The purpose of the study was to understand the potential factors affecting tour operators' compliance with ecotourism principles. To accomplish this task, the study developed and tested a compliance framework for its explanatory power on a sample of ecotour operators. Almost half of the variation was explained by thefactors included in the proposed framework. The results suggested that tour operators' beliefs sys tems toward the ecotourism guidelines play an important role in determining their self-reported compliance behavior. Specifically, belief in the economic utility of compliance with the guidelines and familiarity with ecotourism guidelines were found to be significantly related to behavioral compli ance. The voluntary nature of the guidelines was one determinant that reduced compliance scores of individual tour op erators. Some strategies in dealing with compliance issues are suggested.
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