The Transmission Path of Tourists’ Perceived Crowding and Consumption Behavior: Evidence from Lijiang Ancient Town

Ancient towns designated as World Cultural Heritage sites attract large-scale tourist flows due to their unique landscape features, often resulting in severe crowding issues. However, the internal mechanisms through which perceived crowding influences tourists’ consumption decisions remain underexplored. This study conducts a questionnaire survey in Lijiang Ancient Town, collecting 323 valid samples, and constructs a structural equation model (SEM) of “perceived crowding-conformity psychology-tourist consumption behavior.” The findings indicate that perceived crowding has no direct significant impact on tourists’ immediate consumption behavior or sustained consumption intention. Perceived crowding significantly positively induces tourists’ conformity psychology, as individuals in high-density environments tend to seek group identification to mitigate decision-making risks. Conformity psychology plays a complete mediating role between perceived crowding and tourist consumption behavior, serving as the core transmission “bridge” linking spatial environmental perception to actual consumption actions. This study reveals the psychological mechanisms underlying the “the more crowded, the more they buy” phenomenon in tourism settings and provides practical implications for ancient town scenic areas to enhance commercial conversion efficiency through optimized crowd guidance and consumption atmosphere creation.