Title: Study on the ecological attitudes of Italian cruise passengers

Authors: Tiziana Crovella; Annarita Paiano; Giovanni Lagioia

Addresses: Department of Economics, Management and Business Law, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Largo Abbazia Santa Scolastica, 53, 70124, Bari, Italy ' Department of Economics, Management and Business Law, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Largo Abbazia Santa Scolastica, 53, 70124, Bari, Italy ' Department of Economics, Management and Business Law, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Largo Abbazia Santa Scolastica, 53, 70124, Bari, Italy

Abstract: This study investigates the interaction between element of background of Italian cruise passengers and their attitude to predict their ecological behaviour and implement green practices. Notwithstanding that the cruise sector experienced continuous growth in recent years, generating a great environmental impact, it did not receive a valuable consideration in the scientific literature especially on sustainability issues. Therefore, this paper provides new insights for scientific research on the ecological attitudes. In particular, the analysis was based on data from a tourism questionnaire survey conducted for Italian cruise passengers, in order to empirically investigate their awareness and behaviour concerning environmental issues and to uncover the relationships between background elements and cruise passengers' sustainable behaviours. The results show that most cruise passengers paid attention to sustainability criteria adopted by the cruise ship operators and would be willing to pay additional charges to tackle the environmental burden caused by the cruise.

Keywords: sustainability; ecological attitude; Italy; cruise passengers; commercial cruise; survey; background elements; willingness to pay; WTP; hypothesis; analysis of variance; ANOVA; multiple regression.

DOI: 10.1504/IJDCET.2021.116471

International Journal of Digital Culture and Electronic Tourism, 2021 Vol.3 No.3/4, pp.356 - 381

Received: 12 Sep 2020
Accepted: 17 Oct 2020
Published online: 26 Jul 2021 *

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