Factors Influencing the Environmental Awareness of Visitors to the Natural Protected Areas on the Island of Tenerife
Abstract
In the research, the behavior of the visitors was analyzed and the basic characteristics of the visitors (socio-demographic variables) were determined. Factors influencing the final proenvironmental behavior of visitors were analyzed and for this purpose 206 visitors filled out anonymous research questionnaires built on the basis of a model that links the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) with other elements.
Visitors were also asked about their perception of the park's waste management and how education from the park administration affects them. The research results support the im-portance of the influence of environmental education on people's environmental awareness.
It was found that awareness of the consequences of behavior significantly affects personal norms and attitudes, and these then have the greatest influence on the final proenvironmental behavior of visitors. A protected natural area can have an educational role, but it is also important to allow visitors to behave consciously in this environment, for which it is necessary to provide them with enough places for depositing and sorting waste and above all to focus on their environmental education, which is extremely important.
The research results also pointed out that pro-environmental behavior is influenced by perceived behavioral control, i.e. how difficult it is for visitors to behave in a certain way.