The impact of sustainable cultural practices in hotels on guests’ pro-environmental behavior: the mediating role of green trust and experience

The hospitality industry is an essential component that can strengthen, sustain, and develop destination cultures in addition to monetary and economic advantages. The objective of the study is to examine the influence of sustainable cultural practices on guests' pro-environmental behaviour and explore the mediating role of green trust and experience. The preliminary results were collected from a questionnaire issued randomly among 420 guests at green five-star hotels in Hurghada, spanning from the beginning of 2025 until the final week of March. The study used SPSS version 29 for demographic analysis and Smart PLS 4.1.1.4 for structural equation models. This study is providing insight as it takes a new approach by exploring cultural sustainability practices and how they affect guests' environmentally friendly behaviour in the hospitality industry. The study's results show that sustainable cultural practices didn't directly predict pre-environmental behaviour, but they did have a major impact on green trust and experience. GT became a major force for transformation in conduct and a link between people. On the other hand, GE didn't have a large impact on PEB, either directly or indirectly. The research results add to the body of theoretical knowledge by showing that trust is a key cognitive process by which cultural traditions affect how people act. They do this by elaborating on the theories of reasoned action (TRA) and planned behaviour (TPB). The analysis demonstrates that hotels need to do more than just participate on the surface; they need to make actual, realistic, and trust-based plans for sustainability.