Traveling in haze: How air pollution inhibits tourists' pro-environmental behavioral intentions.

Although air pollution is an important environmental concern in tourism, it is rarely studied in the field of sustainable tourism. Thus, we investigated how air pollution influences tourists' pro-environmental behavioral intentions (TPEBIs) through two laboratory experiments (studies 1 and 2) and one field study (study 3). Study 1 (n = 104) revealed the negative influence of air pollution on TPEBIs, both explicitly and implicitly. Study 2 (n = 108) further explored the mediating effect of state anxiety on the relationship between air pollution and TPEBIs. Furthermore, study 3 (n = 350) investigated a real sample of traveling tourists. Study 3's results confirmed the laboratory findings of studies 1 and 2, indicating the buffering effect of tourism nostalgia (i.e., a moderated mediation model) in a real traveling context. These findings advance the understanding of air pollution's impact on TPEBIs and can serve as practical advice for sustainable tourism management.