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Minimalism has emerged as a prevalent lifestyle, for those seeking to reduce material possessions along with adopting practices of a simpler life. This new trend has the potential to improve tourists’ sustainable conduct. Accordingly, this research proposed that minimalist travel practices can offer a novel perspective on sustainable tourism development, steering away from traditional paradigms pertinent to green consumption and pro-environmental behavior advocacy. Grounded in ecological modernization theory and self-congruity theory, this investigation explores how egoistic motivations drive tourists to adopt sustainable consumption behaviors through minimalist travel practices. Drawing on two empirical studies, the research validates the positive influence of egoistic motivations on minimalist travel preference and consumption behaviors. Additionally, findings identify a moderating effect of environmental concern, indicating that high levels of environmental concern may weaken the impact of egoistic motivations on minimalist travel practices. This research elucidates the reduction of material pursuit as a mechanism that could mitigate environmental adversities through a minimalistic approach. It also provides novel insights into achieving ecological modernization from a customer-orientation perspective in the tourism industry. Finally, the proposed transformation process provides practical insights for managers in tourism enterprises to develop differentiated promotion strategies for minimalist travel practices.
Ruan et al. (Sun,) studied this question.