Tourists’ revisit intention to UNESCO world heritage sites in a developing nation: Investigating the mediating role of place dependence

Abstract

The purpose for this study is to examine the factors affecting tourists’ revisit intention to UNESCO World Heritage Sites in a developing nation. Additionally, the mediating role of place dependence on this relationship is also inspected. Data were collected via a structured questionnaire from 300 foreign tourists visiting heritage sites in Penang, Malaysia, and were analysed via the Partial Least Square-Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) approach. Empirical results revealed that emotion of joy, love, and positive surprise, and place dependence affect tourists’ revisit intention to UNESCO World Heritage Sites in a developing nation. Furthermore, the indirect influence of the emotion of positive surprise on tourists’ revisit intention to UNESCO World Heritage Sites via place dependence was the strongest, with the emotions of joy and love ranking behind. The findings suggest that tourism authorities, tourism practitioners, and tourism managements should actively engage with existing tourists and potential tourists via digital marketing platforms and social media marketing tools in order to create long-term engagement and promote the connection of heritage tourism to personal feelings in a memorable way. This permits gathering of high volumes of information from other tourists who share their exciting travel-related details of their visits to UNESCO World Heritage Sites. This study adds the current body of knowledge by furnishing a better empirical understanding of the significant evidence to support the notion that returning tourists (i.e. repeaters) are heavily influenced by emotional aspects and bonding arising from their positive memory during the visit. Directions for future research are also offered.

REVISITED CULTURAL HERITAGE & ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE PREFERENCES TO LEVERAGE SUSTAINABLE TOURISM PERFORMANCE: EMPIRICAL RESEARCH ON INDONESIA WORLD HERITAGE SITES

“…Yet, the study which systematically investigate the real impact of WHS on tourism is still lack of which is led to different result (Yang & Lin, 2014). Other study concerns on investigating the antecedents of revisit intention to WHS (Ghazanfar Ali Abbasi, Janani Kumaravelu, and, & Singh, 2021;Hamid & Mohamad, 2020). Having reviewed some previous studies, this is to propose the following hypothesis: H5: Revisited Cultural Heritage Value has a Significant Relationship with Sustainable Tourism Performance.…”

Heritage tourism brand experiences: The influence of emotions and emotional engagement

“…Visitors to tourist heritage sites can be guided by goal-driven motivations releasing lasting positive feelings and connections to sites (Hamid et al, 2020). They may also feel connected with the heritage brand when learning is being offered during the experience, which enhances cultural value (Mencarelli et al, 2020).…”

The Influence of Electronic Word-of-Mouth, Destination Image, and Tourist Satisfaction on Unesco World Heritage Site Revisit Intention: An Empirical Study of Petra, Jordan

“…(2020) and Mehta (2021). Adapted from Hamid et al (2021), six items were utilized to gauge return intent.…”