Communicating Sustainability: Behaviour-Based Strategies for Tourism

Target-group-oriented communication to foster sustainable action

Sustainability has long been a central theme in tourism. Many businesses and destinations are already working to become more sustainable. However, as soon as the topic is discussed, the "but" arises. "Customers don't want that," "Sustainable offerings are too expensive," "What difference does my contribution make?" or "Isn't that just greenwashing?" Employees in companies, hotels, and destinations regularly hear such objections, doubts, and accusations. Many don't know how to respond. Behind such statements, however, lie uncertainties, habits, differing values, or perceived conflicts of interest, and rarely, fundamental rejection.

Findings from environmental psychology and behavioral research show that people react differently to sustainability issues, depending on their motives, experiences, values, and personal barriers. An answer that sparks curiosity in one person triggers disagreement in another. This toolkit helps to recognize what lies behind a statement and to respond appropriately. The project is based on environmental psychology research on barriers to environmentally conscious behavior and analyses of typical delaying arguments in the climate debate.

Toolkit with digital and analog components

Against this background, Futouris is launching the project “Communicating Sustainability: Behaviour-Based Strategies for Tourism” together with the Global Communication Experts (GCE). Together with the partners über:morgen – Atelier for future design and response & ability they are working on a practical toolkit with analog and digital components. The project will run until the end of the year. It will support tourism professionals in communication sustainability in a way that is understandable, motivating, and tailored to their target audience.

The core focus is the development of different sustainability types, or personas, based on established psychological patterns and applied to the tourism sector. This will result in a set of cards that offer employees quick and practical guidance in their daily work. Instead of responding to objections with general arguments, they can address the specific perspective of the person they are speaking to more effectively.

A key innovative feature of the project is the development of an AI-powered "quick-response generator." This tool is designed to enable GCE employees to quickly categorize typical sustainability objections and access appropriate arguments and communication strategies.

Practical communication tools for the industry

The materials developed will be tested and evaluated in collaboration with staff members. Subsequently, the results will be made available to all Futouris members and the wider industry via the Futouris Knowledge Hub.

Through this project, Futouris and GCE are making a significant contribution to strengthening sustainability expertise within the tourism industry. By removing barriers, fostering open dialogue, and developing practical communication tools, the aim is to convey sustainability in tourism in a way that is even more understandable, tangible, and appealing in the future.

Project activities

The following activities are planned

• Survey of GCE employees

• Development of a card set for quick and practical orientation in everyday work

• Development of an AI-powered quick-response generator for rapid classification and targeted retrieval

• Testing of the materials with GCE employees and finalization based on feedback