Insights July 2008
TURNING GREEN INTO GREEN
According to a recent national survey we conducted with the Travel Industry Association, almost nine out of ten American adults profess to be “environmentally conscious.” The majority manifest their environmental concern by turning off the lights when leaving a room, being energy efficient by regulating air conditioning/heating temperatures when not at home, and recycling and/or composting trash. These activities are mentioned by more than eight in ten Americans who claim to be “green.” Not surprisingly, however, there are significant gender differences in the behaviors exhibited by men versus women, with the latter generally more committed to environmentally safe practices. These are revealed in the table below.
|
Attitude/Behavior
|
Total
|
Men
|
Women
|
| Environmentally Conscious |
85
|
83
|
87†
|
| Turn off the lights when leaving the room |
87
|
83
|
90†
|
| Be energy efficient at by regulating air conditioning/heating when not at home |
85
|
80
|
89†
|
| Recycle and/or compost trash |
82
|
79
|
84†
|
| Keep showers short |
73
|
66
|
78†
|
| Read books/magazines or watch movies/videos about nature or the environment |
67
|
65
|
69†
|
| Buy environmentally safe household products, even if they cost more |
57
|
53
|
60†
|
| Use public transportation whenever possible |
33
|
31
|
35†
|
| Car pool |
31
|
25
|
36†
|
| Belong to environmental organizations such as World Wildlife Fund, Greenpeace, The Sierra Club |
16
|
14
|
18†
|
| Drive a hybrid car |
5
|
6
|
4†
|
|
† Denotes statistically significant difference from men.
|
|||
The question for most travel marketers, however, is whether or not concern about the environment represents a market opportunity. The answer is yes, although primarily with respect to market share, not incremental rates or yields. Specially, four out of ten leisure travelers “probably/definitely” would select an environmentally friendly travel supplier if they knew about the supplier’s commitment to the environment (not surprisingly, significantly more women than men agree with this statement). And although nearly one-half state they’re willing to pay higher fares/rates for the services provided by such suppliers, the majority (53%) state they are not. Among those willing to pay more, the overwhelming majority (six in ten) report they would pay only up to 9% more.
The conclusion is therefore clear: a travel service supplier’s commitment to and communication of environmental responsibility may be sufficient to shift market share. Consumers’ reluctance to pay more to support “green causes” suggests that most, however, view the demonstration of this responsibility as an obligation of businesses that should, arguably, be good stewards of the environment anyway.
For further information of the results of the Ypartnership/Yankelovich 2008 National Travel MONITORsm please click here.
January 26th, 2009 at 4:11 pm
I wonder what this means for the major forms of transportation in travel.
Does this mean that some consumers will be more likely to vacation closer to home or take a cruise leaving from nearby location versus flying on a large jet to a destination on the other side of the world?
I think we will see a clear win with environmentally conscious travels when we can show clear differentiation in energy use from one trip vs. another. How about a travel site that does only this and rates vacation packages based on how environmentally friendly they are?
March 26th, 2009 at 4:53 pm
This advice is really going to help, thanks.
April 12th, 2009 at 11:00 pm
VRy interesting to read it
January 10th, 2010 at 4:34 am
I don’t hang out at blogs much but I like yours. Thanks for the posts. I have enjoyed reading here.