Leveraging customer-to-customer interactions to create immersive and memorable theme park experiences

Abstract

PurposeTheme park experiences ubiquitously unfold in the presence of others. In acknowledgement of this important part of theme park consumption, this research set out to examine if other visitors help create an immersive environment and, in turn, memorable experiences for theme park visitors.Design/methodology/approachAn online survey was distributed to 561 theme park visitors. Structural equation modeling (AMOS 26) was used for testing the hypotheses in the proposed framework.FindingsResults of SEM analyses reveal the positive impact of perceived similarity on visitors' sense of immersion at theme parks and the memorability of the experience. In turn, memorable experiences further drive behavioral intentions (i.e., return intention and willingness to pay premiums).Practical implicationsThe findings provide suggestions for theme parks to leverage customer-to-customer interactions in order to create immersive and memorable visitor experiences.Originality/valueThis research marks one of the first attempts to approach customer-to-customer interactions (CCIs) at theme parks by empirically examining the impact of the perceived similarity of others on focal visitors' emotions and experiences.

Research on the Effect of Authenticity on Revisit Intention in Heritage Tourism

“…Although there is variation in the division of the dimensions of MTEs, there is agreement regarding what constitutes an unforgettable tourism experience (de Freitas Coelho and de Sevilha Gosling, 2018 ). Antecedent variables that affect MTEs include tourists' psychological factors, such as perceived similarity (Wei et al, 2021 ), and destination level factors, such as destination attributes or services (Kim, 2014 ). Outcome variables of MTEs include loyalty, RI (Coudounaris and Sthapit, 2017 ; Chen and Rahman, 2018 ; Wong and Lai, 2021 ), subjective well-being (Sthapit and Coudounaris, 2018 ), and PA (Vada et al, 2019 ).…”

Rethinking the Impact of Theme Park Image on Perceived Value and Behavioral Intention: The Case of Chimelong Ocean Kingdom, China

“…In addition to this, amusement theme experience interactions between friends and family may be more attractive to visitors than heritage theme parks [31]. Moreover, as many of the newest amusement theme parks have adopted information and communication technology (e.g., VR) devices to further attract visitors, visitors' willingness to travel is enhanced [17]. Based on previous considerations and inspirations, the present study focuses on amusement theme park destinations.…”

“…Cognitive dimension refers to the evaluation of destination features, and may be related to weather, transportation, recreational facilities, attitudes, food, landscape, and destination locals, while the affective dimension refers to visitors' feelings or emotional reactions to the destination, more at the psychological level [1]. Numerous studies have demonstrated the relationship between cognitive image and affective image, and cognitive image positively influences affective image in tourism experience [17,39,40]. Based on previous literature, we propose the following hypothesis.…”

“…As mentioned above, during the COVID-19 period, theme parks gradually became an important destination choice for tourists [8]. Considering that theme parks can provide visitors with rich as well as different types of themed products experiences, tourists can experience differently themed tourism and, in turn, may be more willing to visit theme park destination experiences [17]. However, to the best of our knowledge, research involving theme park destination image in the COVID-19 period is limited.…”

Memorable cultural consumption: differences between local and non-local visitors to domestic sites

“…This bond can motivate travel and enhance tourists' heritage experiences (Lochrie et al , 2019). However, memorable tourism experiences (MTEs) are not solely reliant on pre-experience motivations, but are instead also influenced by visitors' perceptions of multiple on-site stimuli (Buehring et al , 2019) and customer-to-customer interactions (Wei et al , 2021). Within heritage contexts, this is typically contingent on how authentic site offerings and objects therein are perceived to be, alongside the aggregated experiential aspects of a destination (Kolar and Zabkar, 2010).…”