What is Low-Carbon Travel Behaviors

This chapter expands research on low-carbon tourism by using the low-carbon travel scale (LCTS) to profile low-carbon tourists. The results demonstrate the LCTS's ability to effectively identify different levels of low-carbon tourists. A priori segmentation was conducted using the respondents' overall LCTS score as the segmenting criterion. The resulting four segments were labeled “not a low-carbon tourist,” “minimal low-carbon tourists,” “moderate low-carbon tourists,” and “strong low-carbon tourists.” This study (1) confirms the usefulness of the LCTS for identifying and segmenting travelers and (2) provides the sustainable tourism field with a more holistic tool for measuring sustainable travelers. Destination managers interested in marketing to low-carbon tourists can use this tool to identify how many low-carbon tourists come to their area, level of low-carbon tourists' tendencies, and what the destination can focus on to attract more of this travel segment.