BehaviorSMART™ Sustainable Tourism Solutions

The analysis finds that there are two reasons guests do not wear their masks. First, they forget to put them on when they walk in as they are much more focused on the site they are visiting and consider that a small insignificant detail. Second, even if they remember at some point, they see that the rest of the group does not have their masks on and proceed without a mask.

Among the ways to minimize the likelihood that guests will forget is to incorporate reminders at the appropriate moments or to increase the importance of wearing a mask. The first can be done with special signs, with audio reminders or with verbal reminders by the guide but a careful analysis reveals that signs and audio reminders cannot be installed at historical sites as this is technologically impossible. Guides are focused on many of their other responsibilities so they cannot remind about masks. Therefore the most relevant approach seems to be to increase the importance of masks by adding personal information about the guide and his family and linking mask to their safety.

The identified solution is tested with three different groups and shows that at the beginning the group remembers to put the mask on but that later in the day as the information about the guide’s family fades, they forget. An additional intervention that is identified to help sustain the effect is to assign one or two guests as responsible for mask reminders, which ensures that the majority will put them on and will create social pressure for the rest. Follow on tests confirm that the mix of these interventions secures long-term results.