How Do Behavioral Factors, Past Experience, and Emotional Events Influence Tourist Continuance Intention in Halal Tourism?

Abstract

This study aims to examine the determinants of tourist continuance intention in halal tourism in Indonesia and extend the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) model by incorporating sustainable tourist citizenship behavior (STCB) and tourists’ emotional events and past halal experiences to provide a rounded understanding of Muslim tourists’ revisit intentions. This quantitative study employed partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to analyze the data collected from 500 Muslim tourists who visited halal destinations in West Sumatra. The findings reveal that their STCB, attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control significantly influence their continuance intention. Moreover, the empirical findings indicate that tourists’ emotional events and past halal experiences positively affect the TPB constructs, further strengthening the behavioral outcomes. All the proposed hypotheses were supported by the model and highlight the critical roles of psychological, experiential, and behavioral factors in shaping tourist loyalty. The results of this study contribute to the theoretical advancement of halal tourism behavior and offer practical suggestions for destination management to enhance sustainable engagement and repeat visitation among Muslim travelers.

1. Introduction

Among the diverse market segments in the global travel industry, halal tourism has emerged as one of the most rapidly growing niches, responding to the needs of Muslim travelers, who seek destinations that align with their religious values and lifestyle. Moreover, there is a significant upward trend among young Muslim travelers demanding ethical, experience-based, and faith-compliant tourism (WYSETC, 2017). Muslim travelers are placing a greater value on destinations that offer halal-friendly facilities, emotional fulfillment, environmental responsibility, and cultural authenticity; they are becoming increasingly conscious of their traveling behaviors. They are also considering the extent to which their travel choices reflect both their identity and sustainability values. As such, these emerging developments emphasize the need to better understand the psychological and experiential factors influencing Muslim travelers’ loyalty and continuance intention, particularly toward culturally rich and religiously compatible destinations.

Indonesia, which is the largest Muslim-majority country, is strategically positioned to capture the halal tourism market, and West Sumatra stands out with its strong Islamic values and Minangkabau heritage (Mastercard-CrescentRating, 2024). According to the data from the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy, Indonesia has welcomed over 20 million Muslim tourists in recent years, with an average spend of USD 1200 per visit—higher than the average tourist expenditure. Despite West Sumatra offering a comprehensive halal tourism experience, from sharia-compliant accommodations and halal-certified culinary options to religious and cultural attractions, there is a need to explore what motivates tourists to return to sustain this development momentum and the growth of repeat visitation.

Prior research indicates that tourist continuance intention varies and is shaped by various factors, including sustainable tourist citizenship behavior (STCB); the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) components, including attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral controls; emotional tourism experiences; and prior halal travel experiences. However, it seems that previous studies have not addressed these factors together nor offered a more rounded view of Muslim tourist behavior beyond traditional satisfaction or service quality models. Despite the expanding literature on halal tourism and tourist behavior, several research gaps remain. Most studies have primarily focused on tourist satisfaction or loyalty from a service delivery perspective (Eid & El-Gohary, 2015; Battour & Ismail, 2016), with limited integration of psychological constructs such as the TPB and emotional experience. While the TPB framework has been widely applied in various tourism contexts (Susanto et al., 2024; Han et al., 2010), few studies have examined how emotional events and past halal experiences enhance the explanatory power of the model, especially for Muslim-majority destinations. Additionally, the role of STCB, involving voluntary, sustainability-oriented tourist behaviors, remains underexplored regarding Muslim travelers.

As mentioned above, this study responds to these gaps and aims to investigate how STCB, the TPB variables, and tourists’ emotional events and past halal experiences impact tourists’ continuance intention in the halal tourism context of West Sumatra, Indonesia. More specifically, this study aims to (1) examine the direct effects of STCB, attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral controls on tourist continuance intention; (2) assess the role of tourists’ emotional events and past halal experiences as antecedents of TPB constructs; and (3) expand the theoretical development of halal tourism behavior by integrating psychological and experiential dimensions into an extended TPB model.

2. Literature Review

2.1. Tourist Continuance Intention

Tourist continuance intention, referred to the intention to revisit a destination or continue engaging in tourism-related activities, has become a focal point of theoretical constructs when explaining long-term tourism sustainability and destination loyalty (Susanto et al., 2024; Torres-Moraga et al., 2024). Previous studies identified key antecedents—consisting of attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control—that significantly influence this intention. Accordingly, some researchers pointed out that favorable evaluations, social pressure, and perceived ease of revisiting, as outlined in the Theory of Planned Behavior, directly affect future behavioral intention (Ajzen, 2020, 1991). Additionally, past experience and emotional events play vital roles by creating lasting memories and emotional attachment that enhance and stimulate the likelihood of return (Koo et al., 2025; Nieves-Pavón et al., 2024; Zhou et al., 2023). Past experience and emotional events associated with labor and contagion processes highly affect the moment of truth in the hospitality and tourism industry (Groth et al., 2019), despite partially contributing as affective variables for destination loyalty (Almeida-Santana & Moreno-Gil, 2018; Cossío-Silva et al., 2019). Furthermore, sustainable tourist citizenship behavior, which refers to voluntary pro-social and pro-environmental actions by tourists, has become increasingly recognized as another predictor since it fosters a sense of moral obligation and psychological commitment to destinations, thereby strengthening revisit intention (Tuan et al., 2019; Delpechitre et al., 2018; H. S. Nguyen, 2024). Together, these antecedents reflect the combined impact of cognitive, affective, social, and behavioral factors in shaping tourist continuance intention, as well as offer a multidimensional framework for researchers, policy makers, and tourism practitioners.

2.2. Sustainable Tourist Citizenship Behavior and Tourist Continuance Intention

Sustainable tourist citizenship behavior (STCB), which includes voluntary actions such as respecting local culture, conserving resources, and supporting community-based tourism, has significantly influenced tourist continuance intention (Rodriguez-Sanchez et al., 2025; Yao et al., 2023). Rodriguez-Sanchez et al. (2025) explained that tourists who exhibit citizenship behavior, such as helping other tourists, often perceive their actions as personally conscious and ideally aligned with their values, increasing their committed intention to returning or, as they called it, patronage intention. These behaviors foster a sense of ownership and attachment, significantly influencing the tourist experience by making it more personally fulfilling and memorable. As sustainability has become a focal concern in tourism development, STCB not only benefits destination communities but also reinforces tourists’ psychological motivation to continue visiting the destination in the future. As stated previously, tourist continuance intention is a consequence of STCB; therefore, this study hypothesized the following:

H1. 

STCB has a positive impact on tourist continuance intention.

2.3. Theory of Planned Behavior and Tourist Continuance Intention

Ajzen’s (1991) Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), a widely applied psychological framework, is employed to understand and predict human behavior across various domains, including the tourism context. According to Ajzen’s (1991) TPB, an individual’s behavioral intention is classified by three characteristics: (1) attitude toward the behavior, (2) subjective norms or perceived social pressure to perform or not perform the behavior, and (3) perceived behavioral control or the perceived ease or difficulty of performing the behavior.

As applied in the context of tourist revisit intention, a tourist’s attitude refers to their overall evaluation of returning to a destination based on previous experiences, destination satisfaction, or emotional attachment. Subjective norms capture the social influence or perceived expectations based on referral sources (e.g., friends, family, or influencers) regarding whether one should revisit a destination. Perceived behavioral control refers to the perceived ease or difficulty of returning to a destination, which is potentially influenced by time, financial resources, travel convenience, or other factors (Susanto et al., 2024; Irahmafitria et al., 2021).

In previous tourism studies, the TPB has been instrumental in explaining tourists’ intentions to visit, revisit, or engage in sustainable and responsible behaviors (Susanto et al., 2024; Nieves-Pavón et al., 2024; Irahmafitria et al., 2021). For example, Pahrudin et al. (2021) applied the TPB to tourism destination decision-making after the COVID-19 pandemic. They found that two of the three factors—attitude and perceived behavioral control—significantly influence tourists’ intention to choose tourist destinations. Furthermore, Meng and Cui (2020) similarly found that the TPB was an effective predictor of tourists’ intentions to choose home-based accommodation, with perceived behavioral control emerging as the strongest predictor.

As empirically found in previous tourism studies, the TPB has confirmed robustness in capturing the interplay between cognitive, normative, and control beliefs in determining tourist behaviors, making it a valuable instrument for examining travel-related decision-making. In this study, we therefore hypothesized the following:

H2. 

Attitude has an impact on tourist continuance intention.

H3. 

Subjective norms are an antecedent of tourist continuance intention.

H4. 

Perceived behavioral control affects tourist continuance intention.

2.4. Perceived Behavioral Control and Sustainable Tourist Citizenship Behavior (STCB)

As stated in previous studies, perceived behavioral control (PBC) has become a core component of the Theory of Planned Behavior (Ajzen, 2020) and plays a vital role in shaping Sustainable Tourism Citizenship Behavior (STCB) (Van Tonder et al., 2023). PBC reflects an individual’s perception of their ability to behave. In the context of tourism sustainability, PBC reveals a result from the perceived ease or difficulty of engaging in responsible and eco-friendly actions while traveling and is interchangeable with self-efficacy (Huang et al., 2020).

Therefore, tourists that believe they have the necessary resources, knowledge, time, and opportunities are more likely to adopt sustainable behaviors and practices, i.e., minimizing waste, conserving energy, respecting local customs, and supporting local businesses, while traveling. A previous study also showed that a higher level of PBC or self-efficacy increases not only the intention but also the likelihood of translating that intention into actual pro-environmental and pro-social behaviors (Han et al., 2010). As such, it is possible to suggest that attempts to enhance tourists’ sense of control by providing clear information, accessible facilities, and supportive environments can significantly encourage STCB. In this study, we therefore proposed the following hypothesis:

H5. 

Perceived behavioral control has a significant impact on STCB.

2.5. Subjective Norm and Perceived Behavioral Control

Previous studies have revealed that the relationship between subjective norms and perceived behavioral control (PBC) within the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) framework has received greater attention in research related to behavioral and tourism contexts. A subjective norm refers to the perceived social pressure from important referents, such as family, friends, or religious communities, to either perform or avoid a behavior, despite PBC reflecting an individual’s perception of their ability to behave (Ajzen, 1991). Although the TPB employs these contextual constructs as independent predictors of committed intention, previous studies noted that a subjective norm can directly shape one’s perceived behavioral control (Nieves-Pavón et al., 2024). Whenever individuals have such a strong subjective norm, they may feel more empowered or confident in performing that behavior, thereby enhancing their perceived control. Therefore, if Muslim tourists have such a strong subjective norm to engage in halal-friendly tourism practices, it can strengthen their perceived behavioral control, particularly if peers or referral sources have shared tips or provided guidance based on their own experiences. Empirical evidence supports this constructed interaction in the context of green product consumption. A study by Paul et al. (2016) reported that subjective norms significantly influence perceived behavioral control, suggesting that social influence can enhance individuals’ confidence by providing informational and emotional support. Similarly, Nieves-Pavón et al. (2024) confirmed that a subjective norm is a significant antecedent of tourist perceived behavioral control. Hence, this study hypothesized the following:

H6. 

Subjective norms have a significant impact on perceived behavioral control.

2.6. Attitude and Perceived Behavioral Control

The relationship between attitude and perceived behavioral control (PBC) within the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) indicates how these two concepts can influence and reinforce each other in shaping individual’s behavioral intention. Attitude refers to an individual’s either positive or negative evaluation of performing a behavior, whereas PBC reflects the perceived ease or difficulty in performing that behavior, combining past experience and anticipated obstacles (Ajzen, 1991). Although the TPB treats these constructs as distinct behavioral intention predictors, a recent study suggested that individuals who hold a favorable attitude toward behaviors are more likely to perceive it as controllable intention. As there is limited research on this relationship (Nieves-Pavón et al., 2024), in this study we hypothesized the following:

H7. 

Attitude has a significant impact on perceived behavioral control.

2.7. Tourist Emotional Events and Subjective Norms

Tourist emotional events have significantly sharpened both behavioral intentions and social perceptions, including the influence of subjective norms, which are referred to as emotionally charged experiences encountered during travel (Nieves-Pavón et al., 2024). Subjective norms—the perceived social pressure to perform or not perform particular behaviors—have become a core component of the Theory of Planned Behavior (Ajzen, 1991). Meanwhile, emotional events, e.g., awe of natural landscapes or frustration from service failure, might heighten tourists’ sensitivity to the expectations and opinions of others. Accordingly, Nieves-Pavón et al. (2024) argued that tourist emotions, either positive or negative emotion, could have influenced subjective norms. Izquierdo-Yusta et al. (2022) also noted that value related to an emotional event has an impact on the subjective norms of people regarding consuming food. Therefore, tourist emotional events might be related to subjective norms.

Furthermore, Han et al. (2010) emphasized that belief constructs, such as a normative belief related to emotion, is positively associated with subjective norms. Thus, the link between emotional events and subjective norms has been highlighted. Therefore, this study hypothesized the following:

H8. 

Tourist emotional events have relationships with subjective norms.

2.8. Tourist Emotional Events and Attitude

Emotional events, such as moments of joy, awe, nostalgia, or even disappointment, experienced during interactions in a trip create deep affective responses that shape a tourist’s overall evaluation of the destination or activity. These affective evaluations directly inform a tourist’s attitude, which leads to either a positive or negative appraisal of a behavior. As K. T. T. Nguyen et al. (2025) noted, emotions such as joy, love, and surprise regarding the interaction are positively associated with favorable attitudes toward destinations, increasing the likelihood of future long-term outcomes. Similarly, Lee et al. (2011) found in their study that emotional value, as derived from fulfilling experiences, significantly predicts tourists’ positive attitudes and destination satisfaction, indicating that emotional intensity is a strong antecedent to attitudinal development in tourism.

Moreover, emotional events not only influence initial attitude formation but also strengthen long-term attitudinal commitment through individuals’ meaningful memory processes. Emotional experiences are often encoded more vividly in individuals’ memory, which enhance their role in shaping lasting impressions and preferences. For example, Tse and Tung (2022) demonstrated that emotionally engaging experiences of residents have an impact on their attitudes toward tourists. Furthermore, emotional resonance had an impact on attitude stability, particularly when tourists felt emotionally attached or personally connected to a destination or activity. This suggests that destination marketers, policy makers, and tourism planners should design emotionally rich experiences to foster tourists’ positive attitudes, ultimately driving a desirable attitude toward the destination. As such, this study hypothesized the following:

H9. 

Tourist emotional events have an impact on tourist attitudes toward the destination.

2.9. Past Halal Experience and Perceived Behavioral Control

Past halal tourism experiences significantly influence perceived behavioral control (PBC), referring to the perceived ease or difficulty in engaging in certain behaviors—in this case, participating in halal-compliant travel. According to the Theory of Planned Behavior (Ajzen, 2020), PBC shapes both external constraints (e.g., facilities, resources, access) and internal factors (e.g., previous experiences and self-efficacy). Tourists who have previously encountered positive and seamless halal experiences, such as easily finding halal food, prayer spaces, or gender-segregated facilities, are likely to develop a stronger sense of confidence in their ability to manage similar behaviors in future trips. This accumulated experience reduces the uncertainty and enhances the PBC, which, in turn, strengthens the behavioral intention toward choosing a halal product (Bhutto et al., 2023). Therefore, past experience acts as a cognitive anchor that helps travelers assess the controllability of future travel behavior in a religiously appropriate way.

There is a supportive relationship between prior experience and perceived behavioral control in previous studies. Hurst et al. (2024) found that dietary supplement use experience has an impact on perceived behavioral control, meanwhile Eid and El-Gohary (2014) highlighted that familiarity with Islamic hospitality standards and previous satisfaction with halal offerings has contributed to higher trust and a sense of autonomy in decision-making during travel. These findings revealed that both tourism providers and destination marketers should ensure consistently positive halal experiences to reinforce tourists’ perceived behavioral control. Thus, this study hypothesized the following:

H10. 

Past halal experience has a significant impact on perceived behavioral control.

2.10. Past Halal Experience and Attitude

Past halal tourism experiences play a key role in shaping Muslim tourists’ attitudes toward future halal travel behaviors. According to the Theory of Planned Behavior (Ajzen, 1991), attitude refers to how to choose halal-compliant tourism options. Tourists who have previously encountered high-quality halal services (i.e., accessible halal food, prayer facilities, and culturally respectful environments) are more likely to develop their favorable attitudes toward similar offerings in the future. Positive experiences enhance and strengthen the cognitive and affective components of attitude. As shown in K. T. T. Nguyen et al. (2025), experience in interaction quality will affect the attitudinal behavior of the tourist.

Empirical studies also support the connection between past experience and attitude formation in the halal tourism domain. For example, Zailani et al. (2016) found that previous exposure to halal-friendly medical tourism significantly improved Muslim tourist’s attitudes by increasing trust and the perceived value. Similarly, Eid and El-Gohary (2014) demonstrated that Muslim tourists who had satisfying halal travel experiences developed positive emotional and evaluative responses toward Islamic hospitality, which subsequently influenced their travel-related decisions. These findings highlight the importance of consistent and high-quality halal experiences in shaping tourist attitudes. Tourism providers aiming to attract and retain Muslim travelers should focus not only on providing halal services but also on ensuring these experiences leave a lasting positive impression that fosters favorable attitudes and encourages repeat visitation. Therefore, this study hypothesized the following:

H11. 

Past halal experience has a significant impact on a tourist’s attitude toward the destination.

3. Research Method

3.1. Sampling and Data Collection

The research participants included in this study were Muslim visitors to tourism areas of West Sumatra, which is one of the top five municipalities and cities based on the statistical number of tourists in 2024 from a total of 19 municipals/cities. West Sumatra was chosen for this study because it was identified as a top halal tourism destination by the Mastercard-Crescent Rating Agency, as published in the 2019–2022 Global Muslim Travel Index (GMTI) (Mastercard-CrescentRating, 2024). Only Muslim travelers were considered eligible participants for this study. We purposefully picked the respondents using the convenient sampling technique. Everyone we met on streets or public spaces at attractions was asked, face-to-face, for eligibility before completing the questionnaire survey.

The researchers used a questionnaire-based survey to collect the data at different destinations in June to July 2025, a high season in West Sumatra, Indonesia. A total of 500 responses were received. This number of samples was calculated using the criterion of 5–20 times the number of elements (Hair et al., 2010). This study included 26 items, and thus, the minimum required sample size was exceeded.

3.2. Measurement

In this study, the researchers used measurements from earlier studies. For example, questions related to sustainable tourist citizenship behavior, e.g., “I assist other customers if they need my help about environment”, was adopted from the study by Ahn et al. (2020). Meanwhile, tourist continuance intention was measured using the question, “In the future, I would like to revisit this halal destination”, which was adopted from Suhartanto et al. (2021) and Halimi et al. (2021). For a perceived behavioral control measurement, questions were adopted from the study by Bhutto et al. (2023), e.g., “I can afford to visit halal destination, even if slightly expensive”.

Attitude measurement questions were also taken from Bhutto et al. (2023); “Choosing halal destination is a good idea” was an example of this variable measurement. In measuring subjective norms, two measurement questions were adopted from Bhutto et al. (2023), e.g., “My family thinks that I should visit halal destination”. Tourist emotional events were measured using six measurement items adopted from the study by Zhou et al. (2023); “I interacted well with my companions in the destination” was an example for this variable measurement. Finally, past halal experience was measured using six measurement items adopted from the study by Suhartanto et al. (2021); “Availability of prayer room for men/women” was an example for this variable measurement.

3.3. Data Analysis

This study analyzed the statistical results using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) of SmartPLS version-4 for an initial investigation of how the STCB, TPB, tourist emotional events, and past halal experiences impacted tourist continuance intention in the halal tourism context. In doing so, some preliminary assessments for heteroscedasticity, multicollinearity, and normality were conducted before the main statistical analysis. This study also used discriminant and convergent validity to confirm the data’s validity and reliability. Other validity and reliability measurements included Cronbach’s alpha, composite reliability (CR), internal consistency, heterotrait–monotrait (HTMT), and average variance. Lastly, this study analyzed the measurement and structural model and applied a common method bias test, whereas the significance of relationships was explained by extracting the t-test statistics.

4. Results

4.1. Descriptive of Respondent

The most common characteristics among the respondents included in this study were female (62.7%), college graduate (94.8%), experienced five trips a year (85%), under 40 years old (93.8%), and had a monthly income up to IDR 7.5 million (94.2%).

4.2. Preliminary Test

This study conducted multicollinearity, homogeneity, and normality tests before conducting the primary analysis. The multicollinearity test was employed using the Varian Inflation Factor (VIF) value, which ranged from 1.63 to 3.04 (<5). The homogeneity test was calculated using the Glejser test, where the significance value was determined to be >0.05 (Hair et al., 2010). We also found the variable standard deviations ranged from 0.71 to 2.61 after applying the ±3 standard deviations criterion for normality statistics, which met the statistical requirements according to the aforementioned preliminary test results.

4.3. Validity and Reliability Tests

The validity and reliability were tested to evaluate the study’s model.

Table 1. Construct validity and reliability.

Construct	Items	Loading	A	CR	AVE
Sustainable Tourist Citizenship Behavior (STCB)			0.885	0.909	0.769
	I assist other tourists if they need my help about environment	0.867
	I help other tourists if they seem to have environmental problems	0.889
	I teach other tourists to use the service correctly and environmentally friendly	0.873
Perceived Behavioral Control (PBC)			0.853	0.911	0.772
	I can afford to visit halal destination, even if slightly expensive.	0.880
	Visiting or not visiting halal destination is solely my decision	0.873
	If I want to visit a tourist destination, I will visit halal destination	0.884
Attitude (ATT)			0.905	0.941	0.841
	Choosing halal destination is a good idea	0.902
	I like to choose halal destination	0.920
	Visiting halal destination is pleasant	0.928
Subjective Norm (SN)			0.833	0.923	0.857
	My family thinks that I should visit halal destination	0.929
	Most people I value would visit halal destination	0.922
Tourist Emotional Event (TEE)			0.885	0.909	0.626
	I interacted well with my companions in the destination	0.831
	I felt satisfied with being part of my companions.	0.854
	My companions made my time there more enjoyable.	0.855
	I interacted well with other tourists at the destination.	0.762
	I developed friendships with other tourists whom I met at the destination.	0.711
	I felt satisfied with being there with other tourists at the destination.	0.720
Past Halal Experience (PHE)			0.880	0.909	0.624
	Availability of prayer room for men/women	0.757
	Halal facilities in tourist locations	0.771
	Certification of Halal food	0.797
	Healthiness of Halal food and beverage	0.820
	Services offered conformity to Islamic law	0.806
	Appropriateness of staff dressing places are good.	0.789
Continuance Intention (CI)			0.888	0.931	0.817
	In the future, I would like to revisit this halal destination.	0.894
	This halal destination is my first choice in the future.	0.917
	The probability that I will consider revisit this destination is high	0.901

displays the validity and reliability found in this study. All the measured items in this study met the minimum statistical requirements for additional analysis. The loading factor values were greater than 0.6 and the average variance extracted (AVE) values were greater than 0.5. Additionally, Cronbach’s alpha and the composite reliability (CR) (>0.7) demonstrated the validity and reliability of each construction (Hair et al., 2010). Cronbach’s alpha > 0.7 was used in this study to verify the data’s internal consistency.

Furthermore, this study used HTMT to confirm the discriminant validity (

Table 2. Discriminant validity using HTMT criterion.

Construct	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
ATT
CI	0.791
PBC	0.733	0.750
PHE	0.702	0.705	0.728
SN	0.780	0.769	0.833	0.732
STCB	0.506	0.515	0.465	0.541	0.381
TEE	0.551	0.518	0.518	0.665	0.514	0.522

Note: TEE—tourist emotional event; SN—subjective norm; ATT—attitude; PBC—perceived behavioral control; PHE—past halal experience; STCB—sustainable tourist citizenship behavior; CI—continuance intention.

). The correlation value between the variables was less than 0.90, indicating that there was no problem with the discriminant validity. As this study investigated a common method bias using Harman’s single-factor model, its total variation recovered for one factor was 45.36% (less than 50%) (Duong, 2022), which indicates no significant evidence of a common method bias.

4.4. Structural Model and Hypothesis Testing

Table 3. Hypothesis testing.

	Hypothesis	Coefficient	SD	p Value	Hypothesis Verdict
H1	STCB → CI	0.14	0.046	***	Supported
H2	ATT → CI	0.36	0.054	***	Supported
H3	SN → CI	0.23	0.052	***	Supported
H4	PBC → CI	0.21	0.050	***	Supported
H5	PBC → STCB	0.41	0.049	***	Supported
H6	SN → PBC	0.40	0.059	***	Supported
H7	ATT → PBC	0.22	0.050	***	Supported
H8	TEE → SN	0.46	0.044	***	Supported
H9	TEE → ATT	0.23	0.044	***	Supported
H10	PHE → PBC	0.24	0.046	***	Supported
H11	PHE → ATT	0.49	0.045	***	Supported

Note: ***—sig < 0.01; TEE—tourist emotional event; SN—subjective norm; ATT—attitude; PBC—perceived behavioral control; PHE—past halal experience; STCB—sustainable tourist citizenship behavior; CI—continuance intention.

and Figure 1 indicate that the hypothesis-testing results for the structural model are statistically significant. First, sustainable tourist citizenship behavior was a significant predictor of tourist continuance intention (H1: β = 0.14 ***). Attitude also had an impact on tourist continuance intention (H2: β = 0.36 ***). Subjective norm had a significant impact on tourist continuance intention (H3: β = 0.23 ***). Perceived behavioral control was an essential antecedent of tourist continuance intention (H4: β = 0.21 ***). Meanwhile perceived behavioral control was a significantly antecedent of sustainable tourist citizenship behavior (H5: β = 0.41 ***), subjective norm significantly affected perceived behavioral control (H6: β = 0.40 ***). Attitude was found to be a significant predictor of perceived behavioral control (H7: β = 0.22 ***) and tourist emotional event was a significant predictor of subjective norm (H8: β = 0.46 ***). Finally, tourist emotional event significantly impacted attitude (H9: β = 0.23 ***), while past halal experience was a significant antecedent of perceived behavioral control (H10: β = 0.24 ***) and had a considerable influence on attitude (H11: β = 0.49 ***).

5. Discussion

The finding that sustainable tourist citizenship behavior (STCB) significantly predicts tourist continuance intention (H1: β = 0.14 ***) underscores the value of pro-social and environmentally responsible conduct in enhancing tourists’ long-term engagement with destinations. Voluntary STCB, i.e., respecting local culture, conserving resources and helping other tourists, can create a sense of moral satisfaction, personal relevance, and emotional attachment, which, in turn, fosters the desire to revisit (Rodriguez-Sanchez et al., 2025; Yao et al., 2023). This result supports the alignment between tourist citizenship behavior and patronage intention, as recently reported by Rodriguez-Sanchez et al. (2025). Lee et al. (2024) also emphasized that employee engagement related to employee citizenship behavior leads to re-workcation intention. Even if they did not address the link between tourist citizenship behavior and continuance intention, this study argued that sustainable tourist citizenship behavior helps improve their willingness to revisit the destinations in the future. Therefore, promoting and facilitating STCB would contribute to sustainable destination development and enhance tourist retention through positive behavioral reinforcement.

The significant positive relationship between attitude and tourist continuance intention (H2: β = 0.36 ***) highlights the central role of tourists’ evaluative judgments in shaping their intention to revisit a destination. A favorable attitude—formed through satisfying experiences, emotional engagement, and alignment with personal values—increases the likelihood of repeat visitation by enhancing the perceived value and desirability of returning (Tajeddini et al., 2021; Halimi et al., 2021). Accordingly, these emotional events and past experiences potentially confirm their moment of truth in hospitality (Groth et al., 2019) and partially contribute to their destination loyalty (Almeida-Santana & Moreno-Gil, 2018; Cossío-Silva et al., 2019). This finding is consistent with a prior study conducted by Meng and Cui (2020), which stated that positive attitudes toward a destination strongly predict tourist revisit intentions. The strong coefficient value found in this study implies that attitude is not only a cognitive construct but also a key emotional driver in tourism behavior. As such, we suggest that destination managers should focus on shaping positive tourist attitudes through the service quality and availability of halal attributes at the destination.

In this study, subjective norms, which drive the perceived social pressure to behave (Ajzen, 1991), significantly influenced tourist continuance intention (H3: β = 0.23 ***). This finding emphasizes the critical role of social influence in shaping repeat travel behavior. Halimi et al. (2021) illustrated that when tourists believe that their referral bases (i.e., family, friends, or online communities) approve or expect them to revisit a destination, they are more likely to form and act on that intention. This also aligns with the results found in previous studies. Patrisia et al. (2025) reported that subjective norms positively affect repeat purchase intention of halal foods. Moreover, Tajeddini et al. (2021) noted that tourists’ subjective norms affect their revisit intention of Airbnb hotels. This implies that leveraging social cues, such as testimonials, user-generated content, and influencer endorsements, can be implemented as a strategic approach for destination marketers aiming to increase repeat visitation through the power of social norms.

This study found that perceived behavioral control (PBC) significantly predicts tourist continuance intention (H4: β = 0.21 ***), which underscores the importance of tourists’ confidence and ability to revisit a destination. For example, once tourists believe that returning to a destination is feasible and manageable, they are more likely to form their intention to do so. This supports a previous study undertaken by Susanto et al. (2024), indicating that tourists’ PBC significantly influences their intention to revisit the destination. Similarly, Meng and Cui (2020) confirmed that travelers with high PBC tend to demonstrate their revisit intention in future travel. These findings and discussions imply that improving infrastructural accessibility, providing clear information, and reducing logistical or financial barriers help enhance tourists’ sense of control, thereby fostering a stronger continuance intention.

In this study, perceived behavioral control (PBC) was found to be an important predictor of sustainable tourist citizenship behavior (STCB) (H5: β = 0.41 ***), emphasizing the critical role of tourists’ confidence and perceived ability in engaging in voluntary, sustainability-oriented actions while traveling. This strong coefficient implies that whenever tourists feel they have the resources, knowledge, and opportunity to behave sustainably, they are significantly more likely to do so. Accordingly, Ajzen (2020) found that perceived behavioral control and self-efficacy are interchangeable concepts. This argument supports previous studies by Wang and Huang (2025) and Na-Nan et al. (2021), which stated that self-efficacy is a key driver of organizational citizenship behavior. These discussions provide a useful recommendation for destination managers and tourism providers to lower barriers and increase enabling conditions, such as clear signage, access to recycling, or cultural guidance, to enhance tourists’ perceived control and consequently sustainable citizenship behavior.

The finding that subjective norms significantly influenced perceived behavioral control (H6: β = 0.40 ***) indicates the social dimension of perceived capability in performing sustainable tourism behaviors. As such, whenever travelers perceive that their friends, family, or influential communities support sustainable actions, they feel more likely to be capable of engaging in such behaviors. This explanation regarding the self-efficacy or perceived behavioral control aligns with the fact that subjective norms positively influence self-efficacy, which is related to perceived behavioral control, as studied by Sawaneh et al. (2024). Furthermore, Nieves-Pavón et al. (2024) found in their similar study that a subjective norm is an important antecedent of perceived behavioral control. As such, the strong coefficient suggests that subjective norms not only encourage intention but also empower travelers by reducing uncertainty and reinforcing their perceived ability to act sustainably. Consequentially, tourism campaigns leveraging social influence might be more effective at promoting both confidence and responsible behavior.

The significant relationship found between attitude and perceived behavioral control (H7: β = 0.22 ***) also suggests that tourists who hold favorable evaluations of sustainable behaviors are more likely to perceive themselves as capable of performing a behavior. This implies that whenever tourists have positive attitudes—believing that sustainable or responsible tourism is valuable and beneficial—they are highly motivated to overcome potential barriers and enhance their perceived control. This argument supports the study by Govaerts and Ottar Olsen (2023), which stated that perceived behavioral control moderates the link between attitude and behavior. Moreover, Yilmaz and Gürlek Kisacik (2025) similarly demonstrated that attitude and PBC are not entirely independent. They reported that attitude leads to self-efficacy, which is interchangeable with PBC. Therefore, this study implies that fostering positive attitudes toward sustainability not only promotes intention but also boosts tourists’ sense of capability, reinforcing the likelihood of consistent and responsible behavior.

The finding showing that tourist emotional events significantly predict subjective norm (H8: β = 0.46 ***) demonstrates the powerful influence of emotionally charged travel experiences on shaping subjective norms. Similarly, Nieves-Pavón et al. (2024) found that positive emotion leads to tourists’ subjective norms in the smart tourism context. Izquierdo-Yusta et al. (2022) also reported that emotional events play crucial roles in activating consumer subjective norms when consuming foods. Therefore, the strong path of coefficients found and discussed in this study indicates that emotional experiences do not merely affect perceived social pressure and suggests that destinations might aim to encourage socially normative behavior.

In this study, the significant relationship between tourist emotional events and attitude (H9: β = 0.23 ***) also underscores the role of affective experiences in shaping tourists’ evaluations of destinations and behaviors. This implies that whenever tourists encounter emotionally fulfilling experiences, they consequentially develop favorable attitudes toward the destination, tourism activities, or behaviors they associate with those feelings. This finding confirms a similar result found by Tse and Tung (2022), who indicated that emotional experiences play key roles in shaping attitudes toward tourists.

This study also found that past halal experience significantly predicted perceived behavioral control (H10: β = 0.24 ***). This result indicates that prior positive encounters with halal-friendly tourism environments enhance Muslim tourists’ confidence in their ability to repeat similar behaviors during future trips. For example, if travelers have previously encountered accessible halal food, prayer facilities, modest accommodations, and respectful cultural environments, they are more likely to feel capable of maintaining religious practices while traveling. This result with examples seems to align with results found in the study by Hurst et al. (2024), who reported that past experience leads to perceived behavioral control. Another similar study by Eid and El-Gohary (2014) also confirmed that past satisfaction with Islamic hospitality services significantly enhances PBC by reducing logistical and psychological barriers. Therefore, as found and discussed in this study, consistent and positive past halal experiences potentially help reinforce tourists’ religious travel confidence or perceived behavioral control.

Finally, this study found that past halal experience significantly influences attitude (H11: β = 0.49 ***), which underscored the strong impact of prior travel experiences on shaping Muslim tourists’ evaluative beliefs toward halal tourism. Accordingly, the high path coefficient found in this study implies that whenever Muslim travelers have previously encountered satisfactory halal-friendly services, they developed a more favorable attitude toward similar experiences in the future. This is consistent with the Theory of Planned Behavior, indicating that attitude is formed through beliefs about the outcomes of behavior, often based on past experiences (Ajzen, 2020). In addition, Eid and El-Gohary (2014) found that positive experiences with Islamic hospitality significantly shaped Muslim tourists’ attitudes by reinforcing the perceived value and comfort of halal travel. Therefore, in this study, we argue that creating a consistent and high-quality halal experience help foster a positive attitude, which is an essential key to encouraging repeat visitation and loyalty among Muslim tourists.

6. Conclusions

This study found that all the hypotheses were statistically supportive, and thus, revealed some theoretical contributions, managerial implications, limitations, and direction for future study.

6.1. Theoretical Contribution

The findings in this study offer a substantial contribution to extending the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) regarding sustainable and halal tourism. By confirming all proposed hypotheses, the study validated the core TPB constructs as significant predictors of tourist continuance intention and integrated two critical antecedents: tourist emotional events and past halal experience. These additional elements enrich the TPB by demonstrating that affective experiences and religious travel history shape core belief structures, thereby influencing behavioral outcomes.

Furthermore, the significant role of sustainable tourist citizenship behavior in predicting continuance intention and its reciprocal relationship with perceived behavioral control introduces a novel behavioral dimension to the TPB framework. This suggests that voluntary and pro-social tourism behaviors are not only outcomes of TPB variables but also drivers of future behavioral intentions. In brief, the study advanced TPB by incorporating emotional, experiential, and value-based constructs, offering a more comprehensive understanding of tourist behavior in culturally and ethically sensitive tourism contexts.

6.2. Managerial Implications

From a managerial perspective, the findings offer essential insights for tourism marketers, destination managers, and policy makers, particularly those operating in halal and sustainable tourism segments. Since sustainable tourist citizenship behavior, attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control significantly predict tourist continuance intention, tourism providers should actively design programs and environments that foster positive attitudes, encourage social support, and empower tourists to feel capable of engaging in sustainable behaviors. Emotional engagement and memorable experiences should be strategically incorporated into service offerings, as emotional events significantly enhance subjective norms and attitudes, thereby influencing future behavior. These managerial implications should be considered for destination development planning, destination branding, and marketing strategies to enlarge and improve the halal tourism segment in Westen Sumatra. Meanwhile, tourism operators and local businesses might introduce these implications into their tailor-made specialties, loyalty programs, memberships, and attractive products and services to satisfy and retain repeat Muslim travelers.

Additionally, the strong impact of past halal experience on perceived behavioral control and attitude emphasizes the importance of consistently delivering high-quality halal services (e.g., halal food options, prayer facilities, and culturally respectful interactions) to build trust and loyalty among Muslim travelers. Encouraging peer recommendations, promoting sustainable behavior through role models, and ensuring the infrastructure supports religious needs can enhance both tourists’ perceptions and their willingness to return. Ultimately, integrating emotional, cultural, and behavioral touchpoints can lead to stronger destination attachment and long-term visitor retention.

6.3. Limitations and Future Research

Despite the robust findings of this study, it has several limitations that should be addressed and properly managed in future research. First, data were collected within a specific cultural and religious context—likely dominated by Muslim respondents familiar with halal tourism—which may limit the generalizability of the results to broader, non-Muslim tourist populations. Second, this study employed a cross-sectional design, capturing tourist perceptions and behaviors at a single point in time, which restricts the ability to infer causality. Longitudinal studies could provide deeper insights into how attitudes, perceived control, and emotional experiences evolve over repeated visits.

Additionally, while this study focused on past halal experience and emotional events as antecedents of TPB constructs, future research could explore the roles of other relevant variables such as destination image, service quality, digital engagement, destination satisfaction, and destination loyalty. Finally, incorporating qualitative methods or mixed-method approaches could provide better understanding of how and why tourists engage in sustainable behaviors and develop continuance intentions. Expanding the model across different geographic regions, cultural settings, and types of tourism (e.g., medical, adventure, or cultural tourism) would also strengthen the external validity and applicability of the findings.