Research into the Competitiveness of Scenic Areas from the Perspective of Tourists: A Case Study of the Jiuzhai Valley

This paper examines empirical evidence on the causal relationship among tourists’ personalities, external stimuli, personal sentiments, and willingness to visit a tourist destination. First, we built a decision-making model, which consists of four latent constructs and four path hypotheses, based on classical conditioning, or the S-O-R (stimulus-organism-response) theory, in behavioral phycology. Then we obtained 600 valid questionnaires from tourists in the Jiuzhai Valley. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling to examine the conceptual model and research hypotheses. We found that negative reports or opinions about a scenic area discourage potential tourists from going there in the future; beautiful scenery, a unique ecosystem, and unique or unusual customs at tourist destinations encourage tourists to visit; tourists often assessed the management ability of relevant organizations and the information technology functionality when making decisions to travel to a scenic area. Research on the competitiveness of scenic areas from the perspective of tourists contributes to a better understanding of the shortcomings of some scenic areas. This paper discussed some managerial implications for planning and additional development of scenic tourist destinations.