From experience to intention: how rural tourscape fosters destination sustainability through flow experience and memory

Introduction In the context of increasingly high-pressure lifestyles, rural tourism has emerged as an important approach to restorative and meaningful travel and a key component of sustainable destination development. Based on Cognitive Appraisal Theory (CAT), this study develops a five-dimensional rural tourscape model, including natural environment, ambient atmosphere, hospitality culture, farming activities, and agricultural products, to examine their effects on tourists’ revisit intention. Methods Data were collected from 443 valid questionnaires and analysed using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) to examine the relationships among rural tourscape dimensions, flow experience, memory, and revisit intention. Fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) was further employed to complement the net-effect analysis and identify configurational pathways leading to high revisit intention. Results The findings show that all five rural tourscape dimensions positively influence tourists’ flow experience. Flow experience directly enhances revisit intention and indirectly affects revisit intention through the formation of memorable experiences. The fsQCA results further reveal that no single tourscape dimension constitutes a necessary condition for high revisit intention; instead, multiple sufficient configurations exist. Discussion By integrating SEM and fsQCA, this study provides a more comprehensive understanding of the psychological mechanisms underlying rural tourscapes and tourists’ revisit intention. The findings contribute to rural tourism research and offer practical implications for enhancing tourist experiences and promoting destination sustainability.