This study examines how perceived crowding influences tourists' revisit intention through perceived destination sustainability in a coastal tourism destination experiencing overtourism. Specifically, it investigates the mediating role of sustainability perception as a psychological mechanism shaping tourists' behavioral responses.
A quantitative approach was employed using survey data collected from 412 international tourists across twelve beach locations in Phuket, Thailand. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was applied to test both direct and mediating relationships within the stimulus–organism–response (S–O–R) framework.
The results indicate that perceived destination sustainability has a strong positive effect on revisit intention. Among the sustainability dimensions, technological innovation, environmental responsibility and socio-cultural integrity contribute most strongly to overall sustainability perception. Perceived crowding, primarily driven by human crowding, shows a statistically significant but substantively negligible negative effect on sustainability perceptions and does not directly reduce revisit intention. Instead, perceived destination sustainability fully mediates the relationship between perceived crowding and revisit intention.
Destination managers should prioritize visible sustainability initiatives and effective visitor flow management to mitigate crowding-related perceptions and sustain tourist loyalty in high-density destinations.
This study contributes to overtourism and tourism behavior research by empirically demonstrating the mediating role of perceived destination sustainability and refining the conceptualization of crowding within the S–O–R framework.
