WebinarOnline
Nudging for good: Can marketing science and responsible tour operations drive pro-environmental tourist behaviour?
Friday, 30 October 2026
Can prompts, defaults and social norms support greener travel without manipulating visitors or shifting responsibility onto them?
About this event
Choice architecture, default settings, timely feedback and messages about social norms can encourage travellers to select options with lower environmental impacts. This webinar critically examines the evidence for such interventions in tourism and hospitality. It considers where behavioural nudges are effective, how outcomes should be measured and when persuasive design becomes manipulation. The session will distinguish changes in stated intention from verified changes in behaviour and environmental performance, with attention to whether effects persist after an intervention ends.
Panellists will emphasise that communication cannot compensate for the absence of sustainable infrastructure or affordable alternatives. The discussion will connect behavioural research with itinerary design, transport, food procurement, waste systems, staff practice and the physical management of facilities. It will explore how context, culture and economic constraints influence responses to an intervention. Potential rebound effects will also be examined, including cases in which efficiency or moral reassurance encourages additional consumption that reduces or reverses the expected environmental benefit.
Participants will learn how to define a behavioural problem, select an ethically appropriate intervention and establish a credible comparison for evaluation. They will consider transparency, informed choice, accessibility and the distribution of responsibility between guests and operators. The webinar will provide criteria for deciding when a nudge should be revised, withdrawn or replaced by a structural measure. Delegates will leave with a method for designing testable interventions that respect visitor autonomy while contributing to clearly specified and measurable environmental objectives. This evidence can inform wider operational changes and more effective environmental policy over time.