Abstract
Decisions by tourism workers to leave environmentally fragile destinations offer a critical, yet underexplored, lens on pro-environmental action in tourism studies. This qualitative study examines this issue through interviews with 25 former Antarctic tour guides, who, grappling with work dilemmas, decided to quit the industry. Drawing on theories of dilemmas, moral negotiation, and environmental care, we explore the decision-making process the guides underwent before quitting their jobs. We reconceptualise the attitude–behaviour gap as three interconnected gaps: problem–solution, solution–decision, and decision–behaviour, negotiated through a gradual process. Our findings challenge assumptions that environmental care requires continued engagement, demonstrating instead that withdrawal can be an act of care for both fragile environments and the self.
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•Engages people who refuse to partake in tourism as often-overlooked stakeholders•Frames quitting Antarctic tourism as a high-impact pro-environmental behaviour•Identifies sub-gaps within the attitude-behaviour gap, and how they are overcome•Reveals that moral negotiation is painful, gradual, non-linear and open-ended•Argues that caring for a place and for oneself can both be part of environmental care