Investigating the Impact of Destination Well-being and Tourism Experience on Place Attachment

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 MA in industrial management, production and operations, Samangan Institute of Higher Education, Mazandaran, Iran

2 PHD student of business administration, majoring in marketing management, Islamic Azad University of Iran, Tehran branch, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Context and Purpose: Place is an integral part of tourism, and in tourism, almost all issues can ultimately be traced back to human-place interactions and human-place relationships. Place attachment is important in tourism marketing because it affects revisit intentions and destination loyalty. Based on the theory of place attachment, this study examines how memorable tourism experiences and well-being affect destination attachment in tourism. With this approach, the present research has tried to provide an analysis of the issue of attachment to the tourist destination, and in this way, it has used the tourist experience index as an independent variable of the destination's well-being as a mediating variable.
Design/methodology/approach: The current research is of the applied type in terms of the research’s purpose and is of descriptive survey type in terms of nature and method. The statistical population of the research was all the tourists who have visited the region and the tourist city of Masuleh. The statistical sample of the research was determined to be 384 people based on Cochran's formula. Data analysis was done using SmartPLS software. The data collection tool was a questionnaire that included three variables and 16 items. Likert scale was used to measure the questionnaire items. Cronbach's alpha method was used to determine its validity based on experts' opinions and to check the reliability of the research tool.
Findings: A memorable tourism experience has a positive and significant effect on attachment to a tourist destination. Also, the well-being of the destination plays a mediating role in the relationship between a memorable tourism experience and attachment to the tourist destination.
Conclusion: Considering the positive and constructive impact of a memorable tourism experience on the heart of a tourist destination, business owners in the tourism industry are advised to make all their efforts to provide tourism services to create a memorable trip for tourists. In this case, they can expect tourists to travel there again with an attachment to the tourist destination. They are also suggested to create pleasant moments for tourists instead of focusing on long-term functions because the results have shown that tourists care more about the well-being of the destination than having fun.
Originality/value: Paying attention to the views and motivations of tourists to travel to a destination is a necessity for marketing and planning tourism development, and it is also a basis for designing tourism-related infrastructures.

Keywords

References

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Tourism and hospitality marketing research
Volume 2, Issue 1 - Serial Number 2
Spring and Summer
June 2024
Pages 219-235

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