The mountains are calling! An extended TPB model for understanding metropolitan residents' intentions to visit nearby alpine destinations in summer

Abstract

This study investigated the suitability of an extended Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) to research the travel intention of metropolitan citizens to nearby destinations. The consideration of heat waves in this context is a novel approach. The survey data was collected from 877 Viennese respondents. Structural equation modelling shows a very good fit of the final model to the data; model extensions yield a strong increase of explained variance. The results suggest that heat-related change of intention is influenced by the strength of heat stress perceived during past heat waves. Nevertheless, subjective and social norm are the strongest determinants of intention, whereas attitude is a very weak predictor. Additional significant predictors are outdoor sports as a travel motive, media coverage, and past behaviour. The first application of an extended TPB model to summer tourism in the context of climate change yields important insights as to how climate change affects the destination choice of summer tourists. The results provide valuable starting points for attracting heat stressed metropolitan visitors.