•Schwartz (1992) Resultant self-transcendence and resultant conservation influence theory of planned behavior factors.•The theory of planned behavior factors affect tourists’ visiting intentions.•Environmental consciousness moderates between Schwartz bipolar dimensions and attitude.•The findings confirm the proposed conceptual framework. To address research gaps, this study develops a conceptual framework that integrates the personal values of Schwartz (1992) and the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and aims to examine tourists’ visiting intentions towards eco-friendly destinations. The authors collected data from 503 Chinese tourists. The majority of the hypotheses were accepted. The results show that resultant self-transcendence and resultant conservation values have positive relationships with three TPB anchors, i.e. (1) attitude, (2) subjective norms, and (3) perceived behavioral control. Contrarily, the authors found an insignificant relationship between value of resultant conservation and perceived behavioral control. Furthermore, TPB factors exert positive effects on tourists’ visiting intentions. Moreover, environmental consciousness positively moderates relationships between Schwartz personal values and attitude. The findings offer strong theoretical and practical implications.