Towards the arousal mechanism of fundamental motives in dark tourism context
Qi Jie (Keen) Jiang, Xinying Xu, Jiayi Zhu, Muling Jiang, Yuan Huang, Jiawen Zeng · Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research · 2025
This study explores the arousal mechanisms of dark tourism motives. Through one natural experiment (N = 314) and three scenario-based experiments (N = 90, 90, 150) across China, findings show disaster cues significantly enhance exploration, affiliation, status, and caring motives. Dark disaster cues had a stronger impact on status motives than light cues, while natural – and human-related cues with equal darkness showed no difference. Gender, relationship status, childhood stability, and past disaster experience moderated these effects. The research provides insights into psychological responses to disaster cues, aiding the management and sustainable development of dark tourism sites.