Attitude of tourists in an environmentally sensitive region

Abstract

In the course of the questionnaire-based analysis of the southern watershed of Lake Balaton1the authors aimed to reveal a regional pattern of the attitude towards the environment and its protection among tourists of the region. The survey of 250 people addressed the environmental conflicts in the region. The hypothesis was that certain sub-regions can be differentiated by their attitude patterns on the basis of the survey. It was found that the behaviour of the respondents is highly affected by their way-of-thinking (five clusters were defined) as well as the motivating factors. The questionnaire-based interview and the results of the analysis revealed that the tourists visiting the analysed region have various motivations, attitudes and activities, which all influence the way of they care after the environment. The potential conflict behind this variability is that these groups of tourists with different behaviours and approaches choose their holiday destination systematically, and, thus, there are places where the environment is better taken care of, while others suffer. It was seen that, from this aspect, the conditions and facilities provided by certain holiday resorts (settlements), as well as the financial conditions, may influence the choice of the tourists with a different attitude towards the environment.