What Drives Tourists to Break the Rules Just to Take Photos?

Travelers' behavior of entering off-limit areas for photo-taking is a problem for tourism attractions management in mainland China. The research aims to explain Chinese travelers' intention to enter off-limit areas to take photos, which is a problem for tourism attractions management, by extending the theory of planned behavior (TPB). The research extended the TPB model by integrating the degree of photo-related activities on social network services (SNS) as an antecedent and motivation to take pictures as an additional predictor. Data were collected via an online survey from 301 tourists who have travel experiences within a year. Model 4 of the PROCESS macro for SPSS was used to test the hypotheses. Results revealed that norms are the best indicator of travelers' intention of entering an off-limited area to take photos. Moreover, tourists' SNS photo activity indirectly affects the behavioral intention through photo-taking motivations, attitudes, pro-entering norms, and perceived behavioral control (PBC). This study is the first attempt to investigate tourists' illegal entry behavior for photography reasons from a belief-forming perspective and confirm the significant role of SNS photo activity in forming beliefs. These findings can help tourism attractions to develop more effective management measures based on SNS. Meanwhile, the results can prompt reflection on public opinion guidance on SNS platforms and facilitate strategies for improvement.