Community-based tourism (CBT) is deemed a powerful means for enhancing community well-being and ethnic cultural preservation (CP). However, its sustainability has been challenged by resource scarcity, environmental pollution and funding instability in Vietnam. This study investigates young tourists’ perceptions of and financial contributions to community-based tourism associated with cultural preservation (CBT-CP) at Lac Village, a key White Thai ethnic site in Phu Tho province. Specifically, the contingent valuation method (CVM) coupled with an interval regression model was used to analyze the data obtained from 275 respondents during December 2024 to estimate the willingness to pay (WTP) for CBT-CP and identify influencing factors. We found that nearly 50% of the respondents are willing to contribute financially, with an average of roughly USD 4.45 per visit. This leads to total contributions of USD 2413 for all respondents and USD 1541 for respondents with a high certainty level of commitment. Additionally, we found that key barriers to WTP for CBT-CP are fiscal transparency concerns, personal financial limitations, and individual determinants. These findings offer many policy implications for mobilizing young tourists’ untapped funding, strengthening local management capacity, and advocating for enhanced transparency to improve CBT-CP in the study area and beyond.

Waste pollution is becoming a major health issue in many developing nations. Waste-reduction options have been investigated and proposed, but environmental culture-based initiatives have not. This study explores and advances Vietnamese families’ environmental culture related to waste management, using the Culture Tower framework and a contingent valuation method coupled with a Bayesian model (CVBM). Specifically, descriptive statistics measure environmental literacy, while CVBM determines household willingness-to-pay (WTP) and estimates WTP for waste treatment services (WTP4WTS). Based on our survey of 487 households across 11 communes and wards in Hai Phong City, local waste pollution has decreased over time, although the respondents remain concerned. Over 13% of households were dissatisfied with waste treatment services (WTSs), while approximately 50% were neutral. Most respondents (79.26%) were willing to pay for improved WTSs, with an average WTP of 60,200 VND (US$2.32) per household per month. Behavioral and perceptual factors, such as the desire for improved waste services, current perceived waste pollution, and the perception that pollution has worsened, were found to significantly influence this willingness. Our study makes three major contributions. First, it develops a novel CVBM framework that links environmental culture and an economic valuation method, strengthening green economy micro-behavioral research. Second, it advances the circular economy literature by highlighting household engagement and willingness-to-pay as key drivers of sustainable waste financing and resource-loop closure. Third, it provides empirical evidence to inform and refine Vietnam’s revised Law on Environmental Protection (2020), particularly in implementing the “polluter pays” principle, promoting waste classification at the source, and designing socially acceptable environmental financing mechanisms.

Urban air pollution has become a critical governance challenge for many developing cities, where sustained air quality improvement depends not only on pollution-control capacity but also on durable public participation and financial support. Building on Cultural Additivity Theory (CAT), this study employs Bayesian Mindsponge Framework (BMF) analytics with a Bayesian cumulative ordinal logistic specification to investigate how environmental perceptions, adaptive behavior, and household financial capacity are associated with household willingness to pay (WTP) for urban air quality improvement, using survey data from 604 households in Hanoi, Vietnam. The results show that household income, perceived pollution urgency, perceived pollution impact, and avoidance behavior are positively associated with higher WTP. More importantly, the positive associations of perceived pollution urgency and avoidance behavior with WTP are more pronounced at higher household income levels, indicating that these environmental orientations are more closely associated with higher contribution preferences at greater levels of financial capacity. These findings suggest that household WTP reflects a differentiated decision process in which environmental engagement and material circumstances jointly correspond to stated financial contribution rather than operating as isolated determinants. This study makes three contributions. First, it extends CAT into behavioral environmental economics by distinguishing environmental value formation from its expression in stated financial contribution and revealing within-decision differentiation across environmental attributes. Second, it extends the application of BMF analytics to payment card WTP data through a Bayesian cumulative ordinal logistic specification that supports posterior and probability-based interpretation. Third, it provides evidence for designing clean air governance that combines locally relevant risk communication and behaviorally informed public engagement with flexible participation arrangements that recognize heterogeneous household financial capacity.

Waste pollution represents an increasingly serious problem affecting the health and well-being of people living in many developing countries. Many studies have examined and recommended waste-reducing solutions, yet environmental culture-based measures remain understudied. This study employs a novel approach that integrates the Culture Tower with the Contingent Valuation Method and a Bayesian model (CVBM) to explore and advance households’ environmental culture associated with waste management. Specifically, descriptive statistics capture respondents’ environmental perceptions and literacy, while the Bayesian model and CVM identify the determinants of households’ willingness to pay (WTP) and estimate WTP for waste treatment service (WTP4WTS), respectively. We found that despite the observed reduction in local waste pollution over time, respondents maintain a persistent concern regarding this issue. Over 13% of the households surveyed expressed dissatisfaction with waste treatment services (WTS), contrasting with nearly 50% of households that reported a neutral perspective. We also found that a significant majority (79.26%) of respondents were willing to pay for WTS, with an average WTP of 60,200 VND (US$2.32) per month. Importantly, the primary predictors of WTP4WTS were found to be the desire for improved waste services, current perceived waste pollution, and the belief that pollution has worsened over time. This study makes three key contributions. First, it develops an integrated CVBM framework linking environmental culture with economic valuation, thereby strengthening the micro-behavioral foundations of green economy research. Second, it advances the circular economy literature by identifying household engagement and willingness to pay as critical drivers of sustainable waste-financing and resource-loop closure. Third, it provides empirical evidence to inform and refine the implementation of Vietnam’s revised Law on Environmental Protection (2020), particularly in operationalizing the “polluter pays” principle, promoting waste classification at source, and designing socially acceptable environmental financing mechanisms.