Insights August 2009
GOING GREEN, BUT NOT WILLING TO PAY FOR IT
Although the percentage of American travelers who consider themselves "environmentally conscious" remains unchanged this year compared to 2007 (at 78 percent), there has been a remarkable increase in the percentage who report they are familiar with the term "carbon footprint" (from 12 percent in July 2007 to 54 percent in July 2009). Enhanced awareness of this environmental term hasn’t translated into actions intended to minimize the carbon footprint created by their travel, however, as only three percent have purchased a carbon offset when booking travel according to our July travelhorizons™, the quarterly consumer survey we co-author with the U.S. Travel Association.
Heightened awareness of environmental issues has translated into an increase in the incidence of several environmentally friendly behaviors at home including turning lights off when leaving a room, recycling and composting trash, and using more energy efficient CFL light bulbs. In fact, the incidence of all of the environmentally-responsible behaviors measured in the survey has increased since the benchmark measures were recorded in 2007 as revealed below:
|
Behavior
|
%
2008 |
%
2009 |
| Turn off lights when leaving room |
88
|
88
|
| Recycle trash/compost |
60
|
76
|
| Regulate AC when not at home |
67
|
75
|
| Shut off water when brushing teeth/shaving |
60
|
70
|
| Use more efficient CFL light bulbs |
59
|
69
|
| Keep showers short |
53
|
61
|
| Buy environmentally safe household products |
22
|
32
|
| Plant trees |
25
|
28
|
| Read books/watch movies about nature/environment |
26
|
27
|
| Walk or bike instead of driving when possible |
20
|
27
|
| Buy organic food |
NA
|
20
|
| Car pool/ride share |
9
|
19
|
| Use public transportation when possible |
10
|
17
|
| Donate funds to environmental organizations |
NA
|
11
|
| Teleconference to avoid travel when possible |
5
|
9
|
| Belong to environmental organizations |
6
|
7
|
| Invest in companies developing energy alternatives |
3
|
6
|
| Use solar or wind power |
3
|
6
|
| Drive a hybrid car |
2
|
5
|
| Purchase carbon offsets when booking travel |
NA
|
3
|
Consumers’ willingness to pay higher fares or rates to patronize travel service suppliers who demonstrate environmental responsibility remains limited, though, with only nine percent of U.S. adults stating they would do so. Among those who would, roughly four out of ten (39 percent) would pay up to a five percent fare or rate premium to an environmentally responsible supplier, and an equal percentage would pay between five percent and nine percent more. These data suggest that most travelers view the additional expenses that are typically incurred to operate in an environmentally responsible manner should be borne by travel suppliers as a cost of doing business. And although they believe travel suppliers should be good stewards of their environment, over half also believe that individuals themselves have the greatest responsibility for preserving and protecting the environment, while just over one-fourth believe this responsibility rests primarily with the federal government.
For more information on the latest results from travelhorizons™ please visit the Publications section of www.ypartnership.com.
August 31st, 2009 at 10:50 am
Dear Peter & Greg
this is very intrestign study. I have done few paers on this topic - consumers willingness to pay for Green practices with data from US, Greece and India. So, I enjoyed reading your research on this topic. It is a timely topic.
I like to hear more about your work in this area.
August 31st, 2009 at 11:14 am
Thanks. We don’t have extensive work available on this subject, but I would encourage you to visit the Publications section of http://www.ypartnership.com for additional articles that may be of interest.
August 31st, 2009 at 11:32 am
Hello H.G.,
Agreed, it is an interesting line of inquiry and as we will be covering this again in our quarterly Travelhorizons work, we can discuss future content.
August 31st, 2009 at 12:42 pm
More great work and info from ypartnership. As you know DMAI has embarked on a Futures campaign of which Social Responsibility is a major component. My question is how much is the current recession impactng these responses particularly in areas of car-pooling, energy consumption et al.
Thanks Peter.
August 31st, 2009 at 7:11 pm
We found a similar low level (under 10%) of visitors to the CA welcome center in San Francisco who had actually done any of the green practices we listed (similar to yours). It seems like the industry is way ahead of travel consumers in willingness to support, trusts, knows about or is willing to pay for sustainable green travel.
August 31st, 2009 at 8:21 pm
Patrick,
I agree with you. We found similar results in our earlier study on Green Practices in Hospitlaity. Only 25% were willing to pay up to 10% but a about 25% were willing to pay up to 5% and nearly 40% refuse to pay anything. Then we compared data to that of Greece and India. Interstingly agood percentage of consumers still think that it is the responsibility of the Govt.
Our next paper on this topic is in review with the Cornell Quarterly. So, I can’t discuss those results until that paper is published.
Greg - it is a stimulating CSR study. Kudo to you and your group.
August 31st, 2009 at 10:07 pm
Steve, many thanks for your kind remarks.
In reply to your question, we have been polling travelers’ sentiments on this subject for a couple of years (including prior to the Lehman crisis) and the results have been very consistent: a growing concern for the environment, but a lack of willingness to pay a premium to suppliers who behave in an environmentally responsible manner. It appears that consumers view this as a “cost of doing business” that should be borne by suppliers.
October 19th, 2009 at 9:34 am
“Only nine percent of US adults say they would pay higher fares to travel service suppliers who demonstrate environmental responsibility”. I think we need to conduct further studies on the nine percent population and understand more about why they would pay higher fares. I think that when we get a clearer understanding, it would stimulate other ideas that would help increase the percentage.
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