Tourist racial diversity: impact on environmental sustainable behavioral intention and remedial approaches

This study examines the impact of tourists’ racial diversity on environmentally sustainable behavioral intentions within travel destinations. By employing six experiments and one secondary data analysis, our research reveals that racial diversity induces tourists’ perceptions of social anomie about a travel destination, which subsequently negatively impacts their intentions to engage in environmentally sustainable behaviors. Findings also show that fostering positive diversity beliefs or highlighting a destination’s environmental initiatives, as moderators, can effectively counterbalance these adverse effects. These insights contribute to the tourism diversity literature and sustainable tourism practices by underscoring the profound impact of tourist racial diversity on destinations. The study presents managerial implications by providing insights into the consequences of racial diversity and offers actionable strategies to promote pro-environmental behavioral intention in diverse tourist environments.