Perception biases of sustainable tourism products: an empirical investigation among cruise ship passengers

The sustainability benefits of tourism products are often unclear to tourists. Therefore, the present study surveyed cruise passengers to examine their attitudes, perceptions, and intentions regarding the use of bamboo bicycles with a dedicated social sustainability profile, focusing on biases in the perceptions and intentions to use them. The statistical analysis of the survey data involved maximum likelihood structural equation modeling (ML-SEM) and moderation analyses. The results show that, despite being aware of sustainability issues, passengers rarely distinguish between environmental and social aspects, instead viewing tourism products as either generally sustainable or unsustainable. In particular, the product characteristics related to social sustainability were not considered by the cruise passengers. In contrast, perceived usefulness and social norms influenced mostly the intention to use bamboo bicycles during land excursions. Therefore, cruise operators should distinguish more precisely among the individual sustainability dimensions to promote sustainable tourism products and services. Our findings offer both theoretical and practical contributions, encouraging further research on sustainable consumer behavior in tourism.