Dark personality traits and sensation-seeking tourist behaviors. Is there a link? A preliminary investigation of Chinese tourists

The present study is the first attempt to understand sensation-seeking tourist behavior (SSTB) from the perspective of dark personality taxonomy of dark tetrad traits (DTT) (narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and sadism) and how SSTB affects tourists' destination revisit intention (DRI). The research setting is the world's largest tidal bore viewing site, Qiantang River, Zhejiang Province, China. We use the theoretical inferences of the Push-Pull theory to understand the destination's pull for sensation seeking and DTT as tourists' push for sensation seeking. The results evidenced a clear distinction among the DTT concerning adaptive and maladaptive SSTB. Specifically, the tourists high on narcissism and Machiavellianism traits had high adaptive sensation seeking, and tourists high on psychopathy and sadism had high maladaptive sensation seeking. Both sensation-seeking forms were positively linked with revisit intentions. This study bridges the gap between personality and tourism scholarship and offers novel insights for practitioners.