Backpacking has become increasingly popular as an ecotourism activity in China in recent years. To promote sustainable development of tourist sites and to direct and regulate environmentally responsible behaviors, travelers must behave responsibly. This study used the “attribution theory” and “norm-activation model” to create a theoretical relationship model between personal norms, group identification, and the willingness of backpackers to act responsibly to investigate the factors that influence their willingness to behave in an eco-friendly manner. The study empirically tested the model using data from a sample of 309 backpacking tourists. The study investigates the internal and external mechanisms influencing the environmentally friendly behavior of backpackers. The findings show that (1) Backpackers’ “personal norms” significantly increased their willingness to behave in an environmentally friendly manner. (2) These “personal norms” are influenced by two cognitive factors: tourists’ “awareness of consequences” and “attribution of responsibility”. (3) The “group identity” plays a positive moderating role in the influence of “ascription of responsibility” on “personal norms”, while it plays a negative moderating role in the influence of “awareness of consequences” on “personal norms”. (4) Meanwhile, this study explores and compared tourists, an exceptional group of tourists, and concludes that, within an environmentally conscious tourist group, group identity plays a significant role in forcing tourists to take high-quality environmental protection actions. The findings of this study investigated the norm-activation model at the group level, enhanced the micro cases and theoretical knowledge of the model to examine the willingness of backpackers to engage in environmentally responsible behaviors, and offered some practical insights on managing destination tourists.

Camping tourism is a relatively new form of travel and leisure, it has left many traces of consumption in the natural environment that cannot be restored. In order to assist consumers in camping in a polite, environmentally conscious, and traceless manner, this study begins with consumption motivation, consider leisure involvement and place attachment as dual intermediary variables, and investigates the mechanisms that influence the pro-environmental behaviour of leisure and camping tourists. The research findings are derived from the motivation-oriented behavior mechanism. (1) Consumption motivation has a significant positive impact on pro-environmental behavior. (2) Leisure involvement plays a mediating role between consumption motivation and pro-environmental behavior. (3) Place attachment plays a mediating role between consumption motivation and pro-environmental behavior. (4) Leisure involvement has a significantly positive impact on place attachment.

While rural tourism contributes to both economic and social benefits, its impact on the environment is a crucial issue requiring attention. This study aimed to explore the factors influencing tourists’ environmentally responsible behavior in rural tourism contexts. To this end, environmentally responsible behavior is categorized into self-restraint and protective-promotion dimensions, taking the Longji Terrace Scenic Area in Guangxi as a case study. From the perspective of tourists, a structural equation model is constructed with tourists’ perception of rural tourism quality as an antecedent variable and place attachment as a mediating variable. The results can be summarized as follows: (1) Both tourists’ perception of rural tourism quality and place attachment positively influence tourists’ environmentally responsible behavior, with a more significant impact on their self-restraint behavior. (2) Tourists’ perception of rural tourism quality has a significant positive influence on place attachment. (3) Place attachment and place identity play a mediating role in the relationship between tourists’ perception of rural tourism quality and tourists’ environmentally responsible behavior. In enhancing tourism quality, rural destinations should focus on visitors’ perceptual experiences, reinforce their place attachment, and stimulate environmental responsibility to alleviate ecological burdens.

Farmers’ self-organized participation in collective actions is critical to optimize governance efficiency and ensure positive outcomes of rural tourism. To identify the underlying mechanisms, the Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) intellectual decision extension model is selected. A mixed method approach is adopted with a questionnaire survey of 239 households and 20 semi-structured interviews in the suburban of Changsha City, Hunan Province of China. Household livelihood capital, characteristics of household head, tourism market environment, institutional rules as entry and exit rules, cognitive reform and level of land consolidation are found with significant effects. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed and future research directions are put forward.