{"title":"Enhancing emotional responses of tourists in cultural heritage tourism: the case of Pingyao, China","authors":"S. Mostafa Rasoolimanesh, Shiwen Lu","doi":"10.1080/1743873x.2023.2254420","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACTThis study aims to examine the interplay between heritage tourists’ experiences and their emotional responses, and to identify the mediating effect of Memorable Tourism Experiences (MTE), drawing upon the stimulus–organism–response (SOR) theory. The study was conducted in Pingyao, a UNESCO-listed heritage city. Employing a convergent concurrent mixed-methods approach, this study combines quantitative (questionnaire) and qualitative (interview) methods to collect data. The results identified the positive effects of authenticity, nostalgia, and sacredness on MTE. Additionally, the study demonstrated that under the mediating effect of MTE, authenticity, nostalgia, and sacredness directly and indirectly affect subjective well-being and destination image. Although the direct impact of sacredness on destination image has not been definitively identified, the indirect impact mediated by MTE is positive and significant. This paper contributes to the research on tourist emotions and offers practical suggestions for the development of cultural heritage sites.KEYWORDS: Cultural heritage tourismmemorable tourism experiences (MTE)subjective well-beingdestination imagedestination experience Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Additional informationNotes on contributorsS. Mostafa RasoolimaneshDr. S. Mostafa Rasoolimanesh is a Professor of Tourism and Director of Sustainable Tourism Lab / Centre for Research and Innovation in Tourism (CRiT), and Head of Research for the Faculty of Social Sciences and Leisure Management, at Taylor's University, Malaysia. His research interest areas are sustainable tourism, heritage tourism, community participation, residents’ perceptions, and urban sustainability. He has published widely in high impact journals. Dr Mostafa is an editorial board member of more than 20 reputed tourism and hospitality journals.Shiwen LuShiwen Lu is a PhD candidate in Hospitality and Tourism Management at Taylor's University, Malaysia. He has published in high impact journals. His research interest revolves around services branding, consumer behavior, travel and tourism marketing, and cultural tourism research.","PeriodicalId":47192,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Heritage Tourism","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.0000,"publicationDate":"2023-09-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Heritage Tourism","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1743873x.2023.2254420","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"HOSPITALITY, LEISURE, SPORT & TOURISM","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
ABSTRACTThis study aims to examine the interplay between heritage tourists’ experiences and their emotional responses, and to identify the mediating effect of Memorable Tourism Experiences (MTE), drawing upon the stimulus–organism–response (SOR) theory. The study was conducted in Pingyao, a UNESCO-listed heritage city. Employing a convergent concurrent mixed-methods approach, this study combines quantitative (questionnaire) and qualitative (interview) methods to collect data. The results identified the positive effects of authenticity, nostalgia, and sacredness on MTE. Additionally, the study demonstrated that under the mediating effect of MTE, authenticity, nostalgia, and sacredness directly and indirectly affect subjective well-being and destination image. Although the direct impact of sacredness on destination image has not been definitively identified, the indirect impact mediated by MTE is positive and significant. This paper contributes to the research on tourist emotions and offers practical suggestions for the development of cultural heritage sites.KEYWORDS: Cultural heritage tourismmemorable tourism experiences (MTE)subjective well-beingdestination imagedestination experience Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Additional informationNotes on contributorsS. Mostafa RasoolimaneshDr. S. Mostafa Rasoolimanesh is a Professor of Tourism and Director of Sustainable Tourism Lab / Centre for Research and Innovation in Tourism (CRiT), and Head of Research for the Faculty of Social Sciences and Leisure Management, at Taylor's University, Malaysia. His research interest areas are sustainable tourism, heritage tourism, community participation, residents’ perceptions, and urban sustainability. He has published widely in high impact journals. Dr Mostafa is an editorial board member of more than 20 reputed tourism and hospitality journals.Shiwen LuShiwen Lu is a PhD candidate in Hospitality and Tourism Management at Taylor's University, Malaysia. He has published in high impact journals. His research interest revolves around services branding, consumer behavior, travel and tourism marketing, and cultural tourism research.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Heritage Tourism ( JHT ) is a peer-reviewed, international transdisciplinary journal. JHT focuses on exploring the many facets of one of the most notable and widespread types of tourism. Heritage tourism is among the very oldest forms of travel. Activities such as visits to sites of historical importance, including built environments and urban areas, rural and agricultural landscapes, natural regions, locations where historic events occurred and places where interesting and significant living cultures dominate are all forms of heritage tourism. As such, this form of tourism dominates the industry in many parts of the world and involves millions of people. During the past 20 years, the study of tourism has become highly fragmented and specialised into various theme areas, or concentrations. Within this context, heritage tourism is one of the most commonly investigated forms of tourism, and hundreds of scholars and industry workers are involved in researching its dynamics and concepts. This academic attention has resulted in the publication of hundreds of refereed articles in various scholarly media, yet, until now there has been no journal devoted specifically to heritage tourism; Journal of Heritage Tourism was launched to fill this gap. JHT seeks to critically examine all aspects of heritage tourism. Some of the topics to be explored within the context of heritage tourism will include colonial heritage, commodification, interpretation, urban renewal, religious tourism, genealogy, patriotism, nostalgia, folklore, power, funding, contested heritage, historic sites, identity, industrial heritage, marketing, conservation, ethnicity, education and indigenous heritage.