The Effect of Tourism Experience on Tourists’ Environmentally Responsible Behavior at Cultural Heritage Sites: The Mediating Role of Cultural Attachment

Do intangible factors enhance sociocultural productivity and economy in world heritage sites?

Measuring the sociocultural productivity of heritage sites remains an ongoing issue for international organizations concerned with the conservation and promotion of traditional sites. The productivity of these locations is not only affected by tangible elements but also by intangible factors, such as the emotions generated by the experiences. For this purpose, 597 employees of hotels in these historical locations who had visited one of the 14 heritage sites in Spain assessed what role emotions play in this contribution. The methodology used was the application of structural equations. Several conclusions have been drawn utilizing the SmartPLS 4 software. The first is that the generation of positive emotions comes exclusively from cultural and historical dynamization and not from technological advances or an eagerness to learn. The second is that both the application of technological advances and cultural dynamization have a direct impact on productivity.

Empowering pro-environmental behavior in tourists through digital media: the influence of eco-guilt and empathy with nature

In the digital economy era, leveraging digital media to foster tourists' pro-environmental behavioral intention (TPEBI) has become crucial in the field of sustainable tourism. While existing studies have mainly focused on the driving mechanism of TPEBI within physical tourism contexts, the correlation between digital media information sharing and TPEBI remains unclear. Our study employs the cognitive-affective-conative framework to construct a theoretical model, considering eco-guilt and empathy with nature as mediating variables. It aims to explore the influencing mechanism of destination environmental information sharing through digital media on TPEBI from a presence perspective. Thereby, two scenario experiments were designed: Study 1 examined the impact of different formats of destination environmental threat information presentation on digital media on the sense of presence, while Study 2 explored the influencing mechanism of presence on TPEBI based on the conclusions of Study 1. Results indicate that (1) vivid and visible presentation formats of destination environmental threat information on digital media enhance individuals' sense of presence; (2) sense of presence positively influences TPEBI; and (3) eco-guilt and empathy with nature mediate between presence and TPEBI. These findings not only contribute to theoretical and empirical research on digital media information sharing in sustainable tourism but also offer guidance for governments and tourism destinations to effectively stimulate TPEBI through digital media, achieve the sustainable development of destinations.

An Integrated Model of Destination Attractiveness and Tourists’ Environmentally Responsible Behavior: The Mediating Effect of Place Attachment

This study aimed to empirically explore the relationship between destination attractiveness and tourists’ environmentally responsible behavior (TERB), as based on self-regulated attitude theory. In this paper, we have divided destination attractiveness into two aspects: the attractiveness of a facility’s services, and that of the sightseeing experience, so as to build a structural equation model with mediation analysis. For our research, we selected Wolong National Nature Reserve in Sichuan as the site of our case study, and we conducted a survey using a questionnaire. We then analyzed the path using a structural equation model. Our results show: (1) two elements of destination attractiveness have significantly positive effects on TERB; and (2) place attachment exerts a mediating effect among the attractiveness of the facility’s services, that of the sightseeing experience, and TERB. Therefore, enhancing destination attractiveness and tourists’ emotional attachments to locations could help to promote the implementation of TERB and the achievement of sustainable tourism development.

The impact of environment-friendly short videos on consumers' low-carbon tourism behavioral intention: A communicative ecology theory perspective

As key participants in tourism activities, the tourists have an important role in the carbon emissions. Therefore, it is essential to identify the key elements that can arouse consumers' low-carbon tourism behavioral intention; this has become an important topic for the academic community. However, to the best of my knowledge, most studies have explored the process of formation of consumers' low-carbon tourism behavioral intention from the cognitive or emotional perspective, and have seldom paid attention to the communication perspective. As a result, the interpretation and prediction of consumers' low-carbon tourism behavioral intention is limited. Based on the framework of communicative ecology theory (CET) and stimulus-organism-response theory (SOR), our study constructs an integrated model of the relationship between environment-friendly short video experience and consumers' low-carbon tourism behavioral intention at the technological, content and social levels, introduces emotional elements such as empathy with nature and perceived environmental responsibility. Structural equation model and bootstrap method were employed for analyzing the data. Results revealed that the presence and perception of environmental education are the cognitive factors that impact consumers' low-carbon tourism behavioral intention; these can effectively stimulate consumers' low-carbon tourism behavioral intention. Empathy with nature and perceived environmental responsibility are the emotional factors that impact consumers' low-carbon tourism behavior; they play significant mediating roles between environment-friendly short video experience (presence, perception of environmental education, online interaction) and consumers' low-carbon tourism behavioral intention. On the one hand, the research conclusions enrich the perspective and content of the research on consumers' low-carbon tourism behavioral intention and its influencing mechanism; on the other hand, they acquaint with the practical significance of implementing environmental education via the emerging communication modes such as short videos, improve consumers' awareness of their environmental responsibility, and promote environmental governance and sustainable development of tourist destinations.

The Behavior-Driven Mechanism of Consumer Participation in "Carbon Neutrality": Based on the Promotion of Replacing Coal with Biomass Briquette Fuel

"replacing coal with biomass briquette fuel" can effectively reduce carbon emissions. This study takes this as an example to discuss consumers' "willingness to consume (WTC)", "willingness to spend (WTS)" and related influencing factors to find the behavior-driven mechanism of consumer participation in "carbon neutrality". Through the survey and analysis, the results show that 81.64% of the respondents support to consume Biomass Briquette Fuel (BBF) to replace coal. The annual WTS is 157.78 CNY per capita. The factors, such as the education, the relevant government policy support cognition, the level of cognition of health concepts, ecological environmental protection and resource regeneration, have a significant positive impact on the promotion in rural areas. Finally, we put forward corresponding policy recommendations. It provides a reference for motivating consumers to participate in "carbon neutrality" and promoting rural energy transformation to achieve the goal of "carbon neutrality".

A Geometric-Based LSGDM Method for Tourism Project Decision Optimization with Trust–Distrust Relationships

In this paper, we discuss the decision optimization of tourism projects in Hebei Province, China. To improve the process of analyzing tourism projects, we introduce a model that includes multiple decision makers as subjects based on a standard four-dimensional evaluation system. In order to improve the effectiveness of decision-making results, we will increase the number of decision makers to 40. A novel large-scale group decision-making (LSGDM) algorithm that incorporates the trust–distrust asymmetric relationships between decision makers is proposed. This model contains three main innovations: firstly, in the evaluation of decision makers’ social network relations, the trust–distrust value is introduced as a new carrier, and a weighted directed network and data integration operator are constructed based on the evaluation between decision makers; secondly, an extended Girvan-Newman (GN) algorithm is constructed to cluster the decision makers from this weighted network; thirdly, the interval-valued intuitionistic fuzzy number (IVIFN) is used to evaluate the alternatives, studying the IVIFN’s geometric significance by placing in a rectangular coordinate system. Finally, a new LSGDM model is proposed. Using the development of a cultural tourism project in a township as an example, the effectiveness of the proposed model is illustrated. By comparing the results of our method to those of a LSGDM algorithm that does not incorporate trust relationships, we assess the performance of the new model.