Pro-environmental Behaviour of Tourists in Uzbekistan: Application of Protection Motivation Theory

1.2 Problem Statement
Currently, throughout the world, there is a rising concern about the degradation of environmental quality, and attempts are being undertaken to prevent widespread environmental misuse by enhancing environmental quality. Because of their popularity and high demand among visitors, tourist destinations confront issues in maintaining biological resources (Thapa & Lee, 2017). The influx has resulted in a detrimental influence on different sites, mostly due to visitors' disrespect for animals, resources, and the environment (Alessa et al., 2003; Miller et al., 2015, Tonge et al., 2015). As a result, monitoring and regulating visitor behaviors have emerged as critical management challenges in order to limit consequences and encourage ethical behaviours. In recent decades, visitors' pro-environmental actions have been widely studied in order to obtain insight into the conservation of destinations' natural resources and prevent harmful effects (Kim, & Thapa, 2018; Lee et al., 2013). The attitude-behavior approach has been widely used in research to predict visitors' pro-environmental behaviors (Lee & Jan, 2015), but few studies have studied whether behaviors are connected to attitudes, cognition, and emotions toward nature (Cheng, T. M., & Wu, 2015 ). This aspect necessitates deeper research into the antecedents of tourists' pro-environmental behaviour based on PMT.
Uzbekistan's tourism industry has been growing rapidly in recent years, contributing significantly to the country's economy. This growth, however, has raised concerns about its potential negative environmental impact, such as increased energy consumption, waste generation, and biodiversity loss. Uzbekistan is facing a number of environmental challenges, including water scarcity, air pollution, and soil degradation, all of which can be exacerbated by tourism. Tourists may perceive these environmental threats based on their direct experience while travelling. The level of tourist infrastructure in Uzbekistan can also influence tourists' perceptions of the environment. Tourists who stay in eco-lodges or take eco-tours that emphasize the importance of environmental protection may be more likely to perceive environmental threats.
Environmental issues in Uzbekistan can affect tourists in a variety of ways. For example, air pollution in Tashkent, Uzbekistan's capital city, can cause respiratory problems for visitors, particularly those with pre-existing health conditions. Water scarcity can also cause problems for tourists, such as rationing and limited access to clean water for personal hygiene.
Tourism, on the other hand, can also have a negative impact on the environment in Uzbekistan. Some of the most common negative environmental effects of tourism include:
Overuse of natural resources: Tourists may consume more natural resources, such as water and energy, than the local population, resulting in resource depletion and increased pollution;

Waste generation: Tourism activities can generate significant amounts of waste, such as plastic bottles and food packaging, which can contribute to pollution of the environment;

Habitat destruction: The development of tourism infrastructure, such as hotels and resorts, can result in habitat destruction, particularly in ecologically sensitive areas;
Carbon emissions: Transportation, such as flights and car rentals, contribute significantly to global climate change in the tourism industry.
Although the impact of values on pro-environmental behavior has been extensively researched in the past, there is little study that formulates tourists' psychological processes for how pro-environmental behaviors lead to specific motives toward a destination's natural environment in tourists visiting Uzbekistan. To address these concerns, it is critical to understand the factors that influence Uzbekistan’s' tourists’ pro-environmental behavior. Tourism researchers have previously built well-formed pro-environmental behavior paradigms (Kim & Koo, 2020). In the current study, researchers focus on pro-environmental behavior of visitors using the PMT since it includes a broader set of predictors of pro-environmental behavior than other existing theories; and gives special attention to pro-environmental behaviour of tourists with regarding PMT in the context of tourism destination of Uzbekistan. In this regard, the impact of factors of perceived severity, perceived vulnerability, intrinsic and extrinsic rewards, and self-efficacy, response-efficacy and response costs on tourist's environmental behaviour will be assessed.