Impact of Institutional Distance on Chinese Citizens' Outbound Tourism Destination Selection

One of the most important research themes in outbound tourism is the selection behavior of tourism destinations for international tourists, as it is a complex decision-making process influenced by factors such as institutions, culture, and economics. Moreover, the institutional factors affecting the selection of tourism destinations have not attracted significant attention. To the best of our knowledge, this paper is the first to study how the differences in social environments between countries affect the choices of outbound tourism, drawing conclusions on the characteristics and ways how the economic, cultural, and institutional differences affect the selection process of tourism destinations. This empirical research further demonstrates that the difference in institutional distance can negatively influence the choices of Chinese outbound tourists. Regulative distance has a negative impact, normative distance has not been verified, while cultural distance has a negative influence on Chinese citizens' choices of outbound tourism.