Even though tourists increasingly value sustainable practices in tourism businesses and destinations, price is still one of the main determinant factors in their decisions. Therefore, for destination managers it is essential to understand tourists’ willingness to pay an additional price to visit a place where sustainable practices are adopted. In this context, and building on social psychology theories, the present study proposes and tests a causal model encompassing tourists’ Willingness To Pay (WTP) for sustainability in tourist destinations as well as their own sustainability attitudes, namely: Environmental Beliefs, Ecotour Attitudes, and Sustainable Consumption Behaviour. To this end, data were collected through a questionnaire survey of Portuguese tourists (n = 567). The hypothesised relationships between the latent variables were then tested using Structural Equations Modelling (SEM) procedures. The results show that Environmental Beliefs significantly affected both Ecotour Attitudes and Sustainable Consumption Behaviour, and that the latter two significantly affected WTP. However, no significant effect of Environmental Beliefs on WTP was found. These findings provide useful insights for destination managers aiming to more effectively cater to sustainability-oriented tourists. Future research should attempt to assess the role of other determinants of WTP.

The awareness of tourism’s environmental impact has increased interest in sustainable alternatives such as green hotels, yet tourists often fail to translate pro-environmental attitudes into action, reflecting the attitude–behavior gap. This study extends the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) by incorporating Environmental Knowledge and Climate Change-Related Risk Perceptions (CC-RRPs) as background factors and testing their effects on Green Hotel Purchase Intentions (GHPIs) among Spanish travelers. Data from 1442 respondents were analyzed using covariance-based Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) with bootstrapped mediation testing. Results show that In-Group Norms are the strongest predictor of GHPIs, followed by Eco-Hotel Attitudes, while Perceived Behavioral Control (PBC) has a weaker but significant effect. Environmental Knowledge predicts all three mediators, and CC-RRPs predict Attitudes and Norms but not PBC. Crucially, both antecedents affect GHPIs only indirectly, supporting a mediation-based framework. These findings clarify the distinct roles of Environmental Knowledge as a cognitive antecedent and CC-RRPs as cognitive–affective evaluations that motivate attitudes and norms, while also highlighting the centrality of social influence in a Southern European context. Beyond theoretical contributions, the results underscore the importance of trust and authenticity: addressing greenwashing through transparent communication and credible certification frameworks is essential to ensure sustainable hospitality choices.

With consumers becoming increasingly aware of the effects of human activity on the environment, tourism products and destinations are increasingly marketed as sustainable and socially responsible. As most sustainable practices lead to additional costs, and tourists’ decisions tend to be price sensitive, achieving sustainability goals necessarily involves understanding how much more tourists are willing to pay for sustainable practices as well as the antecedents of such willingness to pay (WTP). The present study aims to advance knowledge on the antecedents of WTP for sustainable destinations (WTP-4-SD), for which it builds on previous studies employing the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and the New Environmental Paradigm (NEP). In this context, a theoretical model involving ecotourism attitudes, environmental beliefs, climate change-related risk perceptions (CC-RRP), environmental concern during trip (ECDT), and sustainable consumption behavior (SCB) as antecedents of WTP-4-SD is proposed. The model was tested based on data collected through an online survey from a sample of 847 Spanish and Portuguese Gen Z travelers and analyzed through Structural Equations Modeling (SEM). The findings suggest that a cohesive set of attitudes and beliefs regarding the man–nature relationship, the risks of climate change, and the role of tourism—which have been labeled “No Planet-B Attitudes”—is the main driver of WTP-4-SD. The effects of SCB and ECDT on WTP-4-SD have also been confirmed—although the latter is quite small—as well as those of No Planet-B Attitudes on both. The findings bring about insights into young travelers’ attitudes towards nature and the role of tourism in sustainable development, as well as useful implications for sustainable tourism planning and marketing.

The present research aims to compare hospitality workers’ confidence about the perceived need to improve their soft and hard skills during and after the lockdown period. With this purpose, a questionnaire was applied to a sample of workers from four- and five-star hotels located in the historic centre of Porto (Portugal). Data collection took place in two different time periods: April 2020 and April 2022. The findings evidence that workers are more confident of their skills but are also more aware of the need to develop them, particularly their soft skills. This is likely related to the context of remote work, which intensified the need to learn, and evidenced the necessity of skills such as teamwork and adaptation or flexibility, which showed the greatest increase in perceived need to improve. Despite such an increase, the competencies workers feel like they need to improve the most are still hard, i.e., linguistic and digital. Accordingly, those in which workers are the most confident are soft, i.e., teamwork, interpersonal relationships, and adaptation or flexibility, which is likely because those were the most developed during the pandemic. The findings provide useful insights for human resources management in the hospitality sector. The study points to good practices aiming to address the real development needs of hospitality workers.