Does The Classic of Mountains and Seas Knowledge Promote Educational Tourism to Mountain Destinations? Critical Role of Place Familiarity and Attractiveness

Abstract

This study investigated the relationship between knowledge of the Classic of Mountains and Seas (or Shan Hai Jing), and educational tourism to mountain destinations, and explored the moderating effects of place familiarity and attractiveness on this relationship. The sample consisted of 309 students from Beijing and Shanghai, China, and PLS-SEM was used for analysis. The study found that knowledge of Shan Hai Jing significantly affected educational tourism to mountain destinations, supporting the first hypothesis. This suggests that promoting knowledge of Shan Hai Jing can be an effective strategy for encouraging educational tourism to mountain destinations. Additionally, the study found that place attractiveness significantly moderated the relationship between knowledge of Shan Hai Jing and educational tourism to mountain destinations, supporting the second hypothesis. This highlights the importance of destination attractiveness in promoting educational tourism and suggests that destination marketers should focus on highlighting the attractiveness of mountain destinations. However, the third hypothesis, which proposed that place familiarity would significantly moderate the relationship between knowledge of Shan Hai Jing and educational tourism, was not supported. This suggests that familiarity with the destination may not be a key factor in influencing educational tourism. Overall, the findings suggest that promoting knowledge of Shan Hai Jing and emphasizing the attractiveness of mountain destinations can be effective strategies for encouraging educational tourism. This has important implications for tourism marketing and management and highlights the need to consider destination attributes when promoting educational tourism.