Chinese outbound tourists’ pro-environmental behaviors: Cultural perspective and the existing academic insights

Abstract

In the past ten years, China becoming the world’s largest source of outbound tourists. The environmental behavior of Chinese outbound tourists has become a topic of in-depth research. This paper provides a conceptual framework for cultural research on the environmental behavior of Chinese outbound tourists through a systematic literature review. It found that the cultural factors that influence Chinese outbound tourists' environmental behavior include collectivist culture, “poor family rich road” culture, “harmony between man and nature” culture, and face culture. The discussion section presents five research scopes, paradigms, content, methodology, and data collection applied to cultural studies of tourists' environmental behavior. The conclusion proposes the research contribution and future direction of the study. This study makes an essential reference for policy-making in managing and guiding Chinese tourist behavior to promote the country's economic and environmental interests.