Is environmental protection an important aspect of destination selection?

Rather than focusing only on short-term marketing strategies to boost visitor numbers, destinations need to urgently turn their attention to understanding concerns their visitors have about climate change and responding to the findings of the scientific community on how climate change will impact specific destinations in coming decades. This research explored respondents’ views on destination selection based on the level of importance placed on selecting destinations they perceived were actively protecting their environment, their climate change beliefs and their participation in environmental behaviours. The research was undertaken in Cairns, a major Australian ecotourism destination. The destination’s’ two major ecosystem attractions and the main focus of the destinations marketing campaigns, are the Great Barrier Reef and the Wet Tropics Rainforests. Both are World Heritage sites and threatened by climate change.