on others (Gronhoj and Olander 2007; Dietz, Kalof, and Sterm 2002). Thus, showing that females are more willing to stay at a green hotel compared to males. Nowadays, being environment conscious or taking a particular interest in it is becoming commonplace in todays's society and gender difference no long exist (Haanpää, 2007). In the US, children and teens are usually more concerned than adults about the environment, and are well-informed about green alternatives. Increasingly, they influence their parents' purchasing decisions. Equally importantly, millions of them will reach adulthood in the next decade, and gain purchasing power of their own. This fact has been discussed in the Study of Haanpää (2007) whereby it illustrates that commitment to green initiatives increased with age. Another demographic factor that can be taken into consideration is marital status and green perception. Diamantopoulos et al. (2003), for example, suggest that there are no perceived differences of green attitudes between married couples and unmarried individuals. On the other hand, Loroche et al. (2001) concluded that married couples, specifically married people with children, are more WTP for purchasing green products, and presume the reason is that married couples are more concern about the negative impacts on the environment because of its impact on their spouses and their children.

Another factor, that might influence puchasing green products is the level of income. Many studies state the fact that higher income has a positive relation with green consumption (Arcury & Christianson, 1990; Van Liere & Dunlap, 1981.) With a position of high income it is assume that the customer is in better place to acquire more information and thus more willing to protect the environment. Individuals with higher income levels can can bear the marginal incrase in costs associated with supporting green causes and favoring green product offerings. On the other hand, previous studies also demonstrated that with higher income, people enjoy more leisure and thus leading to less environment protection. However, in recent studies such as Haanpää (2007), it is shown that there was no statistically significant relationship between income level and environmental concern. The lack of a statistically significant relationship between income level and environmental concern, in addition to between gender and environmental concern, could be due to environmental initiatives becoming more common place in today's society, as environmental initiatives are being embraced by members of both sexes and all income brackets equally.

Education has played an important role in the adoption of green practices. In many studies there is a positive relationship between the level of education and environmental concern. The higher the level of education, the higher the level of commitment to green practices. Younger generations have a greater interest in green commitment as they are growing with the environment and thereby seeing the degradation will increase by they age (Haanpää, 2007; Maloney, Ward, & Braucht 1975; Van Liere & Dunlap, 1980; Straughan & Roberts, 1999). Now that light has been shed on who the green consumer is, it is critical to discuss the green consumer's commitment to their beliefs and their willingness to pay (WTP).

2.2.2 Willingness To Pay a green hotel or conventional one

Eco-tourism in Mauritius is not as in other countries, it has a different meaning. Mauritius has few sites which are preserved but the hotel industry does lay a lot emphasis on protecting the nature. Increasing environmental responsibility arouses implementation of environmental management in hotel industry. Environmental performance in Mauritius, in a local context, is well below the islands in the Indian Ocean and hence, this is why the Mauritian government is laying emphasis to preserve the environment.

The hotel industry, in real situations, green hotel prices are not much different from that of conventional hotels (non-green hotel). The main interest of hoteliers is whether the customers are WTP normal prices for green hotel where they would have small conveniences during their stay, such as reusing towels, limited use of disposal products, use of recycle products/furniture, recycling bins, buffet-style foods without garnishes, meeting tables without tablecloths, minimized décor, non-smoking areas, dispensers for soap/shampoo, etc... (Han et al., 2009; Manaktola & Jauhari, 2007). In some research work, it was found that hotels charge a higher price for their environmentally friendly products in order to recover the addition costs incurred in the production, marketing and disposal. This may include the initial set-up costs of new or alternative more environmentally-friendly production processes and distribution; the cost of product recapture, remanufacture and reuse; or to recover the indirect costs of not (at least initially) achieving economies of scale (Wong et al., 1996; Fuller, 1999; Peattie, 1999a, b).

Consumers may want to buy eco-friendly products but they are faced with constraints or conflicts that generate this resistance in adopting pro-environmental behavior. For example, consumers are faced with conflicts such as they want to consume green products but still want to maintain their existing life style (Schwartz, 1990; McDaniel and Rylander, 1993). It was noted in the study of Wong and al, 1996, product performance plays an important role in influencing the consumer adoption and retention of environmental products. When consumers are uncertain of the relative performance of environmental products or a performance gap exists (i.e. consumer expectations of the product's performance have not match up to in-use experience), this may strongly influence the product's acceptance. Nevertheless, Yu (2003) found that consumers often say that they are willing to buy green products, but in actual purchase situations they consider the price, appearance, and functionality before checking the environmental status of a product.

On the other hand, there are some consumers who are more receptive to environmental products and buy them through choice, as well as a segment who are WTP more for the environmental benefit. In a research work of 907 residents of a North-American city, Laroche et al. (2001) found that consumers who were WTP more for green products found the current ecological issues to be severe. Even though our knowledge about consumers' approval of paying a higher price for environmentally-friendly products appears to be inconsistent and inconclusive, it has often been found that consumers will pay on average around 5 percent more (Schwartz, 1990; Kapelianis et al., 1996; Speer, 1997). There also appears to be a group of consumers who WTP significantly more than 5 percent for environmental benefits (Reinhardt, 1998). And, it may be as much as 20 percent or more (Roper Organisation, 1990 Starch Worldwide, 1997). This may occur when the environmental benefits are perceived to create private benefits from which the consumer either exclusively, or directly and personally benefits from, rather than public goods that benefit society as a whole (Ottman, 1992; Gallaghr and Kennedy, 1997; Marcus, 2001).

2.3 Decision Process

Service consumers are likely to adopt a different approach in their purchase decision, unlike the traditional decision making process of goods. The service approach is much more focused upon consumption after the choice of the 'product' compared to the traditional one which concentrates upon antecedents of consumption. The theory of planned behavior (TPB) was designed to predict and explain human behavior in a specific context (Ajzen, 1991). The structure of TPB deals with the nature of behavior-specific factors. Research work has shown that consumers are likely engage in certain type of behavior if they think their behavior will result in particular valued outcomes, if they believe their significant referents (e.g family, friends and co-workers) will value the particular behavior and if they believe they have the resources, abilities or opportunities necessary to conduct the specific behavior (Ajzen, 11985, 1991; Lam &s, 2006).

Behavioral intention is the main focus in the TPB. Behavioral intention is an indication of an individual's likelihood to undertake a particular behavior, and it is an immediate antecedent of behavior (Ajzen, 1985). Since the relationship between intention and actual behavior is not always in accordance, intention can be used as the best predictor of behavior (Ajzen, 1985, 1991; Lam & Hsu, 2004). According to Azjen (1991), normally, the stronger an individual's intention to conduct a certain behavior, the more likely the individual will be to perform the behavior. According to the theory, this intention is formed based on attitudes toward the behavior, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control.

The first behavior of intention, attitude toward the behavior, can be defined as an individual's overall evaluation of the specific behavior (Ajzen, 1991, 2009).The theory indicates that two constructs work closely to form attitude, namely beliefs about the consequences of engaging in a certain behavior (behavioral beliefs) and the corresponding favorable or unfavorable judgments about the possible consequences of the behavior (outcome evaluation) (Ajzen, 1991; Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980).

The second behavior of intention, in the TPB, is subjective norms. Subjective norm is the perceived social pressure on an individual to engage or not to engage in a target behavior (Ajzen, 1991, 2009). It is assumed that subjective norm is agreed on by the total set of accessible normative beliefs concerning the expectations of important referents and the motivation to comply with the significant referents' opinions about the behavior (motivation to comply) ( Ajzen, 1991; Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980).

The last predictor of intention in the TPB is perceived behavioral control. Perceived behavioral control refers to people's perceptions of their ability to perform a given behavior. It is assumed that perceived behavioral control is determined by the total set of accessible control beliefs, i.e, beliefs about the existence of features that may facilitate or impede performance of the behavior. Specifically, the strength of each control belief is weighted by the perceived power of the control factor, and the products are aggregated. To the extent that it is a precise indication of actual behavioral control, perceived behavioral control can, together with intention be used to predict behavior (Azjen, 1991; Huchting et al, 2008; Lam & Hsu, 2006).

http://people.umass.edu/aizen/images/tpb.png

Source: http://people.umass.edu/aizen/tpb.diag.html#null-link

Figure 1: Diagram of TPB as per Icek Ajzen

The theory is an extended version of the theory of reasoned action (TRA). The TRA adequately predicts a person's behavior in a certain context, researchers agree that the prediction is accurate only when the specific behavior is completely under volitional control (e.g Han et al., 2010; Huchting et al., 2008; Lee & Black, 2007; Oh & Hsu, 2001). Consumers who consider themselves environmentally conscious but are unwilling to pay a premium for a green hotel demonstrate that their attitude or belief towards what green hotels do for the environment is not strong enough to be worth an extra percentage of the room rate (Manaktola & Jauhari, 2007). Below is a figure whereby demonstrating the interaction between the TRA and TPB models (Han & Kim, 2010. The box represents TRA while the outlying variables represent TPB (Han & Kim, 2010).

TRA Model

Behavioral beliefs

Attitude

Behavior

Revisit Intention

Subjective Norm

Normative beliefs

Perceived Behavioral Control

Control Beliefs

Figure 2: TRA and TPB Models. Reprinted from "An Investigation of Green Hotel Customers' Decision Formation: Developing an Extended Model of the Theory of Planned Behavior," by H. Han, and Y. Kim, 2010, International Journal of Hospitality Management, 29, p. 661. Copyright

The model explains for example, the behavior of a person who wanted to stay at a green hotel but found the hotel was too expensive, or the hotel was located in an inopportune location; the person would hence be unable to carry out the action of staying in a green hotel, even if they had the best intentions of doing so (Han, Hsu & Sheu, 2010).

In the study of Ajzen, (1991, 2009) he indicated that the TPB model can be manipulated by adding predictors and altering paths within the model to meet certain criteria (i.e. it should be possible to consider the new variables as important causal factors in determining intention/ behavior). There are many predictors as per Han and Kim (2010, p.661) that may affect the decision making process, such as "service quality, satisfaction, image, and past behavior" (Ajzen, 1991; Bansal & Taylor, 1999; Myong & Back, 2009; Han, Hsu, & Lee, 2009; Han & Ryu, 2006; Oh & Hsu, 2001; Perugini & Bagozzi, 2001; Taylor & Baker, 1995). Han and Kim (2010) tested the model in figure 3, on 434 general consumers. The model was expanded to better predict the behavior of green hotel consumers. Each path acted as a hypothesis in the study, all of which were supported, implying that this extended TPB model is useful in predicting the behavior of green hotel consumers. Overall image in the model can be defined as a person's entire perception regarding a product or a particular firm, which is then formed by processing data from various sources (Assael, 1984; Han et al., 2009).

Service quality is derived from comparisons of outstanding service, overall, over a long period of time. Customer satisfaction has been included in the model because it is the evaluation process that occurs after a particular purchase of a particular product or service, based on expectations held before making the purchase (Han & Kim, 2010; Kotler, 1991; Oliver, 1997; Parasuraman et al., 1988). Frequency of past behavior was found in numerous studies to be a strong predictor of future behavior or intention (Han & Kim, 2010; Myong & Back, 2009; Oh & Hsu, 2001, Perugini & Bagozzi, 2001; Quellette & Wood, 1998). Ajzen (1991) stated that once the variables from the original TPB model have been explained, frequency of past behavior can be used to explain and describe decisions and behavior.

Figure 3. Extended TPB Model proposed for repurchasing behavior in green hotels. Adapted from "An Investigation of Green Hotel Customers' Decision Formation: Developing an Extended Model of the Theory of Planned Behavior," by H. Han, and Y. Kim, 2010, International Journal of Hospitality Management, 29, p. 660. Copyright

Revisit intention

Frequency of Past Behavior

Overall Image

Perceived Behavioral Control

Control Beliefs

Subjective Norms

Normative Beliefs

Attitude

Behavioral Beliefs

Customer Satisfaction

Service Quality

For the purpose of this study, this model shall be applied into a local context whereby the pathways will be used as hypotheses. During the study other predictors might be added up to suit the need of this study.