Sustainability of Ski Tourism in China: An Integrated Model of Skiing Tourists’ Willingness to Pay for Environmental Protection

ABSTRACT

This study aimed to explore ski tourists’ willingness to pay for environmental protection for the sustainable development of a ski tourism destination as a valuable tourism market in China. The result of the structural model revealed that the integrative models of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and the Norm Activation Model (NAM) have the most significant explanatory power. The ski tourists’ willingness to pay can be enhanced by volitional, nonvolitional and altruistic factors. Additionally, the moderating and mediating roles of perceived authenticity on the integrative model have also been confirmed. This study is the first to provide a conceptual framework merging the TPB and NAM in the domain of environmental protection behavior in the Chinese ski tourism field for sustainable tourism development.