The aim of this thesis is to explore whether pro-environmental characteristics, awareness and attitude of air travellers have an impact on their willingness to mitigate the negative effects of their travel behaviour, by either participating in a voluntary carbon offset programme or changing their behaviour. Insights from previous research are considered, to investigate whether individuals experience the following gaps when it concerns travelling for leisure trips (i.e. holidays and city trips): ‘Awareness – Attitude’, ‘Attitude – Behaviour’, and ‘Home – Away’. An additional aspect of the research is the effect of message design. It is assessed whether attitude and willingness to mitigate are (more) influenced by loss-framed information. The findings of the research are gathered from a survey conducted online and at Rotterdam The Hague Airport. The findings suggest that there is no direct positive effect of awareness on individuals’ attitude, but there is a potential positive or negative (indirect) influence on the willingness to mitigate. A positive attitude towards voluntary carbon offset programmes has only partially a positive influence on the willingness to mitigate, and in case it has influence, it concerns attitudes that are internally reasoned. A further relevant conclusion is that loss-framed information has no significant effect on either attitude or willingness to mitigate. Nevertheless, sustainable behaviour in daily lives is an indicator for such behaviour ‘away’, and a gap between ‘home’ and ‘away’ is thus not visible. This could imply that strategies focussed on making individuals behave more sustainable in their daily lives would have an (in)direct effect on travel and tourism behaviour.

Mingardo, G.
hdl.handle.net/2105/52258
Business Economics
Erasmus School of Economics

Daas, B. den. (2020, July 30). The Relationship Between Air Traveller’s Sustainable Awareness, Attitude and The Willingness to Mitigate – A Paradox?. Business Economics. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/2105/52258