Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
33
Determinants and outcomes of
tourists' emotional responses
Towards an integrative model
for destination brands
Sameer Hosany and Girish Prayag
Introduction
In recent years, academics and practitioners have garnered increased interest in understanding
affective dimensions of tourists' experiences and the meanings of places/destinations (e.g. Ekinci
and Hosany 2006; Hosany
et al
. 2006; Gretzel
et al
. 2006). Intensifying competition among
regions, countries and cities requires marketers to appreciate the symbolic value and experiential
qualities of the tourism offerings (Gretzel
et al
. 2006). Tourist experiences often include satisfying
and pleasurable emotions (Gnoth 1997; Aho 2001; Coghlan, Buckley and Weaver 2012). Tourist
emotional reactions are fundamental determinants of satisfaction, behavioural intentions and
attitudes (Gnoth 1997). Prior studies also establish that people develop relationships with places
(e.g. Hidalgo and Hernandez 2001) and elicit emotions toward their immediate physical and
social environment (Farber and Hall 2007). Despite the signifi cance of emotions in tourism,
empirical studies investigating the emotional associations or meanings tourist attached to places/
destinations remain limited (Yuksel, Yuksel and Bilim 2010).
Realizing the lack of research, Hosany and Gilbert (2010) develop the destination emotion
scale (DES) to measure tourists' emotional responses toward holiday destinations. Hosany
(2012), building on cognitive appraisal theories, further investigates the conditions under which
tourists elicit the emotions of joy, love and positive surprise. This chapter extends Hosany and
Gilbert (2010) and Hosany's (2012) conceptualizations to propose an integrative model linking
determinants and consequences of tourists' emotional responses toward destinations, drawing
from a cross-disciplinary review of the literature. Tourist destinations are characterized here as
brands (Boo, Busser and Baloglu 2009; Qu, Kim and Im 2011; García, Gómez and Molina 2012)
representing an amalgam of several components (e.g. hotels, visitor attractions) that combine to
create a holistic experience (Murphy, Pritchard and Smith 2000).
The chapter aims to provide an overview of the extant literature addressing the role of
emotion in consumer and tourism research. Next, drawing on research in psychology, marketing
and tourism, the chapter discusses the measurement of tourists' emotional responses. The
chapter then identifi es the determinants and consequences of tourists' emotional responses.
