Young peoples’ environmentally sustainable tourism attitude and responsible behavioral intention

Purpose Environmental tourism impacts are considered to be unbalanced. The implementation of environmental sustainability focuses on restoring a balance through environmentally responsible behavior. As Generation Z was found in recent studies to exhibit divergent levels of environmentally responsible behavior compared to other generations, but also to have intra-generational differences, this study aims to explore the underlying reasons and explanations behind their attitudes and behavioral attempts. Design/methodology/approach Four focus group discussions with young people belonging to Generation Z allow to probe deep into their environmental sustainability orientation. Findings The results of this study demonstrate that Generation Z’s environmental attitude is triggered by social pressure, social media, as well as by the COVID-19 pandemic. For their touristic behavioral intention, they concentrate predominantly on climate-friendly travel and on-site mobility, waste avoidance as well as emphasizing economic and social sustainability. By furthermore highlighting Generation Z’s responsibility ascription to the supply and the demand side, in addition to illustrating the demand for framework conditions to be created from governments and destinations, the knowledge scope on environmental sustainability is expanded. Originality/value In particular, this study enriches environmentally responsible behavior research by incorporating the perspective of Generation Z, while it deepens Generation Z’s behavioral understanding. Furthermore, the results of this study allow to derive implications for tourism policymakers.