VISITORS' INTENTION TO VISIT WORLD CULTURAL HERITAGE SITES: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY OF SUZHOU,CHINA

This article attempts to study Chinese visitors' intention to visit world cultural heritage sites in the framework of the theory of planned behavior (TPB), with the additional constructs of past experience and cultural tour involvement. The survey data were collected by a self‐administrated questionnaire in Suzhou, which is one of the cities with world cultural heritage sites in China. Structural equation modeling was employed to test the research model and hypotheses. The result shows that perceived control, past experience, and cultural tour involvement, but not attitude and subjective norms, are valid predictor constructs for visitors' intention to visit a world cultural heritage site within the next 12 months. The findings have implications for predicting heritage tourism.