Abstract The purpose of this paper is to explore the behavior of potential consumers of online travel service before adopting online tourism websites. In the innovation resistance theory（IRT） theory, from the perspective of innovation communication and innovation adopters, negative word-of-mouth (WOM) and dispositional resistance to change are introduced to construct an online travel adoption behavior model of potential consumers. The results show that the negative WOM and the dispositional resistance to change are important factors affecting users online travel functional and psychological barriers and potential consumers of online travel websites intention to use websites with these negative impacts.
