The Sustainable Development of Organic Agriculture-Tourism: The Role of Consumer Landscape and Pro-Environment Behavior

• Main Authors: Lin-Lin Xue, Yen-Rung Chang, Ching-Cheng Shen
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-08-01
• Series: Sustainability
• Subjects: organic agriculture-tourism; consumer landscape; intimacy; environmental identity; M-R model; pro-environment behaviors
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/15/6264

The purpose of this study is to explore the influence path of organic agricultural landscape on tourists’ pro-environment behavior and loyalty, and put forward suggestions for realizing sustainable tourism of organic agriculture. The M-R model was employed to construct an integrated model of the influence of consumer landscape on pro-environment behavior and loyalty in organic agricultural tourism. The research framework and questionnaire design were constructed on the basis of literature review and 417 valid questionnaires which were collected from tourists in Eastern Taiwan (Hualien and Taidong). SPSS was employed to analyze the reliability and validity of the questionnaire and LISREL software was used to identify the influence path between variables. The results showed that: 1. The tourists’ cognition of consumer landscape will positively affect the environmental intimacy and environmental identity. 2. Tourists’ environmental intimacy and environmental identity will increase their pro-environmental behavior. 3. Tourists’ pro-environment behavior has a positive impact on their loyalty to organic agricultural tourism. The results show that organic agricultural tourism can stimulate tourists to understand the significance, importance and multiple values of the environment, and increase the intimacy and identity of tourists to the environment, which has a great effect on pro-environment behavior and loyalty. At the same time, it also shows that organic agricultural tourism is a sustainable tourism mode, which is worth promoting.