In this study, the gravity model is applied via the dynamic generalised methods of moments estimation to assess the role of geographical distance in moderating the impact of culture on outbound tourism flows. The results show that cultural distance has a positive impact on Chinese outbound tourism flow. However, the effect of cultural distance on outbound tourism flow decreases as geographical distance increases since travellers to nearby destinations are more strongly influenced by cultural distance than travellers to more distant markets. These results therefore support the concept of the “diminishing effect of cultural distance” on the Chinese outbound tourism market. In addition, the results of this study serve as a basis for promoting the sustained contribution of Chinese outbound tourism to the development of destination management, which will help with the recovery of international tourism following the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ningxia is a renowned cultural tourism destination with rich heritage and natural landscapes. Current research, however, remains unclear on how multi-dimensional cultural experiences influence tourist behavior-particularly the mediating role of cultural identity (CI) and the moderating effect of perceived cultural distance (PCD). To address this gap, this study expands the Cognitive-Affective-Behavioral model and examines how Rich Cultural Tourism Experiences (RCTE) affect satisfaction and behavioral intentions, using network semantic analysis (14,163 texts) and PLS-SEM (547 questionnaires). Five RCTE dimensions are identified: historical, modern, folk, spiritual, and ecological. Results show that RCTE boosts satisfaction, which in turn enhances behavioral intentions. Among the dimensions, spiritual, historical, and ecological experiences exert the strongest effects on CI, with path coefficients of 0.247, 0.244, and 0.200 respectively. CI serves as a key mediator, while PCD weakens RCTE’s impact on CI-but not on satisfaction.

As shared accommodation has become one of the most important market developments in the tourism industry, numerous contributions have emerged regarding travelers’ motivations to choose shared accommodation. A debated question, however, resides in the heterogeneity of travelers based on motivations. This paper aims to reconcile opposing perspectives by comparing motivation segmentation at two distinct phases of the adoption of this accommodation option: (i) before the first travel–potential users showing interest (n = 420) and (ii) after the first travel–current users (n = 420). Factor analysis, combined with clustering, is applied to both samples to identify underlying motivations and traveler segments. Interestingly, we find that factors defining choice motivations are relatively stable throughout the adoption process, but the heterogeneity of motivations among travelers is higher in users, increasing from three to six clusters. This suggests that travelers’ motivations are dynamic and dependent on the phase of adoption.