Stimulus-Organism-Response Framework: Is the Perceived Outstanding Universal Value Attractiveness of Tourists Beneficial to World Heritage Site Conservation?

Tourists have been attracted to world heritage sites (WHSs) by their Outstanding Universal Value (OUV). In view of the Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) framework and the theory of attitude and behavior, by employing 563 tourist samples from Mount Sanqingshan National Park, and using structural equation modeling, we examine tourist behavioral intention for heritage conservation, and the following conclusions were drawn: (1) the S-O-R theory revealed the behavioral intentions of tourists to protect WHSs; (2) as a stimulus, tourists' value perception and destination attachment were positively affected by the OUV attractiveness, and their perceived value had a positive influence on heritage conservation, although the hypothesis of destination attachment to heritage conservation was not supported; (3) heritage-conservation education and knowledge positively influenced tourists' behavioral intentions towards heritage protection, and tourists' heritage protection attitude had a positive influence on their behavioral intention; and (4) a framework of the influence mechanism for tourists' heritage conservation based on the S-O-R theory was proposed, while tourists' cognitive and affective attitudes impacted on heritage protection intention which, in turn, further enhanced the tourists' perception of the OUV. Conclusively, the measures and implications were proposed for improving conservation and management of WHSs, in particular to achieve the sustainable development of the tourist industry and world heritage sites.

How Outstanding Universal Value Attractiveness and Tourism Crowding Affect Visitors' Satisfaction?

A World Heritage Site is a masterpiece of mankind and/or nature that possesses outstanding universal value (OUV). In this regard, the 5Cs strategic objectives (credibility, communication, capacity-building, conservation, and community) set by the World Heritage Committee have become a main issue for WHS sustainable development. As one of the key stakeholders of WHS, tourist's perceived OUV attractiveness, congestion, and attitudinal behavior have significant implications for heritage protection and tourism's sustainable development. Based on the perspectives of OUV attractiveness and perceived tourist crowding, and taking into account destination attachment, the influencing factors and mechanisms of tourist satisfaction are investigated. In view of the 536 questionnaire responses from tourists of Mount Sanqingshan National Park, the structural equation modeling approach was employed to study tourist satisfaction. The conclusions were sketched: (1) tourist crowding perception did not have a significant negative effect on OUV attractiveness; destination attachment, and tourist satisfaction, and the degree of crowding perception was low; (2) the OUV attractiveness has a significant positive influence on destination attachment and tourist satisfaction, which fully highlights the charm of OUV and its important role in shaping tourists' attitudes/behaviors; (3) destination attachment has a significant positive effect on tourist satisfaction, indicating that tourists' heritage-place attachment contributes to tourist satisfaction. Finally, the analysis of tourism crowding, OUV, and the satisfaction framework proposed broaden the horizons of visitor satisfaction research, which is also a positive response to the strategic objectives of the 5Cs of WHS, with some practical implications for heritage preservation and visitor management in World Heritage Sites.

Two Sides of a Coin: A Crisis Response Perspective on Tourist Community Participation in a Post-Disaster Environment.

This study investigates the attitudes and behavioural intentions of community crisis response and tourism community participation in tourist destinations after the occurrence of a disaster. Further, we built a conceptual model of perceived community participation benefit, community attachment, community resilience, and crisis response and community participation intention and measured it using 556 samples surveyed after the Wenchuan earthquake, China. The results indicated that benefit perception, community attachment, and community resilience have a positive effect on crisis response and community participation. The study further reveals that the local tourism community gradually transforms the negative aspects of terrible disasters into development opportunities. Our case study particularly focuses on the initiative shown by and positive participation of the tourist community in the aforementioned transformation. The study proposes the Attachment, Benefit, and Capability framework of tourist community participation based on the crisis response perspective and expands the boundaries of tourist community participation research. The study has theoretical and practical significance, puts forward relevant countermeasures, and has significant implications.