Ensuring that tourists behave in a civilized manner is critical to maintaining the competitiveness of tourismdestinations. Hence, the purpose of this study is to understand which factors lead tourists to behave in a civilizedmanner at tourism destinations in order to increase the sustainability of coastal tourism. This study proposes atheoretical framework for civilized tourism behavioral intentions by aggregating two social science theories: thenorm activation model (NAM) and the theory of planned behavior (TPB). The results indicate that attitudes,subjective norms, and personal norms play a significant role in driving civilized behavioral intentions, withpersonal norms mediating subjective norms and intentions. Furthermore, the study suggests two effective pathsthat could likely drive tourists toward positive and civilized behaviors at coastal destinations by utilizing fuzzyset qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). Theoretical and practical implications are also discussed.

Introduction

Coastal tourism has increasingly become a focus for the growth ofChina’s marine economic development under the Maritime PowerStrategy and the Maritime Silk Road National Campaign of 2013. Theadded value of the coastal tourism industry in China reached 1607.8billion Chinese Yuan in 2018, which accounted for 47.8% of the addedvalue of the major marine industries in China (Ministry of NaturalResources of the People’s Republic of China, 2018). It is worth notingthat coastal areas are key destinations for tourists and recreational activitiestypically related to coastal tourism, such as surfing, sunbathing,seaside camping and so on. However, even though coastal areas such asbeaches are vital resources, it is not uncommon to see tourists throwgarbage into the sea, spit on the beach, inscribe or scrawl graffiti ontoseaside walks, and other similar behaviors (Fenghuang, 2013). Thesebehaviors often lead to beach pollution and ruin tourism facilities,especially during tourist seasons (Liu & Liu, 2018).Indeed, coastal tourism is currently facing huge challenges regardinghow to balance environmental problems and tourist activities(Papageorgiou, 2016). Specifically, tourists’ uncivilized behavior is anincreasing concern for China. In fact, the dramatic increase in Chineseoutbound tourists has generated some negative media reports aboutuncivilized behavior (Zhang, Pearce, & Chen, 2019). For example,Youth (2018) pointed out several types of uncivilized tourist behaviorssuch as littering, unhygienic toilet practices, smoking in public areas,fighting for seats, cutting in queues, talking loudly, taking photos inreligious places without approval, etc. Qiu (2016) indicated that theseuncivilized behaviors could not only hurt the sustainable developmentof tourism destinations but also damage the image of Chinese tourists.In fact, it could be argued that tourism is rooted in social and culturalfoundations and also promotes social civilization and progress (Yan,1989).