Understanding Wellness Tourists' Behavioral Intentions: Factors Shaping Visits to Underdeveloped Mountain Regions in China

This study examines the factors impacting wellness tourist's behavioral intention in underdeveloped mountain areas in China. The model extends the theory of planned behavior, considering attitudes towards wellness tourism, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control as central factors, and additionally incorporates health consciousness level and prior knowledge of wellness. Data were randomly collected from 224 residents of Xi'an, Chengdu, and Wuhan cities in China, using a questionnaire survey and analyzed through structural equation modeling. The findings reveal that attitudes towards tourism, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and prior knowledge of wellness positively impact wellness tourist's behavioral intention in underdeveloped areas, while health consciousness level has no significant impact. Together, these five variables explain 48 percent of the variance in the dependent variable. This research contributes to the existing body of knowledge by identifying the factors influencing wellness tourism behavior in underdeveloped regions, offering insights for policymakers and marketers to better understand and promote wellness tourism in these types of areas.