Tourist Engagement Links Perceived Green Tourism Practices with Local Spending Orientation in Hanoi

Abstract Sustainable tourism research has shown that visitors respond positively to green practices, but it is less clear whether those practices are associated with where tourism expenditure is directed within host destinations. This study develops a behavioural conversion model in which perceived green tourism practices (GTP) are associated with tourist engagement (TE), which in turn is associated with a local spending orientation (LSO). A cross-sectional survey of 300 adult tourists in Hanoi, Vietnam, was analysed using reliability assessment, principal-axis factor analysis with oblimin rotation, HC3-robust OLS regression and a 5,000-resample bootstrap analysis of the indirect association. GTP was positively associated with TE and LSO. In the joint model, GTP (B = 0.3324, p < 0.001) and TE (B = 0.3719, p < 0.001) remained significant, while the bootstrapped indirect association was 0.2133 (95% CI [0.1501, 0.2821]). The substantive pattern was reproduced when reported local spending share was used as an economic robustness outcome. The study extends Stimulus-Organism-Response reasoning from evaluative outcomes toward the allocation of visitor demand, positions engagement as a behavioural conversion mechanism, and identifies tourist provider choice as a demand-side antecedent of tourism linkage and leakage. Because the design is cross-sectional and self-reported, all fitted pathways are interpreted as conditional associations rather than causal effects.