Pledges to Travel with Care

Ensuring responsible travel behavior is challenging and requires a range of tools.
Pledges are one way to remind travelers of their virtuous intentions and help reduce the gap between what visitors say they will do – and what they do. Pledges are what behavioral scientists call a commitment device. Commitment devices, like a pledge, help make the things we intend to do public – and so more likely to happen. They also set expectations about behavior when visiting the destination.
Destinations with pledges designed to encourage good visitor behavior include:

• Palau Pledge
• New Zealand’s Tiaki Promise
• Hawaii’s Pono Pledge
• Maldives Horsburgh Atoll’s Conscious Traveler Pledge