Analysis on the Impact of Residents' Environmental Awareness on

Low Carbon Tourism Cognition and Willingness in Bijie City

Yujie Luo

Yifu Yuan

* and Yu Li

Tourism School, Shandong Women's University, 2399 Daxue Road, Jinan 250300, China

State Forestry and Grassland Administration Key Laboratory of Silviculture in downstream areas of the Yellow River,

College of Forestry, Shandong Agricultural University, 271018, Taian, China

Keywords

Low Carbon Tourism, Environmental Awareness, Carbon Reduction, Bijie City.

Abstract:

In recent years, low-carbon tourism has become an important approach to deal with environmental problems

in tourism. While the cognition and willingness of tourists is crucial for the development of low-carbon

tourism, their environmental awareness may affect their cognition and willingness. Through the methods of

literature analysis and questionnaire survey, we collected the relevant information about Bijie residents' low-

carbon tourism cognition, demographic characteristics and other possible influencing factors, and then made

statistical analyses with the data. The results showed that Bijie residents lack enough understanding about

low-carbon tourism, and there are differences in their cognition of different aspects of low-carbon tourism.

Many factors have influenced the cognition of low-carbon tourism. Firstly, residents have a high level of

cognition of low-carbon transportation and accommodation. In terms of low-carbon catering and shopping,

residents show various levels of cognition on different items. Secondly, gender and age have significant effects

on Bijie residents' understanding of low-carbon tourism. Thirdly, the higher the residents' awareness of carbon

reduction in daily life, the more they understand the two major elements of tourism carbon emission, namely

transportation and accommodation. The tourism industry and relevant government departments should take

positive measures to enhance residents' environmental awareness, so as to improve residents' awareness and

participation in low-carbon tourism.

1 INTRODUCTION

With the rapid development of the economy and

society, tourism has become an important leisure

lifestyle. With the continuous expansion of the

tourism industry, the overall carbon emission of the

tourism industry is also increasing, especially the

carbon emission caused by transportation,

accommodation and the consumption of water,

electricity and other resources in the scenic area.

Therefore, reducing the carbon emission from

tourism has become an important part of the low-

carbon economy. At present, low-carbon tourism has

been widely concerned by the government, academia

and society, and has become an inevitable choice for

the sustainable development of China's tourism

industry (Cai, 2010; Liu, 2020).

Low-carbon tourism is a sustainable tourism

development mode that advocates low-carbon

consumption in the process of tourism development,

so as to obtain higher tourism experience quality and

economic, environmental and social benefits (Cheng,

2018; Wang, 2020). To develop low-carbon tourism,

the behavior of tourists is very important.

Furthermore, the cognition of low-carbon tourism is

the basis for the formation of low-carbon tourism

attitude and behavior. However, the public perception

of low-carbon tourism varies and the influencing

factors are also various. Coombes and Jones found

that warm weather will attract more tourists to

participate in low impact tourism activities through

their research on coastal tourism (Coombes, 2010).

Mckercher found that although international tourists

understand that their travel form may lead to climate

warming, few people are willing to take the initiative

to change their tourism behavior (McKercher, 2010).

Fotiou thought that in view of the current social and

economic development trend, the environment-

friendly tourism market will continue to expand,

bringing great opportunities for the development of

low-carbon tourism (Zhou, 2013). Liu Qing and Liu

Yaping analyzed Nanning citizens' cognition and

Luo, Y., Yuan, Y. and Li, Y.

Analysis on the Impact of Residents’ Environmental Awareness on Low Carbon Tourism Cognition and Willingness in Bijie City.

DOI: 10.5220/0011736400003607

In Proceedings of the 1st Inter national Conference on Public Management, Digital Economy and Internet Technology (ICPDI 2022), pages 337-341

ISBN: 978-989-758-620-0

 2023 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. Under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

337

willingness of low-carbon tourism, and found that the

deeper the citizens' understanding of low-carbon

tourism, the more they support the development of

low-carbon tourism in Nanning (Liu, 2017).

Bijie City, located in the northwest of Guizhou

Province, which possesses rich tourism resources and

a superior ecological environment, has a favorable

condition to promote low-carbon tourism (Zou, 2012;

Lu, 2015). In this study, we investigated the residents'

cognition of low-carbon tourism in Bijie City, and

analyzed the influencing factors of their cognition.

Combined with the development experience of low-

carbon tourism at home and abroad, we put forward

suggestions to enhance the residents' cognition of

low-carbon tourism in Bijie city, so as to promote the

sustainable and healthy development of low-carbon

tourism.

2 METHOD

In this research, we mainly adopted the questionnaire

survey. Bijie residents who often participate in

tourism activities were interviewed, and the relevant

data was obtained. Using the data, we analyzed Bijie

residents’ cognition of low-carbon tourism and the

influencing factors, including demographic

characteristics such as gender, age, education,

occupation and income, internal factors such as the

perception of climate change and environmental

responsibility, and external factors such as social

reference norms and the tourism environment. Then

we found out the factors that significantly affect Bijie

residents' low-carbon tourism cognition.

The questionnaire in this study mainly included

three parts: residents' cognition of low-carbon

tourism, possible influencing factors and residents'

demographic characteristics. In March 2021, we

distributed questionnaires to Bijie residents through

the Internet by random sampling, and a total of 202

valid questionnaires were collected.

3 RESULTS

3.1 Sample Distribution of

Respondents

In 202 valid questionnaires, the proportion of women

is slightly higher than that of men. The sample

basically covers all the major occupations in society,

mainly including company staffs, professional and

technical staffs and students. In terms of monthly

income, 51.0% of the respondents earn less than 2000

yuan, 20.3% earn between 2001 and 4000 yuan, 16.8%

earn between 4001 and 6000 yuan, 7.9% earn

between 6001 and 8000 yuan, and 4.0% earn more

than 8000 yuan. Most of them travel 0-3 times a year.

3.2 Residents' Cognition of Low-

Carbon Tourism

In this study, residents' cognition of low-carbon

tourism was quantified. One to five points

represented "strongly disagree", "disagree",

"uncertain", "agree" and "strongly agree" on low-

carbon tourism cognitive items. Then the average

value of each item was calculated; the average score

of 1-2.4 means "do not understand", 2.5-3.4 means

"modest", and 3.5-5 means "understand".

The results of the questionnaire survey showed

that the overall cognition of Bijie residents of low-

carbon tourism is only modest, with an average of

3.00. In the survey sample, 34.65% of the

respondents know about low-carbon tourism, only

5.45% of them know it very well, and 20.79% of them

are uncertain. Nearly 40% of the respondents don't

know about low-carbon tourism.

Bijie residents show a high level of awareness of

low-carbon transportation. Most of them believe that

public transportation should be vigorously developed

in scenic spots, walking is a way to practice low-

carbon tourism, and self-driving produces more

carbon emission. The average value of each item is

above 3.5 (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Bijie residents’ cognition of low-carbon transportation.

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Figure 2: Bijie residents’ cognition of low-carbon sightseeing, shopping and entertainment.

Table 1: Multivariate analysis of variance of the influencing factors (P-value) on residents' cognition of low- carbon tourism.

Low-carbon tourism items Gender Age Education Income

Awareness of

carbon reduction

Daily consumption

habits

Carbon emissions of meat 0.688 0.674 0.443 0.292 0.836 0.334

Carbon emissions of hotels 0.528 0.1 0.463 0.029

0.502 0.001

Water saving toilets 0.031

0.025

0.9 0.646 0.943 0.023

Ener

savin

htin

stems 0.288 0.388 0.393 0.108 0.001

Public transportation 0.603 0.162 0.046

0.631 0.001

0.002

Walkin

0.024

0.264 0.632 0.137 0.483 0.001

Priority to low-carbon products 0.129 0.006

0.28 0.577 0.445 0.008

Priorit

to local

roducts 0.016

0.325 0.128 0.812 0.404 0.743

Carbon emissions of recreation 0.014

0.141 0.564 0.269 0.762 0.095

Bijie residents also have a high level of awareness

of low-carbon accommodation. Most of them believe

that hotels should use intelligent energy-saving

lighting control systems and water-saving toilets, and

the air conditioning temperature should be set

according to the national standard. The average value

of each item is more than 4.

Bijie residents show various levels of cognition

on different low-carbon catering items. Among them,

residents well understand the item that carbon

emissions of different levels of hotels are different

(3.85), while the understanding of the item that the

carbon emission of meat food is greater than that of

vegetarian food is only modest (3.26).

Residents have a high degree of cognition of low-

carbon sightseeing. They consider that the ecological

environment is closely associated with the

development of low-carbon tourism and that garbage

can cause carbon emissions. The average value of

each item is more than 4. Residents show various

levels of cognition on different low-carbon shopping

items. They believe that simple packaging is a way to

support low-carbon tourism when they buy souvenirs

and are willing to give priority to the goods with low-

carbon labels, with an average value of more than 3.8.

As for the item that buying local products is a way to

support low-carbon tourism, the cognition level is

only modest, with an average value of 3.36.

Residents' cognition of low-carbon entertainment is

also not high (3.53), just reaching the level of

“understand” (Figure 2).

3.3 Influencing Factors on Residents'

Cognition of Low-Carbon Tourism

The results of multivariate analysis of variance

showed that gender, age, awareness of carbon

reduction and daily consumption habitats have

significant impacts on cognition of many low-carbon

tourism items. However, education, income and other

factors have very limited impacts on low-carbon

tourism cognition (Table 1).

Through the analysis, it can be seen that men have

a higher level of cognition than women on the four

items that hotels should use water-saving toilets,

walking is a way to practice low-carbon tourism,

purchasing local products is a way to support low-

carbon tourism, and entertainments can cause carbon

emissions. Therefore, the gender of residents has a

certain impact on the cognition of low-carbon tourism.

Analysis on the Impact of Residents’ Environmental Awareness on Low Carbon Tourism Cognition and Willingness in Bijie City

339

Figure 3: The effects of Bijie residents’ awareness of carbon reduction in daily life on their cognition of low-carbon tourism.

Similarly, the age of residents also has a

significant impact. The residents under 35 and over

55 years old have a high degree of cognition on items

that hotels should use water-saving toilets and the

ecological environment is closely associated with the

development of low-carbon tourism, and they are

willing to give priority to low-carbon goods, while

the residents aged 36 to 55 show a relatively low level

of cognition on these items.

The awareness of carbon reduction and daily

consumption habitats also have significant impacts

on cognition of many low-carbon tourism items. It

can be seen from Figure 3 that the higher the

residents' awareness of carbon reduction, the higher

the level of their cognition on items that hotels should

use energy-saving lighting control systems,

governments should vigorously advocate the

development of public transportation in scenic spots,

and the ecological environment is closely associated

with the development of low-carbon tourism. In

addition, the more residents are used to buying low-

carbon products in their daily life, the better they

know that hotels should use water-saving toilets and

energy-saving lighting control systems, the air

conditioning temperature should be set according to

the national standard, public transportation should be

vigorously advocated, low-carbon goods should be

given priority, and walking is a way to practice low-

carbon tourism. Therefore, improving residents'

awareness of carbon reduction and daily consumption

habits are essential to enhancing residents' cognition

of low-carbon tourism.

4 CONCLUSION

As the main body of tourism, residents play an

important role in the development of low-carbon

tourism. Through this study, we obtained a better

understanding of Bijie residents' cognition of low-

carbon tourism and the influencing factors. First of all,

residents have a high level of cognition of low-carbon

transportation. They believe that public

transportation in scenic spots should be vigorously

developed. Most residents are concerned about the

relevant information about tourism accommodation,

and generally recognize low-carbon accommodation.

In terms of low-carbon catering, residents' cognition

varies on different items, which is related to the

differences in their catering experience. Residents

have a high level of awareness of low-carbon

sightseeing, and consider that the ecological

environment is closely associated with the

development of low-carbon tourism. In terms of low-

carbon shopping and entertainment, residents'

cognitive level is not high. Secondly, gender and age

significantly affect Bijie residents' understanding of

low-carbon tourism. Residents in different gender

and age groups show significantly different cognition

levels. In addition, the higher the residents' awareness

of carbon reduction in their daily life, the more they

pay attention to the low-carbon economy and

environmental protection, and the more they

understand the two major elements of carbon

emission in tourism, namely transportation and

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accommodation. At the same time, the more residents

are used to buying low-carbon green products in their

daily life, the more they know about low-carbon

tourism items.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The research was supported by Shandong Provincial

Natural Science Foundation, China (No.

ZR2016DL03) and High-level Research Project

Cultivation Funding of Shandong Women's

University (No. 2019GSPGJ03).

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