Multilevel risks and war related crisis severity shape tourist psychological distress and responses to crisis management

War-related crises exacerbate fear, insecurity, risk, and emotional tension. In light of these conditions, we propose and test a novel framework applying stress mindset theory to a war-crisis setting. Specifically, we investigate the effects of multilevel risks (personal, travel, and destination) on tourists’ psychological distress and subsequent emotional exhaustion. Furthermore, we examine the effects of emotional exhaustion on travel withdrawal intentions and travel choice satisfaction, while evaluating the moderating boundary effects of perceived crisis severity and crisis management. To validate the proposed model, we collected survey data from 492 tourists and analyzed the data using PLS-SEM. Findings indicate that multilevel risks (personal, travel, and destination) significantly heighten tourists’ psychological distress, which subsequently and positively affects emotional exhaustion. In turn, emotional exhaustion significantly influences travel withdrawal intentions and travel choice satisfaction. The results also confirm a significant moderating effect of perceived crisis severity. Moreover, crisis management weakened the adverse relationship between emotional exhaustion and travel choice satisfaction but unexpectedly strengthened the positive relationship between emotional exhaustion and travel withdrawal intentions. These findings advance theoretical knowledge regarding risk, stress, and tourism behavior while offering practical implications for destination management organizations and hospitality firms. Finally, we discuss research limitations and provide avenues for future investigation.