Soundscape and its influence on tourist satisfaction

Abstract

The soundscape is a relatively neglected area of study in tourism and to a wider extent the service industries research. This paper examines the relationship between soundscape and tourist satisfaction from a tourist sensory experience perspective. Data were collected in a UNESCO world heritage site in China, which is well known for its unique soundscape. The structural equation model analysis shows that there is a significant correlation between soundscape satisfaction and tourist satisfaction. The analysis of the findings also suggests that sound preference has almost no influence on soundscape satisfaction and tourist satisfaction, while soundscape expectation has a strong influence on tourist satisfaction. This study extends tourism multisensory research by offering insights into the relationship between the soundscape perceptions and tourist satisfaction. The findings also make progressive contribution to destination management studies by validating the relationship between the soundscape and its effects on tourist satisfaction

Exploring multisensory place experiences through cruise blog analysis

“…In an ancient heritage town setting, Xiong et al () found that tourists' auditory image of the destination involved a wide range of sounds, such as folk songs, tourist and resident voices, river flowing, and so forth. Recent tourism studies have examined the interplay soundscape tourist satisfaction, establishing a positive correlation between the two variables (Liu et al, ; Qiu et al, ). Furthermore, Qiu et al () found that soundscape influences not only tourist satisfaction but also destination's visualscape.…”

“…Extant literature acknowledges the crucial role of sensorial stimulation on tourists' destination appraisal (Agapito et al, 2013;Pan & Ryan, 2009;Xiong et al, 2015). Destination sensory impressions affect not only destination image (Son & Pearce, 2005;Xiong et al, 2015), but also subsequent tourist behavior (e.g., rich sensory experiences increase destination loyalty; Agapito et al, 2017;Liu et al, 2018;Qiu et al, 2018). Multisensory interactions add value to the tourist experience and enhance visitors' perception of place authenticity (Ferrari, 2015).…”

“…The extant literature has established the positive influence of multisensory stimuli on tourist experience (Agapito, Mendes, & Valle, ; Agapito, Valle, & Mendes, ; Medway, ; Pan & Ryan, ; Qiu, Zhang, Zhang, & Zheng, ) and the need to adopt a holistic approach to its inquiry, examining all the five senses comprising the destination sensescape (Agapito, Pinto, & Mendes, ; Kirillova, Fu, Lehto, & Cai, ; Pawaskar & Goel, ). However, the majority of studies have either focused on the visual dimension of the tourist experience (Denstadli & Jacobsen, ; Jutla, ; Pearce, Wu, & Chen, ; Prestholdt & Nordbø, ), referred to as “the tourist gaze” (Urry, ) or have examined one sense in particular, i.e., soundscape (e.g., Liu, Wang, Liu, Yao, & Deng, ), tastescape (e.g., Kivela & Crotts, ), and smellscape (e.g., Dann & Jacobsen, ). Despite the suggested impact of sensory cues on place perception, few studies have empirically examined the role of the five senses on tourist destination experience (e.g., Agapito et al, ; Xiong, Hashim, & Murphy, ).…”

“…By doing so, the results of the study contribute to the nascent sensory tourism literature by providing empirical evidence for the role of senses in destination evaluation. Second, unlike past research which has used open-end questions (e.g., Agapito et al, 2017;Son & Pearce, 2005;Xiong et al, 2015) or already designed scales (e.g., Liu et al, 2018;Qiu et al, 2018) to inquire tourists about their sensory impressions, the present study uncovers the sensory components of the place experience by examining tourists' narratives about the visit in general. Thus, only those sensory perceptions that impressed tourists and made the visit memorable are considered.…”

Historic Approaches to Sonic Encounter at the Berlin Wall Memorial

“…The many factors that construct such locations all affect the built environment as well as the soundscape. Beyond simply recognizing changes in acoustic properties and sound sources over time, the influence of intention and expectation on perception is also an important factor for historic soundscapes [1,2]. Such physical, organizational and personal factors form an important contextual layer that is not addressed in standard soundscape investigation practices and is rarely addressed directly in soundscape research [3,4].…”