Litter in the city: visitor perceptions and sustainable practices for urban tourism

Abstract

The study reports visitors' reactions to a survey incorporating experimentally manipulated digital images of litter in a tourist attraction and in a shopping centre environment. Data are based on 264 questionnaires administered both at the Port Douglas Marina Mirage and the Rainforest Habitat, Northern Queensland, Australia. There were consistent increases in the visitors' negative responses to the litter as the amounts of litter increased. The study considered litter in the context of other environmental problems and explored attributions of responsibility concerning who should look after the problem. The integration of sustainability themes in tourism into the study was achieved by coding subjects' responses on the best management approaches to litter. By adapting Middleton's analysis of sustainable actions for tourism settings it was established that re-engineering the setting and re-educating the public were the leading preferred management actions.