Middle-aged and older adults’ preferences for long-stay tourism in rural China

Long-stay tourism is a diverse and lesser-known form of tourism that, despite its increasing scale and impact, has only recently become a focus of research. Long-stay destination attributes have typically been examined in the context of international retirement migration; however, little is known about long-stay tourist behavior in domestic rural destinations. Over the past decade, long-stay tourism has been increasingly considered a potential tool for rural communities seeking social and economic revitalization. Drawing upon the stimulus–organism–response model and residential mobility theory, this paper proposes and tests a model to understand the psychological needs of long-stay tourists and the relationships of these needs with visitors’ destination attributes and preferences. Using data collected from residents of three first-tier cities in China (Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou), results reveal five destination selection themes: familiarity, comfort, rurality, wellness, and publicity. The findings also unveil the salience of each dimension through conjoint analysis. This study enriches and extends the literature on long-stay tourism and tourists, especially within Chinese rural destinations.