A Conceptual Framework for Understanding Tourist Sustainability Perceptions in Rural Tourism Destinations

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6239-624-1_36How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Tourist sustainability perceptions; rural tourism; pro-environmental behavior; place attachment; sustainability indicators; local community involvement

Abstract

Rural tourism destinations face the critical challenge of balancing economic development, environmental preservation, and cultural authenticity. While substantial research has examined sustainable tourism practices, limited attention has been devoted to understanding how tourists perceive sustainability initiatives in rural contexts and how these perceptions translate into behavioural outcomes in rural contexts. This conceptual paper proposes an integrative multilevel framework that synthesises stimulus-organism-response theory, the theory of planned behaviour, place attachment theory, and social exchange theory to explain the formation and influence of tourist sustainability perceptions in rural destinations. The framework explicitly addresses the roles of destination-level factors, tourist-level moderators, and psychological mediators in shaping both private and public pro-environmental behaviours. Eight research hypotheses are developed to guide future empirical investigations. This framework contributes to the tourism literature by providing a holistic understanding of the psychological mechanisms linking rural tourism experiences with sustainable behavioural outcomes, while offering practical implications for destination managers, policymakers, and local communities seeking to enhance destination competitiveness through authentic and sustainable practices.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Son Hong Vo
AU  - Le Nguyen Ngoc Thanh
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/04/06
TI  - A Conceptual Framework for Understanding Tourist Sustainability Perceptions in Rural Tourism Destinations
BT  - Proceedings of the International Conference on Sustainable Economics and Finance in the Digital Business Transformation (INCOSEF 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 486
EP  - 497
SN  - 2352-5428
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6239-624-1_36
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6239-624-1_36
ID  - Vo2026
ER  -