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GOOD Travel has been working with Dr Julia Albrecht from the University of Otago to research destination pledges in Iceland, Palau, the Island of Hawai'i and New Zealand. This article shares key findings relating to the opportunity for pledges to address some of the short-comings of the traditional code of conduct. For an overview of the research see our earlier blog post here.
The power of using images and story-telling to create emotional responses has long been used in destination marketing. Communicating WHY visitors should travel to a destination has resulted in inspiring destination brands including 100% Pure New Zealand. More recently, through the rise of the destination pledge, we are seeing how destination managers are now not only communicating why visitors should visit a destination, but also why they should protect it.
Since the announcement of the Icelandic Pledge in June 2017, initiatives that inspire visitors to commit to responsible behaviours when they travel have become increasingly common. From the Palau Pledge launched in December 2017 requiring visitors to protect Palau for future generations, to Tiaki launched in November 2018 asking ask visitors and locals to act as guardians of New Zealand, destination managers are increasingly turning to pledges as a visitor management tool.
Seeking to positively influence visitor behaviour to reduce the negative impacts of tourism is not a new objective. Visitor codes of conduct have been actively used to encourage appropriate tourism behaviour since the 1980s. However, our research into the rise of the destination pledge suggests that while the traditional visitor code of conduct might have effectively communicated HOW to protect a destination, destination pledges (particularly the Palau Pledge and Tiaki) are being used to build an emotional connection with visitors to inspire them to behave differently.
Just signing a pledge isn’t going to necessarily change the way they [visitors] behave. Seeing it is not necessarily going to change the way they behave, but hopefully if they understand how important it is to us, then they’ll bring that element of respect to how they behave when they’re here.
The focus of pledges on communicating WHY destinations deserve to be protected is significant. According to the literature on code of conducts, teleological statements that include reasons for compliance are more effective than purely rule-based deontological guidelines (e.g. Cole, 2007). Malloy and Fennell (1998) argued that codes therefore often fail to provide the decision maker with the rationale for abiding by them and Sirakaya (1997) suggested that the inclusion of the reasons for each guideline would increase the efficacy of a code. Similarly, visitor management literature (e.g. Harbrow, 2018) highlights that visitors are more likely to protect places that they feel an emotional connection to, and that appealing to visitors’ emotions is more likely to encourage the formation of desired behaviours. Dr Julia Albrecht explains:
We interviewed 18 experts involved in the development and implementation of destination pledges in Iceland, Palau, Hawai’i and New Zealand. We repeatedly heard that communicating why visitors should protect destinations was a key goal for the destination managers involved in the pledges. For example, the co-founders of the Palau Pledge described how they used the winning sales and marketing formula used by companies like Apple and applied the same principles to the Palau Pledge to inspire and connect with visitors.
A range of strategies are being used in the pledges and their associated campaigns to communicate why visitors should adopt certain behaviours. A common approach is ensuring that the pledges appropriately represent a destination’s culture(s). The language, symbolism and stories being used in the pledges were all described as important elements of communicating local culture(s) to engage and inspire visitors. Eliza explains:
Participants frequently talked about the importance of accurately and appropriately representing local culture(s) and language(s) in the pledges. This was described as important to represent the uniqueness of a destination, but also as an opportunity to add weight to the vision behind the pledges.
In addition, the pledges needed to be relevant and effective at engaging visitors from a range of cultures. In the case of Palau and New Zealand, the pledges were developed to communicate the need to protect destinations for future generations as this was deemed to be a universal concept that everyone across different cultures could connect to.
A further element that differentiates pledges from the visitor code of conduct is the public display of commitment required. Across all destinations, pledgees are encouraged to share their pledge through social media. In addition, visitors taking the Icelandic Pledge or Hawai’i Pledge can view the number of pledges that have been taken so far and see the number increase as they take their pledge. In Iceland, this is even more visible for those taking the pledge on arrival into Keflavik airport where they can press a button at a stand in the airport arrivals areas and watch the number of pledges rise. Dr Julia Albrecht says:
Participants described a sense of ceremony that came with taking a pledge, particularly in the case of the Icelandic Pledge button at the Keflavik airport. By seeing the number of people who have taken the pledge, this is a means to demonstrate the importance of collective action. In addition, existing research has found that the perceived social pressure to perform or not perform a given behaviour is one of the key factors influencing whether an individual engages in a given behaviour, so by encouraging visitors to pledge publicly, this has the potential to increase the number of pledgees and their sense of accountability.
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In general, the pledges have been successful in raising awareness for the need to protect destinations and have been well received by visitors, industry and residents. However, the question of whether the pledges are serving as an effective visitor management tool and positively influencing visitor behaviour remains. Destination managers in Palau and New Zealand are developing a range of impact measurement tools however and it is hoped that data will soon be available to assess whether understanding why destinations deserve to be protected is translating into behavioural changes.