Surcharges tied to resource use proved more effective than discounts, while itemized environmental fees boosted conservation intentions
SEOUL, South Korea, July 14, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Hotels have long encouraged guests to reuse towels, limit linen changes, and conserve energy. Yet tourism remains a significant source of carbon emissions, and voluntary sustainability programs often struggle to achieve lasting behavior change. New research suggests a different approach may be more effective: connecting the environmental impact of a stay directly to what travelers pay.
Professor Hakseung Shin of the School of Tourism and colleagues from Hanyang University found that tourists were more likely to report intentions to adopt environmentally friendly behaviors when accommodation prices were linked to their resource consumption. The study showed that carbon-based pricing increased intentions to conserve energy and water, especially when environmental costs appeared as separate charges and when excessive consumption triggered a surcharge rather than a reward.
This paper was made available online on May 22, 2026, and was published in Volume 119 of the journal Annals of Tourism Research on July 01, 2026.
Prof. Shin said, “Difficult sustainability challenges cannot be solved solely through moral appeals or regulations. Instead, they should be addressed through green capitalism—environmental policies that align ecological goals with market incentives.”
The team investigated whether carbon-linked pricing could encourage more sustainable choices among travelers. Under such systems, guests pay according to their resource consumption and associated environmental impact, with charges tied to resource use such as electricity, water, heating, cooling, or linen services. The team conducted three experiments using realistic hotel and short-term rental booking scenarios, testing how different pricing structures influenced participants’ intentions to conserve resources during a stay.
Across the studies, carbon-based pricing consistently increased pro-environmental behavioral intentions. Participants who knew that wasteful consumption could increase their costs reported stronger intentions to conserve resources. Likewise, incentives in discount pricing produced conservation intentions comparable to surcharge pricing. These findings provide some of the first experimental evidence that market-based environmental pricing can influence tourism-related sustainability decisions.
The study also revealed that how environmental costs are presented matters. Participants responded more strongly when higher resource consumption resulted in an additional charge than when lower consumption earned an equivalent discount. Separately itemized environmental charges also generated stronger responses than costs bundled into a single total price, suggesting that making environmental costs visible can increase their influence on consumer decision-making. “This research can be applied in hotels, Airbnb properties, and tourism platforms through carbon-based pricing systems that reward low-impact behavior or charge for excessive resource use,” said Prof. Shin.
The team argues that such approaches could become increasingly relevant as smart technologies make it easier to track individual resource consumption. Carbon-based pricing could integrate environmental considerations into everyday travel decisions. Looking ahead, the researchers believe these systems may help support the transition to a lower-carbon tourism sector.
“Over the next 5–10 years, advances in smart technologies and carbon tracking may make personalized carbon pricing commonplace in tourism,” stated Prof. Shin. The researchers note that the study used hypothetical booking scenarios and measured behavioral intentions rather than actual behavior. Future studies will be needed to determine whether these effects translate to real-world tourism settings.
Reference
Title of original paper: Paying for carbon: CO₂-based pricing mechanisms and pro-environmental behavior in tourism
Journal: Annals of Tourism Research
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2026.104209
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