Unlocking university students’ intention to explore domestic tourism: understandings from the theory of planned behavior

This study applied the theory of planned behavior to address the low visitation rates by domestic tourists, focusing specifically on university students. Despite their potential role in promoting domestic tourism, limited research has explored the visiting intentions of this demographic. The purpose of the study is to examine how attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control influence students’ intentions to visit domestic tourism destinations. Data were collected using a structured, closed-ended questionnaire administered to 452 tourism students at the University of Dodoma. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling using SmartPLS 4 was employed to test the research hypotheses. Findings indicate that students’ intentions are significantly shapes by their attitudes, social influences, and perceived control within the university context. These findings offer valuable insights for tourism stakeholders to develop targeted marketing strategies, enhance student attitudes, utilize peer influence, and provide financial support mechanisms such as travel discounts. Integrating domestic tourism into academic curricula, improving access to travel information, and promoting sustainable practices are also recommended. The study contributes to the limited literature on theory of planned behaviour application in domestic tourism and offers insights relevant to students beyond tourism related programmes.