Beyond chronological age: Exploring how different future time perspective influences the health tourism intention

Abstract Background Health tourism is growing steadily and become an extremely popular component of modern tourism. This study constructed a theoretical model to examine the influential relationships between future time perspective (FTP), health awareness, involvement, and health tourism intention. Methods This study was conducted among people with normal cognitive function and at least 15 years of age and collected empirical data by means of a questionnaire. The main method of operation was to distribute online questionnaires to collect data on two of the most popular social media (WeChat and QQ) platforms in China. The data was analyzed primarily using SPSS 26.0 and AMOS 26.0. Results The effect of different dimensions of FTP on health tourism intentions differed. However, limited future time perspective (LFTP) positively influenced health tourism intentions, while open-ended future time perspective (OFTP) did not have a significant effect on health tourism intentions. Involvement and health awareness not only directly influence health tourism intentions, but also mediate the relationship between FTP (OFTP and LFTP) and health tourism intentions respectively. Conclusions The results show that This study revealed the mechanism of the role of factors other than chronological age and health tourism intentions, suggesting that health tourism companies should pay more attention to subjective factors other than chronological age. According to the findings, the theoretical and managerial implications of the study are discussed, and directions for future research are provided.