Does a virtual trip evoke travelers’ nostalgia and derive intentions to visit the destination, a similar destination, and share?: Nostalgia-motivated tourism

ABSTRACT

By applying the SOR paradigm, this study attempted to investigate how various aspects of a virtual trip enhance travelers’ immersion in the virtual trip and arouse nostalgia, which creates their future visit intentions. Findings of the study indicated that authenticity and sensorial components of virtual trips positively influenced travelers’ immersion and generated nostalgia, thereby increasing their revisit intention and intention to visit a similar destination. The moderating effects of travel personality between travelers’ nostalgia and behavioral intentions were found. This study provides insights on how to utilize virtual trips as a marketing tool.

KEYWORDS:

• Virtual trip
• immersion
• nostalgia
• behavioral intention
• travel personality
• stimulus-organism-response paradigm

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).