Bridging Faith, Sustainability, and Technology: An Integrated Behavioral Model of Tourist Visit Intention in Sustainable Plateau Destinations

This study examines the relationships among halal destination attribution, destination sustainability awareness, perceived destination trust, perceived usefulness of artificial intelligence (AI), and among Muslim tourists’ visit intention by developing and empirically testing an integrated behavioral model in the context of sustainable plateau tourism. Despite the ecological sensitivity and cultural uniqueness of plateau destinations, this context has received limited scholarly attention. Accordingly, the objective of this study is to investigate how halal destination attribution, destination sustainability awareness, perceived destination trust, and perceived usefulness of AI influence tourists’ visit intention in the Dieng Highlands, Indonesia. A quantitative approach was employed by collecting data from 256 eligible Muslim tourists through a self-selected survey, and the proposed model was analyzed using structural equation modeling. The results indicate that halal destination attribution significantly influences both destination sustainability awareness and perceived destination trust, confirming its dual role as a religious and ethical destination attribute. Furthermore, destination sustainability awareness and perceived usefulness of AI significantly enhance tourists’ intention to visit. In contrast, perceived destination trust positively influences the perceived usefulness of AI, highlighting the importance of trust in technology-enabled tourism services. These findings demonstrate that religious values, sustainability awareness, destination trust, and AI-related perceptions jointly shape Muslim tourists’ visit intention toward the Dieng Highlands. This study contributes to the tourism literature by providing an integrated understanding of tourist behavior in environmentally sensitive destinations. Practically, the findings suggest that destination managers should integrate sustainability initiatives, halal-friendly services, and AI-enabled tourism technologies to strengthen destination competitiveness and encourage tourists’ intention to visit.