Between a rock and a hard place: how does the tourist crowding perception affect the decision of absolute displacement?

This study investigates the mechanism of tourist crowding perception on their decisions of absolute displacement based on the conservation of resource theory and social influence theory. We collected 455 valid questionnaires from a tourism destination (West Street in Quanzhou city) in China. Results show that both physical crowding and human crowding motivate tourists to select absolute displacement. Perceived wait time partly mediates the effect of physical crowding on absolute displacement, while it fully mediates the effect of human crowding on absolute displacement. Travel group size negatively moderates the effect of tourist crowding perception on absolute displacement. Theoretically, this paper enriches the literature and theories on understanding the mechanism of crowding perception on tourist behavior and expands insights into how tourists respond to crowded situations. Practically, this paper provides implications for destination marketing organizations to use various tourism services to solve over-tourism issues and achieve sustainable tourism development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]