Deconstructing consumers’ low-carbon tourism promotion preference and its consequences: A heuristic-systematic model

Abstract

In the context of low-carbon tour promotion, consumers lack the motivation to translate environmental awareness into practical action; moreover, it is unclear which form of promotion is the most effective for travel agencies. Thus, this study considers consumers’ preference for low-carbon promotion as an entry point and adopts the best-worst scaling method to analyze their preference characteristics. In addition, it introduces a heuristic-systematic model to analyze the influence of consumer preferences on travel agency image and low-carbon tourism behavior intention. The results show that consumer preferences are deconstructed into different types of tourism experiences according to heuristic and systematic paths, such that they create a positive effect on image evaluation and behavioral intentions. This study reveals the significance of consumer preference in low-carbon tour promotion scenarios, which helps break the promotion deadlock and promote tourism enterprises to optimize their service design.