How does technology use within families shape children’s travel intentions?

Although research on family tourism and decision-making has flourished in recent decades, little is known about how shared digital behaviours shape children's mental imagery and travel behaviour. This paper presents a conceptual framework grounded in Family Systems Theory and the Theory of Planned Behaviour to test hypothesised relationships between digital attributes (i.e. ease of use, informativeness, and entertainment), family engagement, and tourist involvement, and their effects on mental imagery and young adults' behaviour. Structural equation modelling and mediation analysis were applied to a sample of 751 complete questionnaires collected through both offline and online methods from Italians residing in different regions of the country. The findings reveal that perceived ease of use, informativeness, and entertainment act as critical catalysts for deeper family engagement and tourist involvement, which, in turn, enhance mental imagery and young adults' travel behaviour. These insights offer valuable guidance for tourism marketers aiming to design engaging, tech-enabled content that cultivates early interest in travel and promotes sustainable, intergenerational tourism.