An Investigation of the Relationship between Place Attachment (PA) and Pro-Environmental Behavioural Intentions (PEBI) and its Implications towards Over-Tourism

Abstract

As UN announced 2030 Agenda for sustainable development, the sustainability of city is being widely discussed within tourism industry. Recently, ‘sustainable city’ and ‘over-tourism’ are inseparable issues to the famous tourist cities through the world. Due to the negative effects of over-tourism are threatening the living environment of residents, where their place attachment stably formed, anti-tourism and tourism-phobia have been arisen by the residents of tourist destination. This research shaped new explanation of pro-environmental behaviour with consciousness of environmental responsibility (CER) based on the norm activation model, using structural equation model, including a second-order construct for place attachment of place dependence, place identity, place belongingness, and place familiarity. The survey has been conducted based on Lake Seokchon, Seoul, Korea, which is located in the centre of the city. In this study, 8 hypothetical relationships among the constructs of place attachment, CER, and pro-environmental behavioural intention were suggested and empirically supported.