INTENTION TO VISIT ECO-FRIENDLY DESTINATIONS FOR TOURISM EXPERIENCES: AN EXTENDED THEORY OF PLANNED BEHAVIOR Sujood 1* Sheeba Hamid 2 Naseem Bano 3 AbstrAct The purpose of this study is to investigate consumers’ intentions to visit eco-friendly destinations for tourism experiences by developing an integrated structural model that incorporates the TPB model with an additional construct, i.e. environmental friendly activities (EFA). Data was collected via a web-based survey and then analyzed. The related hypotheses have been tested using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The sample consists of 471 responses from Indian consumers. The findings reveal that attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control and environmental friendly activities are significant predictors of intention. These constructs explained approximately 50 percent of the variance in the intention. The results of this study contribute to the body of the knowledge of intention, eco-friendly destinations, and tourism experiences and also provide useful information for developing effective marketing strategies to encourage consumers to visit eco-friendly destinations for tourism experiences. To the best of the researchers’ knowledge, this was the first attempt to predict the intention to visit eco-friendly destinations for tourism experiences by employing TPB along with the EFA construct. Keywords: Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), Intention, Eco-friendly Destinations, Environmental Friendly Activities (EFA), Tourism Experiences. JEL Classification: L83, Q01, Q56, Z32 1. INtrODUctION Experiences are generated by expressed or implied behavior, perception, cognition, and emotions (Oh et al., 2007; Jurowski, 2009). Experiencing something new is something one does for his/herself. Backgrounds, values, attitudes and beliefs are the factors that contribute to the individual’s unique experience (Knutson et al., 2007). The process of visiting, learning and participating in activities in a setting that is different from one’s environment creates tourism experiences (Stamboulis & Skayannis, 2003; Jurowski, 2009). An individual’s tourism experience is a multifunctional leisure activity that can be either educational or entertaining or both (Ryan 1997; Li, 2000). Every tourism activity creates an experience whether positive or negative. Hence, visit to all eco-friendly destinations must be set up to provide consumers with an unforgettable and unexpected tourism experience (Dalonso et al., 2014). The subjective personal responses and feelings associated with tourism activities are 1 Department of Commerce, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India (sjdkhancool@gmail.com) 2 Department of Commerce, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India (sheebaranyah@gmail.com) 3 Department of Commerce, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India (banonaseem036@gmail.com)