Influential Factors Affecting Tea Tourists’ Behavior Intention in Cultural Ecosystem Services: An Affordance Perspective

Lingbo Fu, Chengyu Xiong () and Min Xu
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Lingbo Fu: School of Cultural Industries Management, Communication University of China, Beijing 100024, China
Chengyu Xiong: School of Cultural Industries Management, Communication University of China, Beijing 100024, China
Min Xu: College of Architecture and Landscape Design, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 21, 1-18

Abstract: Tea tourism has gained prominence recently, particularly with the recognition of traditional Chinese tea processing techniques as an intangible cultural heritage. Nevertheless, as a niche form of tourism, knowledge gaps persist regarding the understanding of tea tourists’ perceptions of the tourism environment and their subsequent impact on behavior intentions. Underpinned by affordance theory, this study aims to investigate the role of tourism environment affordance in shaping behavior intentions through emotional value and cultural identity. A structural equation modeling (SEM) approach was employed to analyze survey data collected from 296 online responses provided by tea tourists. The key findings are as follows: (1) tea tourists primarily visit sites like a tea village, tea garden, and tea house, typically once or twice annually, with visits lasting 2–4 or 4–8 h; (2) convenient transportation and facilities, educational opportunities, and well-designed environments emerge as the most influential aspects of tourism environment affordance; and (3) tourism environment affordance significantly influences emotional value and cultural identity, and these in turn act as mediators between tourism environment affordance and behavior intentions. Therefore, this study expands the application of affordance theory to tea tourism by elucidating how perceptions of tourism environment affordance impact tea tourists’ behavior intentions and it deepens our understanding of the flow of cultural ecosystem services. Additionally, it underscores the pivotal role of tourism in providing cultural ecosystem services for preserving intangible cultural heritage and nurturing cultural identity. Practical implications for promoting tea tourism as cultural ecosystem services are also gleaned from our findings.

Keywords: tea tourism; affordance theory; behavior intention; structural equation model (SEM); cultural ecosystem services (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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