Fostering eco-conscious tourists: How sustainable marketing drives green consumption behaviors

This study aims to examine the impact of sustainable marketing on the sustainable consumption behavior of tourists in the Chinese hospitality industry, data science and machine learning techniques to analyze behavioral patterns. Green intrinsic motivation as the mediator and environmental knowledge as the moderator. In line with the 412 valid responses collected using the SMART-PLS analysis, the paper affirms that sustainable marketing significantly affects both green intrinsic motivation and sustainable consumption behavior. Moreover, green intrinsic motivation was found to partially mediate the sustainable marketing and consumption behavior whereas environmental knowledge was found to enhance the mediating role as a moderator. These results stress the necessity for the application of sustainable measures and educational programs in the hospitality industry that can contribute to the formation of appropriate environmental perceptions of tourists. It was found that by increasing tourists' intrinsic motivation and their understanding of the environment, hospitality organizations can positively influence the continuum of sustainable consumption. It is recommended that policymakers and industry stakeholders actively participate in such endeavors, including the promotion of incentives for sustainable business and awareness-raising campaigns.