The Influence of Individual Family Members Attitudes of Responsible Tourist Behaviour on Family Holiday Decision-making: A Comparative Case Study of Three Families with Young Children Planning Holidays to Thailand

Abstract

Utilising a qualitative, dualmethod, comparative case study of three Danish families with young children, this thesis explores how individual family members’ attitudes towards responsible tourist behaviour influence the decision-making process and intended behaviour of a Danish family with young children planning a holiday to Thailand. The two methods adopted by the thesis research are a simulated holiday planning scenarios and semi-structured, in-depth interviews with the adult and child family members, who were willing to participate. Findings indicate that the adult families perceive matters on responsible tourist behaviour to related to primarily environmental impacts at the societal level, and that there is a gap between family members’ pro-sustainable attitudes and intended holiday behaviour, causing cognitive dissonance, which is sought to be diminished primarily be changing beliefs of responsibility or denial of control. Also, the adult family members exhibit clear concern for the impacts of the holiday behaviours on their personal well-beings, however they do not attribute these concerns to the concepts of sustainability and responsible tourist behaviour. The adults’ considerations of the children’s needs and wishes are also found to carry significant indirect influence in the holiday decision-making process. Lastly, conclusions are made on the research question and practical implications of the thesis findings and limitations to the thesis research are discussed.