The Ecological Motivation of Tourists as a Determinant of the Tourists’ Loyalty

Despite the significant impact of environment on the attractiveness of tourist destination, environmental stewardship is not always the top priority in the hotel industry as one of the most energy-intensive sectors of the tourism industry which contributes to the increasing quantity of air pollutants. Therefore, this study investigates the impact of ecological pull motives and service quality on the tourists’ loyalty to eco-hotels. The tourists spent their holidays in Austrian hotels with ecolabel and in Slovenian hotels were targeted and a total of 611 tourists participated in the study. The study reveals that the perceived service quality and ecobehaviour of hotel staff are the main determinants of the tourists’ loyalty. The comparison analysis between Austrian and Slovenian hotels indicates that the guests of Austrian hotels with ecolabel are more loyal and ecologically motivated than guests of Slovenian hotels without ecolabel.