Influence of awe on tourism activity preferences

This study aims to explore the influence of awe on decision-making regarding tourism activities based on construal level theory. We conducted four scenario-based online experiments with potential tourists in August and December 2023 and a field experiment involving actual tourists in November 2023. Our findings revealed that awe elicits tourists' preferences for challenging rather than relaxing tourism activities (i.e., the main effect) and that construal level is a potential mediator. Additionally, this research examined the moderating role of message appeal and found that the main effect was stronger when combined with an abstract rather than a concrete message appeal. Practically, these findings suggest that matching tourists' awe with message appeal is an effective strategy for promoting challenging tourism activities.