Does ECO certification deliver benefits? An empirical investigation of visitors’ perceptions of the importance of ECO certification's attributes and of operators’ performance

AbstractCertification is highlighted as a key sustainable tourism management tool. Yet, very little is known about visitors' perceptions of such schemes. This is an important gap: the success of certification schemes depends on consumers' confidence in the quality of products and services that the schemes endorse. This paper surveyed 610 visitors to the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area and surrounds in Queensland, Australia about (1) the perceived importance of various attributes of the ECO certification scheme; and (2) the perceived performance of operators based on those attributes. Data analysis identified aspects of ECO certification and of operator performance that may need improvement. It found that importance of attributes varied across products and visitor groups; at accommodations, most attributes were perceived to be important, Nature (as an aesthetic experience) and Marketing being more important than others, while at attractions and on tours, visitors were indifferent. Younger visitors rated Environment and Conservation more highly than their older counterparts and females rated Conservation more highly than males. Visitors – notably at accommodations – considered that ECO certified operators were performing "better" than non-ECO certified operators on many attributes. How these visitor perceptions translate into reality remains an important topic for future research.认证能带来好处吗?参观者对认证属性和运营商表现的重要性的看法的实证调查认证被强调成一个主要的可持续性旅游管理工具。但是,这些认证项目中很少有考虑旅游参观者的看法。这是一个重要的缺口:认证项目的成功依靠的是消费者对认证项目产生的产品和服务质量的信心。该文章调查了在澳大利亚昆士兰的湿热带世界遗产地和周围环境的个参观者,关于)认证项目的各种属性的感知重要性;)运营者在这些属性基础上的感知表现。数据分析证明认证和运营者表现都可能需要改善。文章发现属性的重要性根据不同的产品和参观者类型而变化;在住宿业,大部分的属性都被认为是重要的,自然(作为一个美观的经验)和市场营销被认为比别的属性更重要,而在景点和在旅行中,参观者是比较冷漠的。年轻的参观者与年长的相比将环境和保护打分高过别的属性,女性于男性相比将保护打分高过别的。参观者特别是在住宿业认为认证的运营商在很多属性上表现得比非认证的运营者要更``好"。这些参观者看法如何翻译到现实对将来的研究来说变成一个重要的课题。Keywords: importance–performance analysiscertificationvisitor perceptionWet Tropics World Heritage Areasustainable tourismattributes关键词: 重要性表现分析认证参观者看法湿热带世界遗产地可持续性旅游属性 AcknowledgementsThe authors would like to thank the three reviewers and the co-editor for their valuable feedback on this paper. The authors also extend their sincere gratitude to all the tourism operators and visitors who participated in this study, and to James Cook University and the Skyrail Rainforest Foundation for their financial support.Notes1The scheme has also been successful at securing the support of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA), an influential government protected area management agency, in jointly marketing certified products at promotional events and on their website. This collaboration is further enhanced via an extended permit term of 15 years (as opposed to six years) to ECO certified operators to operate in the GBR marine park (GBRMPA, Citation2011). Such government support is deemed essential for local and global market outreach. See http://www.gbrmpa.gov.au/visit-the-reef/choose-a-high-standard-operator/high-standard-tourism-operation for a list of ECO certified operators.2According to Sustainable Tourism Online (Citation2010), the most well-known environmental certification schemes in relation to tourism in Australia are Earthcheck and ECO certification. Earthcheck has 330 members nationally, of which 30 are located in Queensland (A. Russ, personal communication, December 2012), while 485 operators are subscribed to ECO certification, majority of which are in Queensland (Ecotourism Australia, Citation2012).3According to the Wet Tropics Management Authority, the most pressing regional issue is climate change. The most important management interventions will be those that build ecological resilience and reduce green house gas emissions (Wet Tropics Management Authority, Citation2009). These priorities relate, almost entirely to Environment and Conservation (core criteria). Therefore, in the case of the former, the sub-categories Energy use and minimization (building and transport) were chosen and, in the latter, Conservation initiatives was chosen.4For example, the variable age was dichotomized by assigning the original values 1–4 (1 = under 20, 2 = 20–29, 3 = 30–39, 4 = 40–49) the new value 0 (50 years old). A range of approaches can be employed, such as picking a cut-off point or dividing at the middle of a scale, however the most common is a median split (Irwin Royson, Altman, Williams, Mandrekar, Mandrekar, Cha, & Furth, Citation2006). Since in this study, we have avoided the linearity assumption and hence used non-parametric tests, dichotomization may be justified.Additional informationNotes on contributorsMichelle EsparonMichelle Esparon is a final year PhD student at James Cook University, Australia. Her research interests include environmental management and economics as well as sustainable tourism development. Her PhD research explores the potential of ecocertification to encourage sustainable tourism outcomes in and around protected areas. She has also contributed to research projects exploring trade-offs between economic development and environmental protection.Emma GyurisDr Emma Gyuris is an ecologist who after many years working with marine turtles and birds, shifted her research and teaching interest to sustainability and environmental management. Her current research is framed in education for sustainability, notably the effectiveness of the university experience in developing the sustainable citizenship of graduates.Natalie StoecklProfessor Natalie Stoeckl is Tropical Leader in Regional Economic Development at James Cook University. She holds a BEc from the Australian National University (ANU), a Masters of Economics from JCU and a PhD from ANU. Her primary research goal is to provide information that facilitates sustainable economic development. She has spent over 20 years exploring financial, environmental and social issues associated with economic development and natural resource management – with a particular focus on Northern Australia.