Climate change awareness and place attachment as drivers of pro-environmental behavior: a comparison between natural and artificial snow ski resorts

Background: As climate change intensifies, nature-based sports tourism, particularly ski tourism, faces increasing environmental and operational challenges. Although artificial ski resorts have emerged as an adaptive response to climate-related risks, their sustainability implications remain insufficiently examined, especially in comparison with natural snow ski resorts.Methodology: Guided by the Stimulus–Organism–Response framework, this study investigates how skiing involvement, destination loyalty, perceived environmental quality, and perceptions of climate change function as key stimuli shaping internal psychological states and pro-environmental behavior across natural and artificial ski resort contexts in China. A mixed-methods approach was adopted. First, 20 interviews were conducted to develop context-specific measurement items. Subsequently, survey data from 673 skiers were analyzed using structural equation modeling and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis.Findings: The results show that skiing involvement, loyalty, and climate change awareness significantly enhance place attachment and environmental responsibility, which in turn promote pro-environmental behavior. Multi-group analyses further indicate that climate change perceptions exert stronger effects on place attachment and environmental responsibility among visitors to natural snow resorts than among those visiting artificial resorts.Contributions: These findings extend the application of the S–O–R framework in ski tourism research and offer practical insights for resort managers seeking to foster environmental stewardship and sustainability-oriented engagement under varying snow conditions.