Investigating the Entertainment Destination Experience: Conceptualization, Scale Development, and Application

Entertainment, being such a lucrative market, receives fewer academic endeavors than most other types of tourism provision. The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate the entertainment destination experience via conceptualization, scale development, and empirical testing. Entertainment has been acknowledged as one of the driving forces of the global economy and received increasing scholarly interest in hospitality and tourism research. A mixed-methods approach was adopted to achieve the study purpose, consisting of three studies. Study 1 examined the concept manifestation of the entertainment destination experience. Visual and textual analytical techniques were employed to analyze 318 online reviews from TripAdvisor. Following the well-established scale development procedures, Study 2 included three phases to develop a scale for the entertainment destination experience by conducting 21 in-depth interviews and collecting 602 usable surveys. With a total of 373 valid responses, Study 3 examined the impact of the entertainment destination experience on emotions, memorability, destination satisfaction, and behavioral intention by employing the partial least squares structural equation modeling. This dissertation identified the core attributes of the entertainment destination experience. The multi-dimensional and formative nature of the entertainment destination experience was revealed. The current research identified six dimensions of the entertainment destination experience, consisting of hospitality, affective, cognitive, sensory, intellectual, and social entertainment. The study results uncovered the positive impacts of entertainment destination experience on emotions, memorability, destination satisfaction, and behavioral intention. Emotions and memorability were found to mediate the relationship between entertainment destination experience, destination satisfaction, and behavioral intention. This dissertation makes pioneering efforts to investigate the entertainment destination experience. The current study is one of the first attempts to manifest the conceptual attributes of the entertainment destination experience. Also, it is one of the first to go beyond a unidimensional perspective by exploring the multi-faceted nature of the entertainment destination experience. The findings shed light on the entertainment research in hospitality and tourism and advance the understanding of tourist experience by establishing a scale for entertainment destination experience. In addition, this dissertation adds new knowledge to entertainment literature and tourism and hospitality research by uncovering the impact of the entertainment destination experience on emotions, memorability, destination satisfaction, and behavioral intention. From a managerial perspective, the present study offers important practical implications for industry practitioners who aim to tap into the entertainment market. The findings highlight the core attributes and dimensions of the entertainment destination experience for destination policies and regulations. Employing the entertainment destination experience scale as a toolkit, destination managers are recommended to evaluate entertainment products and services to shape the tourist experience and improve the destination image