Environmental awareness and sustainability in tourism destinations: three Italian case studies

As the development of environmental awareness primarily influences the decision to become environmentally involved, in the present work the findings of an empirical research on environmental awareness in three Italian areas are presented and discussed. The aim of the research was to identify and study local stakeholders environmental awareness so as to verify their willingness to support environmental needs in their everyday behaviors and promote a sustainable tourism. In each site, Public Administrators were interviewed through open questions; structured questionnaires were submitted to forty local tourism entrepreneurs managing hotels, restaurants and tourism services. The areas have been analysed as case studies; in addition, the opinions of different stakeholders within any site and across the sites have been evaluated and compared, in order to understand both the link between local communities and their own territory, and tensions or conflicts within the communities themselves.