Impacts of Tourists' Attachment Styles on Emotional Experiences and Behavioral Intentions to Attractions of Tourism Destination: The Case of Xijiang Qianhu Miao Village, China

Existing studies of tourists' behaviors of tourism destination focus on place attachment. Although tourists' attachment is related to tourists' emotional experiences at the attractions of a tourism destination (ATDs), the role that tourists' attachment styles play in establishing their emotional experiences and behavioral intentions toward different ATD types have not been verified. This study used the Xijiang Qianhu Miao Village as a typical tourism destination to examine these effects. Based on research on attachment styles, emotional experiences, and behavioral intentions, a conceptual model of the relationships among tourists' attachment styles, emotional experiences of, and behavioral intentions toward ATDs was constructed. The impact of tourists' attachment styles between their emotional experiences of and behavioral intentions toward ATDs was then studied empirically. The impact pathways of tourist attachment styles on different ATD types were tested. The results indicate that tourists' emotional experiences of ATDs had no significant or direct impacts on their behavioral intentions in terms of relationship closeness and diversive exploration. Both their emotional experiences of and their behavioral intentions toward ATDs were affected by the mediating effects of attachment anxiety and avoidance, which were full and partial, respectively. Further, the paths of the mediating effects of tourists' attachment styles on the emotional experiences of and behavioral intentions toward different types of ATDs varied significantly. Tourists' emotion-behavior paths when experiencing a TD were clarified, providing a theoretical basis to satisfy their real needs for experiencing ATDs.