National destination pledges: Visitor management through emotional engagement, commitment and interpretation

National destination pledges are a destination and visitor management intervention that seeks to positively influence visitor behaviour. They have been used since 2017, and the earliest and most prominent among these are the Icelandic Pledge, the Palau Pledge, New Zealand's Tiaki Promise, and the Sustainable Finland Pledge. Using semi-structured interviews with 17 destination managers and marketers, covering all aforementioned pledges, this paper demonstrates that national destination pledges are a new and innovative soft visitor management intervention. In comparison to other soft visitor management techniques, national destination pledges strategically connect with the emotions of visitors, require (often public) action from visitors, and engage visitors in a process of interpretation to build their own understanding of their role in destination management. As such, this paper outlines how these pledges offer a unique approach to destination management by engaging with demand side stakeholders (visitors). •National destination pledges seek to positively influence visitor behaviour•Visitors are encouraged to form an understanding of their responsibilities•Visitors are asked to (publicly) commit to certain desirable behaviours•Pledges engage visitors' emotions to connect with a destination•Pledges acknowledge visitors as stakeholders in destination management