The effect of design repetition on landscape avoidance behavior in rural tourism: exploring the moderating role of design sociability

This study provides new insights into the impact of landscape repetition on tourists’ landscape avoidance behavior in rural tourism while examining the moderating role of landscape sociability and the potential influence of landscape fatigue. Using Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) topic modeling, we extracted key themes related to landscape repetition in rural tourism, followed by a structural equation model (SEM) to assess their effects. Survey data confirmed that higher landscape repetition leads to increased avoidance behavior and may induce landscape fatigue, reducing tourists’ engagement and satisfaction. However, landscape sociability significantly moderates this relationship, with stronger sociability buffering the negative impact of repetition, thereby alleviating both avoidance behavior and fatigue. These findings highlight the importance of diverse and dynamic landscape designs in rural tourism and demonstrate how enhancing social interactions can improve visitor experiences. By reducing landscape repetition, destination planners can alleviate tourist fatigue, thereby decreasing avoidance behavior and enhancing the overall attractiveness and sustainability of rural tourism environments.