Low-altitude tourism is emerging as an innovative form of travel enabled by new aviation technologies and policy support, yet its consumer adoption remains underexplored. This study integrates the Extended Norm Activation Model and the Emotion-Driven Behavior Model to examine how value-based drivers shape motivation and behavioral intention. A two-stage SEM-ANN analysis was conducted with 355 respondents in China. Results show that outcome expectancy, environmental moral awareness, and perceived self-efficacy strengthen consumer attitudes, while only outcome expectancy and moral awareness directly enhance desire. Both attitude and desire significantly predict intention. Unexpectedly, perceived safety risk reinforces rather than weakens these effects, suggesting that risk can serve as a motivator in hedonic or novel tourism contexts. ANN analysis further identifies desire and self-efficacy as the most influential predictors. The findings contribute to theory on risk-sensitive adoption while offering marketing implications for positioning low-altitude tourism as an exciting, sustainable, and emotionally engaging experience.

The study aims to uncover the factors influencing tourists’ acceptance of GPTs for travel decision-making and how they perceive the accuracy of GPTs, using an interaction-centric approach and assemblage theory. The study is situated in the pre-trip phase of travel decision-making. It employs experimental and qualitative methodologies, utilizing IPA to examine the nuanced dynamics of these interactions and their implications for travel decision-making. The study incorporated scenario-based research to create a realistic and reflective environment for observing tourist–GPT interactions. Following the interactions with GPT, in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted to focus on participants’ experiences. The results showed that participants accept using GPTs to obtain travel information since GPTs’ recommendations are relevant, efficient, and intelligent beyond superficial accuracy. Still, participants do not make their travel decisions solely based on GPTs. They use GPTs for travel decision-making if they generate a human-like interaction environment. The study contributes to existing theoretical discussions by applying assemblage theory and the interaction-centric approach to a novel technological context, thereby highlighting the implications of human–technology assemblages in shaping contemporary travel behavior. Therefore, the findings illuminate the unique aspects of GPTs, their perceived accuracy, and their acceptance in informing tourists’ travel decision-making, subsequently generating further interest and research.

Potential tourists may project their upcoming travel in two directions of mental time travel: from the present to the posttravel future, and from a mentally simulated posttravel future back to the present. Based on regulatory focus theory, this study examined the matching effect of the mental time travel direction and tourism activity type on tourist intention, as well as the mediating role of tourist expectation. The results show that for challenging (relaxing) tourism activities, mental time travel from the future back to the present (from the present to the future) is more effective in stimulating potential tourists’ travel intentions. Tourist expectations mediate this process. This study advances the theoretical application of mental time travel in tourism research and offers practical implications for the marketing of tourism activities.

Acknowledging the contribution of digital nomads to sustainable tourism in host destinations, this study aims to identify factors influencing this behavior in emerging markets. By applying the theories of stimulus-organism-response and self-determination, a framework is developed to explore sustainable tourism support for digital nomads through a multimethod approach. At the qualitative stage, semi-structured interviews were undertaken with 16 digital nomads. These interviews helped identify key dimensions of social integration and psychological motives influencing engagement and support for tourism destinations. At the quantitative stage, a web-based survey was administered in Taiwan (N = 385) and Vietnam (N = 404). Partial least squares structural equation modeling and multi-group analysis were used to examine the theoretical framework. The findings reveal that social integration and psychological motives serve as the stimulus and organism. Social integration fosters a sense of relatedness among digital nomads in Taiwan, while strengthening autonomy in Vietnam.

This study seeks to develop a ‘green experience-induced transformative well-being model’ to broaden the classical hedonic and eudaimonic well-being dimensions. Green hotel experiences, with unique tangible and intangible features regarding sustainable services, can be transformative for guests and embrace transformative well-being through the process. Through interpretive phenomenological analysis of data from 18 interviewees, the results indicate that first-time guests of green-certified hotels can experience transformative well-being, advancing and bridging between hedonic and eudaimonic well-being dimensions. The study findings highlighted that transformative well-being is described as the process of experiencing sequential and interconnected six core elements of novelty, surprise, curiosity, mindfulness, [new identity] practice, and identity consolidation. Consequently, hospitality managers can integrate sustainability practices into their operations to cultivate these elements and enhance their guests’ transformative well-being.

Achieving eco-service quality remains a challenge in the eco-tourism sector. This study develops a novel theoretical model to examine the impact of the eco-service quality (ECOPERF) model on behavioral intentions by analyzing the structural relationships among satisfaction, memorability, and revisit intention (RI). Utilizing the ECOPERF model, we demonstrate how the quality of lodging services influences RI through satisfaction and the memorability of ecotourism experiences. More specifically, the study is underpinned by the stimulus–organism–response framework. The proposed conceptual model examines the unique relationships among the stimulus (eco-service quality), organism (satisfaction and memorable tourism experiences), and response (RI), addressing a gap in the literature. The study draws on data from 268 U.S. tourists, summarizing key findings. Additionally, an experimental study highlights the moderating role of Inclusion of Nature in Self (INS) in the relationship between eco-lodging appeal and consequential behaviors. This study is the first to apply INS in an eco-lodge context, offering practical insights for industry practitioners. Furthermore, we demonstrate that ECOPERF influences RI through a sequential pathway: service quality → satisfaction → memorability → revisit intention. Theoretical and practical implications for ecotourism hospitality literature and practice are discussed.

Virtual cultural ambassadors (VCAs) have become significant in destination branding and tourism marketing. This study explores how the perceived authenticity of VCA enhances residents’ support for tourism. The current study assesses a conceptual model including the relationships between perceived objective authenticity, perceived constructive authenticity, wishful identification, emotional solidarity, local pride, and tourism support. Data were collected from 773 residents across three Chinese cities. An online survey was used for data collection, and structural equation modeling was employed to analyze the relationships within the framework. The results reveal that objective and constructive authenticity positively influence tourism support directly and indirectly through wishful identification and emotional solidarity. Objective authenticity impacts sympathetic understanding and welcoming nature, while constructive authenticity affects all three dimensions of emotional solidarity: sympathetic understanding, welcoming nature, and emotional closeness. Local pride significantly moderates the relationship between constructive authenticity and emotional solidarity, particularly enhancing emotional closeness and sympathetic understanding. This study contributes to the literature by extending authenticity and emotional solidarity theories to technology-mediated contexts, offering new insights into how virtual cultural ambassadors can foster resident identification, emotional connection, and sustainable destination support.

“Shareable” has emerged as a novel tourist motivation that drives tourists to form positive prospective destination memories through mental time travel and pre-experience sharing. This is a critical narrative transportation experience that reshapes tourists’ experiences and traditional decision-making patterns. Grounded in the narrative transportation theory, Study 1 conducted a field survey at a theme park ( N = 275), examining the influence of pre-trip sharing intention on perceived experience value and subsequent decision-making behaviors while establishing the mediating role of immersion. Study 2 conducted a field survey at a performance-based attraction ( N = 211), which demonstrated the moderating effects of self-presentation concern and sharing experience. This research elucidates the mechanisms and boundary conditions of tourist experience and decision-making in the digital era, while revealing innovative pathways for narrative transportation in tourism contexts. The study provides novel strategic insights for destination marketing and activity design, particularly in facilitating the construction of tourist self-narratives.

Following Marshall's ritual practice theory, this study initially explores women's consumption of girlfriend getaway experiences over time. Using a longitudinal design with interviews and concept cards, it primarily investigates whether and how women's beliefs and belonging are subtly altered through socio-psychological changes and how these alterations may exert long-term effects on their lives in the emerging Chinese girlfriend getaway (GGA) market. Findings reveal that ‘girlfriend getaways’ (GGAs) represent a distinctive form of travel imbued with a ritualistic quality. This ritual dimension, combined with female companionship, triggers socio-psychological changes, including alterations in attentional focus, subjective state and behaviour, that subsequently shift existing beliefs and belonging, potentially yielding long-term benefits. This study also introduces a preliminary framework conceptualising the GGA through the lens of ritual practice theory, providing valuable insights for marketing female travel products.

The rise of craft beer tourism (CBT) has become evident, but it has received less attention from the perspective of immersive experience. This study investigates the formation of immersive experiences in CBT by integrating the experiencescape and customer inspiration theory. This research first qualitatively identifies four core dimensions of immersion (environmental, sensory, interactive, and narrative–cognitive) and proposes emotional immersion as the outcome of inspired-to phase. Then, it quantitatively examines how two types of experiencescape (physical and interpersonal), as the antecedents of inspired-by phase, affect four immersive dimensions, which enhance emotional immersion and repurchase as the results of inspired-to phase. Further, importance-performance map analysis (IPMA) and artificial neural network analysis (ANN) are applied to emphasize importance of different dimensions of immersion. Besides, drinking status shows that tipsy status consistently outperforms drunken status in facilitating immersion. This study advances the understanding of immersion and highlights stimuli–immersion–consequence framework in immersive tourism.