Emerging youth tourism: fostering young travelers’ conservation intentions

Greening is one of the most important issues faced by the tourism industry today. Nevertheless, theoretical and empirical research on young travelers’ sustainable behaviors is scarce. This study developed a conceptual framework involving biospheric value, environmental concern, environmental awareness, ascribed responsibility, and moral norm in order to better explain young travelers’ pro-environmental decision-making process. A total of seven hypotheses were proposed and tested using structural equation modeling. Results revealed that the postulated theoretical model satisfactorily accounted for three dimensions of young tourists’ environmentally responsible intentions; the study variables are all significantly related; and the mediating impact of moral norm and environmental concern was evident. Moreover, the prominent role of moral norm in forming intentions was noteworthy. Our findings from the invariance test further indicated that environmental awareness and ascribed responsibility acted as moderators. The implications of these results are discussed.