This paper aims to develop the multi-level eco-emotion activation framework (MLEAF) to address the fragmented understanding of how ecological emotions, like “flygskam” (flight shame), shape travel decisions within tourism systems.
A scoping review was conducted following Joanna Briggs Institute and Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews guidelines and analysed 67 peer-reviewed publications using descriptive quantitative techniques and inductive thematic synthesis.
The MLEAF sees the eco-emotions as operating simultaneously across individual, social and institutional levels, connected by feedback loops and resistance mechanisms. It explains why flygskam drives change in some tourism contexts but has no effect in others and shows that the value−action gap is a result of the system rather than individual failure.
The framework shows that “flygskam” does not have to be a choice between sustainability and tourism survival. When emotional awareness is backed by social norms that value sustainable travel and by infrastructure that offers real alternatives, tourism can be transformed instead of declining through mode switching, slow tourism and better accessibility.
The MLEAF is the first integrated conceptual framework that explains how eco-emotions activate, move across levels and either lead to change in tourism systems or fail to do so. It gives tourism policymakers, destination managers and industry practitioners a basis for coordinated interventions that support both environmental and tourism objectives.
