Visitors and residents of a destination make for perfect advocates to showcase the sustainability agenda of places. If destinations want to convey their sustainable tourism initiatives, how can they use destination branding to inspire residents and visitors to act sustainably?
Below are the answers of our TPBO panel and of leading sustainable tourism specialists – the Sustainability Leaders United panel (in alphabetical order – highlighted respondents are available for consulting or as speakers).
Our key takeaways:
- Destination branding has the power to influence visitors to act responsibly when they travel;
- The ability to influence visitors depends on strong and effective branding;
- The sustainability initiatives of a destination must be visible to residents and visitors for them to demonstrate responsible behaviour;
- Locals play an important role in encouraging visitors as their passion for caring for their surroundings can influence visitors;
- Destinations should have a strategy to educate visitors about responsible behaviour;
- Communicating sustainability to visitors and residents should include conservation and social impact along with carbon emissions, and green labels.
Brian Mullis
USA | Of course, destination branding can impact sustainable behaviour, but I’m not sure that this has been quantified via research.
Fiona Jeffery
UK | Branding alone can’t influence more sustainable behaviour, it needs to come with education about what “sustainable behaviour” means and looks like.
Günter Soydanbay
Canada | Among residents – yes. Among tourists, I am not sure.
The systemic nature of mass tourism is the tragedy of the commons. By default, tourists are programmed to act in self-interest (travel = self-reward/me-time/indulgence).
If you zoom in, each visitor’s action does not create a noticeable dent. But if you zoom out, all the visitors acting together amplifies the damage. The solution is to educate tourists, enforce laws, and if needed, privatize access to a certain site, so that each participant must pay for the direct impact of his/her actions. If one can achieve those objectives under a destination branding campaign, then more power to them!
Jonathon Day
USA | Effective branding will appeal to a target audience. If the branding highlights the importance of the environment and the uniqueness of the cultural experience, it should appeal to travellers who value these attributes and who are prepared to behave in ways to support and preserve these destination attributes.
Kirsi Hyvaerinen
Montenegro | Yes, it can when sustainability is implemented properly in planning, communication, products and services. Residents mostly need also more technical information, all of which affects their daily lives.
Natasha Grand
UK | Yes, any place that shows self-awareness and good organization will induce respect among visitors.
Robert Govers
Belgium | I’d suggest that influencing sustainable behaviour among tourists and residents is in the marketing domain (not branding) as it requires one to think about what exact behaviour one wants to influence among what target groups.
Tom Buncle
UK | Depends on the destination. Sustainable behaviour can be influenced by the way a destination communicates its brand to visitors and encourages them to respect it.
Similarly, if residents believe in the need for sustainability, this can be communicated in the messages they convey to visitors – particularly where residents show pride in their home through good environmental management, a well-kept public realm, commitment to local producers and artisans, and discouragement of behaviour that might cause environmental damage or social inconvenience.
Vicky Smith
UK | I would expect destination branding to influence more sustainable behaviour among tourists and residents. If somewhere is marketed as a ‘green’ destination, it can set the expectation of that behaviour, and so prompt it, but also such branding will attract more sustainable tourists who already have a greater propensity to behave sustainably. But have we seen evidence of it yet? It’s not necessarily direct response data.
Adam Mikołajczyk
Poland | If we understand ‘place branding’ not only as ‘communicating’ but also as ‘doing’ then by all means. Today it is very difficult to build social attitudes just by talking. It is necessary to create appropriate solutions at every level and in every field in order to save our planet.
Andrea Lucarelli
Sweden | Well at first this seems tautological, so the answer would be no. But of course, there are different ways to frame how branding can influence sustainability. If that is the focus, then branding can be advocacy.
Caio Esteves
Brazil | Certainly.
If the destination brand is the result of a collaborative process between different stakeholders and positioning itself in a sustainable way, acting and promoting sustainability, it is expected that people who relate to the destination will feel influenced by the idea, and even defend it.
Cecilia Pasquinelli
Italy | Definitely, provided that strategic and technical aspects of sustainability marketing and branding are in focus. Besides, the intertwining of sustainable branding and destination management (which nowadays should be understood as sustainability management) is fundamental.
Efe Sevin
USA | Yes! Not only they can. They should.
Without sustainable practices and behaviour, destination branding will be using a depleting resource. Each rise in tourist numbers or resident numbers will spoil what a destination has to offer.
Gianna Moscardo
Australia | For tourists, it certainly can by establishing expectations of what can be experienced and setting up guidance for their actions.
For residents, it may be harder if they are not committed to sustainability, but it may be possible to use a sustainable destination brand to encourage them to change in order to support tourism.
Malcolm Allan
UK | Yes it can, providing that it is done through the sharing of information on the past or present negative aspects of visitors’ behaviours. For example, over-walking of delicate physical environments, the dumping of used or unwanted camping gear, and unlawful or reckless parking of vehicles on sensitive land. All behaviours that do not reflect stated and publicised brand values on caring for the environment of the place.
Values need to be reflected in restrictions on the volume of visitors and welcoming advice on desired behaviours. Desired brand behaviours need to be publicised and celebrated.
Martin Boisen
The Netherlands | Next to the fact that I take issue with the ‘destination branding’ concept as such (I prefer a holistic place branding approach to a specific destination branding approach), I do believe that it can. And that it should. This does require a tight definition and shared understanding of what constitutes ‘sustainable behaviour’ for each and every specific place. It cannot just be about ecolabels and CO2 compensation, it must also be about biodiversity and social aspects of sustainability.
Rachel Dodds
Canada | This is an important question. Climate change and the pandemic definitely affect how destinations are branded, as well as their overall marketing. Check out Las Vegas: it did a good job of pivoting during the pandemic. Norway has done a good job of acknowledging climate change and how positioning itself accordingly.
Richard Butler
UK | It should be able to if it is done well and actually reflects reality.
Steve Noakes
Australia | Yes. Absolutely. Even if it is ‘greenwash’ which we see all over the world, it is not the facts that count in influencing behaviour it’s how the communications and distribution of information occur that influences people most. Just take a look at the Fox News/Trump alliance in the USA.
Previous questions answered by the TPBO panel here. More about the Sustainability Leaders United panel here.
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