The Effects of Experience Economy Factors on Place Attachment in Chinese Theme Parks

Abstract

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic situation today, China's theme park market is gaining popularity with domestic tourists. However, there is a limit to continuous growth, and in particular, the revisit rate of tourists is decreasing. Therefore, as an alternative to the difficulties of the Chinese theme park industry, the experiential economy theory was applied to find a way to overcome it. This study attempted to analyze whether the experience economy factors affect place attachment for tourists visiting Chinese theme parks. In addition, it was attempted to grasp the difference in influence on place attachment by dividing it into place identity and place dependence. Three theme parks were selected for the survey and the survey was conducted in China for three months from June 1 to August 31, 2021. 400 copies were collected, and the final 362 copies were used for analysis, excluding questionnaires with a few omissions in the response. As a result of the analysis, three of the four sub-elements of the experience economy were found to have a significant effect on place identity, and Hypothesis 1 was partially accepted. In addition, it was found that the experience economy factors affecting place dependence also had a significant effect except for education experience, so Hypothesis 2 was partially accepted. Based on the results of this analysis, a plan for revitalizing Chinese theme parks was proposed.