Chinese cultural values influence residents’ sense of empowerment at sustainable tourism destinations

Although community empowerment is an important component of sustainable tourism, few studies have examined how empowerment influences residents’ support for sustainable tourism at nature-based destinations. We formed a conceptual framework to investigate the moderating effect of Chinese cultural values in the relationship between residents’ perceived empowerment and their support for sustainable tourism. We collected 794 survey responses from residents of communities at a nature-based tourism destination in China. Results show there was a significant relationship between empowerment and support for sustainable tourism. The moderating role of cultural values was partially supported. Our findings provide implications on how to better empower residents with an East Asian cultural background, to make sustainable tourism achievable and maintainable.