An Examination of the Effect of Tourist Emotional Experience on Place Attachment

Abstract

The study endeavors to check the model linking dimensions of tourists’ emotional experiences and place attachment. This was tested empirically through the data collected from domestic tourists’ visiting different gardens of Kashmir. The data was obtained from the various world-famous eight gardens. 423 valid questionnaires were collected from respondents by using Experiential Sampling Methodology (ESM). The exploratory factor analysis technique was applied to explore the dimensions of emotional experience and place attachment. The extracted factors were then subjected to confirmatory factor analysis by using AMOS 22. Finally, Structured Equation Modelling (SEM) was applied to test the proposed hypotheses. The findings of the study revealed that the Love dimension of emotional experience does not have a significant positive relationship with two dimensions of Place Attachment i.e., Place Identity, Place dependence. In contrast, it has a significant positive relationship with Affective attachment of Place Attachment. The findings also revealed that both the dimensions of Emotional Experience, i.e. (Joy and Positive Surprise), have a significant positive relationship with all the dimensions of place attachment (Place Identity, Place dependence, and Affective attachment).  From a practical perspective, the study offers important implications for Destination Management Organisations of the Kashmir valley, Jammu and Kashmir, UT, India.