Differences in willingness to pay for tourism sustainability in Croatian nature parks: Insights into visitors' perception of sustainable tourism and satisfaction

Abstract

Determining the factors influencing behavioural intentions and visitor behaviour is significant for predicting sustainable tourism practices. The concept of Willingness to Pay (WTP) is studied as one of the dimensions of behavioural intentions, and it is increasingly researched in sustainable tourism literature. However, there is a lack of studies investigating the WTP for tourism sustainability in nature parks and determinants that can affect it differently. This study aims to determine whether visitors' WTP varies among dimensions of tourism sustainability in nature parks regarding their perception of sustainable tourism importance and satisfaction with nature parks’ attributes. To ensure the robustness and diversity of the data, the research included 690 visitors in three nature parks in Croatia, dominated by domestic visitors (96.81%). Applying the non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis test, the study shows that visitors’ WTP for certain dimensions of tourism sustainability differs regarding their perception of sustainable tourism importance, whereas no such differences were found with regard to satisfaction with nature parks’ attributes. The highest WTP was detected for the dimension of improving the quality of the environment, and the lowest for the quality-of-life improvement of the local community, given visitors' positive perception of sustainable tourism importance. A specific contribution of the study is to deepen understanding of differences in willingness to support tourism sustainability from the perspective of predominantly domestic visitors, who form the foundation of year-round sustainable and resilient tourism.