Mid Sweden University

Today, the tourism industry exhibits a widespread understanding of the importance of sustainable development. Destinations increasingly prioritise and integrate green transition efforts into their operational and strategic management and marketing activities. Ultimately, it is the choices and actions of the visitors that drive the green transition, and therefore it is essential to work on encouraging sustainable behaviour to build an attractive destination brand by including sustainability in the destination brand promise. Achieving this requires destinations to obtain a deeper understanding of tourists’ experience, destination brand perceptions, and broader pro-sustainable values and attitudes, as well as to learn how to integrate this knowledge into management and marketing practices. The final stage of a research project, conducted in collaboration with Höga Kusten destination in Sweden, utilized findings from empirical survey studies of the destination brand, to facilitate dialogue between researchers and destination managers. This dialogue took place in the format of three consecutive workshops accompanied by two-sided output exchanges between these sessions. The research team contributed to the workshops with findings related to a web-based experiment examining sustainability as a dimension of experience value and a subdimension of destination brand value (i.e., the extension of the CBDBE model), as well as insights into identification and profiling of tourist segments based on their environmental concerns and a scribed responsibility. Destination managers utilized these insights to inventory the existing and planned communication and product development initiatives emphasizing sustainability aspects of the tourism destination offer. Together, the project team designed a conceptual sketch for a web-based app to tailor-make the sustainability focused destination communication and increase its relevance and acceptance among potential visitors. This final stage of the project addresses destination branding efforts aimed at encouraging sustainable behavior among visitors, thereby enhancing the brand'svalue and contributing to green transition of businesses within the tourism industry. The study also provides insights into how the visitors' experience value can be applied in development work for green transition within the tourism industry.

The project aims to explore the link between destination branding, tourism experiences, and the green transition of the tourism sector. It focuses on four key areas: a) investigating how visitors experience the sustainability of destination offerings; b) understanding how this experience impacts the perceived value of destination experience; c) examining how destination branding can encourage sustainable tourism behavior, thereby enhancing brand value and aiding the industry's green transition; d) exploring how tourism companies can leverage insights into drivers of tourist experience value to facilitate this transition. The project currently conducted in collaboration with Höga Kusten destination in Sweden seeks to extend the conceptual understanding of customer-based destination brand equity (CBDBE) by integrating the perceptions of sustainability value of destination brands. The background of the project concerns the challenges, which the tourism industry face in matching its green transition in relation to tourists' increasing and changing demand for sustainable destination experiences, tourists' acceptance of personal responsibility, actual behavior and perceived value of a sustainable tourism stay. To meet these challenges, companies and other destination actors need to understand the tourists' sustainable behavior, follow its changes and use the knowledge for building an attractive brand. In the current stage of the project, by utilizing brand and customer value theories, we design a web-based experiment to examine how perceptions of destination sustainability influence guest experiences. The projects’ main theoretical contribution relates to the extension of the CBDBE model by integrating the dimension of sustainability in experience value. The managerial implications of project findings can advance green transition in the tourism industry, enhance the understanding of the role, which destination brands play in encouraging sustainable behavior and fostering responsible guest practices. The activities in the project will also include the development of an evaluation tool and a concept sketch for a web-based app. 

Concerns about the effects of climate change have led to an interest in identifying ways to foster sustainability transitions. In the Global North, a key approach is to eventually eliminate dependence on carbon emitting energy while moving towards renewable sources, including wind power. Since wind farms require vast amounts of land, inevitably this explains the presence of such installations in many rural regions. This situation has alarmed various stakeholders, including those involved in tourism, who see such developments as threats to idyllic notions of rurality and, by default, to the transformation of the countryside for visitor experiences. Through a series of case studies in rural Sweden, we explore the attitudes of tourists towards the presence of wind farms in the landscape. Overall, study respondents recognize the need for such installations since most accept the necessity to embark on sustainable energy transitions. In this way, they understand that many parts of rural Sweden are transforming into spaces where sustainable energy future must be negotiated. Ultimately, sustainability transitions lead to the rethinking of conventional perceptions around rural space and tourism. We suggest that geographical research on sustainability transitions in tourism should account for conceptions of rurality that involve assemblages of imagination, place framing, and power relations in sustainability transitions. This conceptualization is necessary for achieving just and sustainable energy futures.

Fokus för detta projekt är att utveckla en enkät för att bedöma det uppfattade värdet av turismupplevelsen på destinationer där det finns vindkraftsinfrastruktur synlig i naturen. Forskningen inbegrep att utveckla en enkät på basis av en litteraturöversikt, kvalitativ forskning och insikter från forskning om hållbart konsumentbeteende. Det ska noteras att tidigare forskning har slagit fast att vindkraftsinfrastruktur inte avskräcker turister från att besöka en destination. I litteraturen identifieras fyra faktorer som påverkar turisters reaktioner på vindkraftverk: visuell påverkan, destinationens egenskaper, turistens ursprung och kännedom samt värdeomdömen. Resultaten från detta projekt visar att turisters värdeomdömen om hållbarhetsomställning och hållbar konsumtion påverkar deras uppfattningar om vindkraftsinfrastruktur i naturområden. Detta framgår av både kvalitativa och kvantitativa data. 

Den kvalitativa forskningen omfattade intervjuer på fyra svenska destinationer (destinationen Höga kusten, Ånge kommun, Dalarnas län och Kalmar län) och resultaten tyder på att turister i allmänhet inte ser vindkraftverk som något negativt, utan uppskattar dem för att de bidrar till hållbar utveckling och energioberoende. De föredrog bland annat att ha ett fåtal utspridda vindkraftverk och människor verkar förlita sig till den information de får genom social interaktion för att bedöma deras påverkan. Vår studie av relevanta hashtags på Instagram visar dessutom att vind­kraftverk avbildades på ett positivt sätt. De kvalitativa resultaten användes för att utveckla det konceptuella ramverket för den kvantitativa enkäten. 

Enkäten utarbetades för att mäta miljövänligt och ansvarsfullt turismbeteende. Enkäten omfattade även en kort film för att ge bättre kännedom om en destination med vindkraftverk i naturen. Synpunkterna om vindkraft analyseras för att förstå de svarandes preferenser. Enkäten mäter även det uppfattade värdet av turismupplevelsen i naturområden, där emotionella, epistemiska och eudaimoniska dimensioner samt dimensionen som hållbar destination integreras. Enkäten testades på en panel med svenska deltagare och fick 300 slutliga svar. Resultaten visar att det finns signifikanta samband mellan olika faktorer, vilket bekräftar enkätens validitet. Viktiga teman från den kvalitativa analysen kommer igen i kvantitativa data, med särskild tyngdpunkt på habituering, hållbarhetsassociationer, oro för negativ påverkan och den sociala kontextens inverkan på synpunkter om vindkraft och vindkraftsinfrastruktur i naturområden. Positiva åsikter om vindkraft formar attityder, förväntade känslor och avsikter att besöka naturområden på destinationer med vindkraftsinfrastruktur. Resultaten visar att deltagare som ägnar sig mer åt utomhusaktiviteter tenderar att ha positiva åsikter om vindkraft. De som är positivt inställda till vindkraft sätter större värde på emotionella, epistemiska, spirituella och hållbarhetsrelaterade faktorer. Resultaten är i linje med det framväxande konceptet energiturism och visar på ett intresse för att besöka vindkraftsanläggningar, särskilt bland dem som har positiva åsikter om vindkraft. I det avslutande kapitlet finns en diskussion om resultaten samt om konsekvenserna av att anpassa enkäten i den verkliga kontexten i form av destinationer där turister kan stöta på vindkraftsinfrastruktur i naturområden.

This project focuses on developing a measurement instrument to assess the per­ceived value of the tourism experience at destinations where there is wind power infrastructure visible in nature. The research involved developing a survey based on literature review, a qualitative study, and insights from sustainable consumer behaviour research. Notably, earlier research established that wind power infra­structure does not deter tourists to visit a destination. In the literature, four factors that influence tourist reactions to wind turbines are identified: visual impact, destination characteristics, tourist’s origin and familiarity, and value judgments. The findings of this project reveal that tourists value judgments on sustainability transitions and sustainable consumption influence their perceptions of wind power infrastructure in nature areas. This is shown in both qualitative and quantitative data. 

The qualitative research included interviews at four Swedish destinations (i.e., the High Coast destination, Ånge municipality, Dalarna County and Kalmar County), and the findings suggest that tourists generally do not view wind turbines negatively, appreciating them for their contribution to sustainable development and energy independence. Preferences include having few turbines spaced apart and people seem to rely on information gained through social interaction to make judgments on their impact. Furthermore, our study of relevant hashtags on Instagram shows a positive depiction of wind turbines. The qualitative results were used to develop the conceptual framework behind the survey. 

The survey was developed to measure pro-environmental and responsible tourism behavior. A short film was included in the survey to enhance familiarity with a destination with wind turbines in its nature. Opinions on wind power are analysed to understand respondents’ preferences. The survey also gauges the perceived value of tourism experience in nature areas, incorporating emotional, epistemic, eudemonic, and sustainable destination dimensions. The survey was tested with a panel of Swedish participants with 300 final responses. Results reveal significant relationships between various factors, affirming the survey’s validity. Major themes from qualitative analysis persist in quantitative data, emphasizing habituation, sustainability associations, concerns about negative impacts, and the influence of social context on opinions on wind power and its infrastructure in nature areas. Positive opinions on wind power shape attitudes, anticipated emotions, and inten­tions to visit nature areas at destinations with wind power infrastructure. The survey results show that participants who engage more in outdoor activities tend to have positive opinions on wind power. Those with favourable views of wind power attribute higher value to emotional, epistemic, spiritual and sustainability factors. Results align with the emerging concept of energy tourism, indicating interest in visiting wind power facilities, particularly among those with positive opinions on wind power. The conclusion chapter offers a discussion of the results and of the implications of adapting the survey tool in the real-life context of destinations where tourists might encounter wind power infrastructure in nature areas.