Do Green Attributes of Destination Matter? The Effect on Green Trust and Destination Brand Equity

Abstract

Tourism industry is a part of an important sector that contributes to the economic development of any country in an effective way such that the tourism stakeholders are taking efforts to develop sustainable tourism practices in order to preserve the future generation needs and hold their perception towards environment. Extant research on environmental sustainable practices has treated ‘Green’ tourism as local environmental awareness and conservative activities, failing to identify the differences in the way tourist choose destination based on green attributes and how these attributes affects the destination marketing. This study addresses this gap by exploring the relationship among attributes of green tourism and green trust and their impact on destination brand equity. Moreover, an important variable, green washing, is used to measure the moderation effects in the relationships proposed. Analysis was based on a sample of 739 Indian tourists having visited three eco-friendly destinations. Partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) technique exhibited the impact of green service attributes (green service delivery and green service support except green service policy) on green trust with significant moderation interaction effects from green washing and finally the consequent affect on destination brand equity.

A Review of the Factors Influencing Greenwashing and Green Brand Equity: A Research Agenda

“…Sin embargo, la literatura revela que el greenwashing, al presentar un desafío significativo, tanto a nivel ambiental como social, puede deteriorar gravemente este green trust. Una gama de estudios ilustra cómo las acusaciones y prácticas de greenwashing erosionan el green trust, enfatizando la importancia de estrategias auténticas y transparentes para las marcas ecológicas (Bekk et al, 2016;de Alencar Caldas et al, 2021;Guerreiro y Pacheco, 2021;Guo et al, 2018;Isac et al, 2024;Li y Sun, 2022;Malik et al, 2022;Munaier et al, 2022;Pimonenko et al, 2020;Rahman y Nguyen-Viet, 2023;Seberíni et al, 2024;Ulusoy y Barretta, 2016;Xiao et al, 2022). La evidencia sugiere que, lejos de ser una estrategia de marketing efectiva, el greenwashing representa un riesgo significativo para el green brand equity, potencialmente desencadenando un ciclo vicioso de desconfianza y percepciones negativas.…”

Ready for Action! Destination Climate Change Communication: An Archetypal Branding Approach

“…Tourism marketing actions tend to adopt ambitious and complex roles of pro-sustainability communication, including climate change communication, while attempting to avoid, whenever possible, a conflict with their own agendas and raison d'être, which, in many instances, are not genuinely concerned with the issue of climate change [7]. In addition, destination marketing is not immune to adopting various environmental public discourses even as a gimmick for short-term profits [54]. In the case of climate change communication, however, the stakes are much higher compared to the relatively limited effects of some greenwashing routines on reduced consumer satisfaction that can occur in the tourism industry [55,56].…”

Eco-destination loyalty: Role of perceived value and experience in framing destination attachment and equity with moderating role of destination memory

“…In ecotourism, the tourist perception of destination equity plays a vital role in keeping the tourist loyal to the destination. Malik et al's ( 2021 ) study found that green attributes of destination matter for the tourist, and tourists with favorable attitudes will show an intent to stay loyal due to higher destination brand equity. Similarly, Nella and Christou ( 2010 ) studied the role of real-time experience in product manufacturing and suggested that tasting experience can contribute strongly to destination equity.…”

“…Joseph and Gilmore ( 1998 ) state that tourist experience gets stored in long-term memory. The experience that tourist has gained during interaction with the destination push them to recommend, develop positive word of mouth, and revisit a specific destination (Malik et al, 2021 ). Memory is thought to be the prime indicator of the tourist travel decision-making process, and destinations with positive experiences and emotions are more likely to be remembered and considered for the next holidays (El Haj and Miller, 2017 ; Kim, 2020 ).…”