Promoting Sustainable Tourism Products: The Influence of Emotional and Rational Responses to Marketing Communication on Decision-Making

Marketing plays an important role in implementing sustainable tourism. Lately, researchers, policy makers and practitioners have recognized the importance of understanding the promotion of sustainable tourism products and the perception of advertising appeals by tourists. The present study analyzes how emotional and rational responses of tourists to advertising appeals promoting sustainable tourism products influence decisionmaking. In an online-survey (n=753) we find – in line with hypotheses – that with sustainable appeals emotional responses take a stronger influence on decision-making than rational appeals. It is concluded that sustainable tourism products are promoted more effectively by using emotional appeals