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Journal of Resources and Ecology >

2024 , Vol. 15 >Issue 6: 1637 - 1652

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5814/j.issn.1674-764x.2024.06.020

Rural Revitalization and Ecotourism

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

  • LI Rui , 1, 2 ,
  • YANG Huomu , 1, * ,
  • ZHONG Linsheng 2 ,
  • ZHENG Chao 1 ,
  • XIE Mengyue 1 ,
  • TANG Chengcai 3
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  • 1. School of Geographical and Environmental Sciences, Guizhou Normal University, Guiyang 550025, China
  • 2. Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
  • 3. School of Tourism Sciences, Beijing International Studies University, Beijing 100024, China
* YANG Huomu, E-mail:

LI Rui, E-mail:

Received date: 2023-05-16

  Accepted date: 2024-01-12

  Online published: 2024-12-09

Supported by

The National Natural Science Foundation of China(42061028)

The National Social Science Foundation of China(21BMZ123)

The Guizhou Provincial Philosophy and Social Sciences Planning Project(21GZZD12)

The Academic Seedling Foundation of Guizhou Normal University([2021]A21)

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Abstract

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.

Key words： attachment style; tourist attractions; emotional experiences; behavioral intentions; Xijiang Qianhu Miao Village

Cite this article

LI Rui , YANG Huomu , ZHONG Linsheng , ZHENG Chao , XIE Mengyue , TANG Chengcai . Impacts of Tourists’ Attachment Styles on Emotional Experiences and Behavioral Intentions to Attractions of Tourism Destination: The Case of Xijiang Qianhu Miao Village, China[J]. Journal of Resources and Ecology, 2024 , 15(6) : 1637 -1652 . DOI: 10.5814/j.issn.1674-764x.2024.06.020

1 Introduction

Attractions of a tourism destination (ATDs) are a core element of tourism experiences and activities (Zamani-Farahani et al., 2019), and they form the foundation for the development of the tourism industry (Pearce, 1991; Lawton, 2005). ATDs have also become important carriers for tour-ists to gain emotional experiences in tourism settings (Kim, et al., 2018). Previous research on ATDs has focused on their conceptual connotations and attributes (Lew, 1987; Pearce, 1991; Lawton, 2005), systems (Leiper, 1990), and symbolic representations (Lau, 2011), with the intrinsic attributes and functional values of ATDs being the primary concerns (Kaur, 1981). Contemporary research on ATDs centers on their cultural and social values (Herrero-Prieto and Gómez-Vega, 2017; Gomez-Casero et al., 2018), unique events and political campaigns (Zamani-Farahani et al., 2019), and experiential marketing and collaborations (Yang, 2018). Although some scholars have examined the attractiveness of ATDs from the perspectives of tourists’ participation and experiences (Kim et al., 2018), tourists not only care about the destination during tourism activities but are also personally involved in the overall tourism experience of and ritualistic interactions with the destination (Zamani- Farahani et al., 2019; Cudny et al., 2022). However, few studies have examined tourists’ experiential quality of and emotional interactions with ATDs during the tourism process (Ivanova and Light, 2018).
Emotional experiences are central to the overall tourism experience (Io, 2017); they connect the various activities from beginning to end (Prayag et al., 2013) and are important for tourists to realize the functional and experiential value of tourism (Kim et al., 2015). In most theoretical research, tourists’ emotions inspired by experiencing ATDs are attributed to their emotional cognition (Li et al., 2015). ATDs are the sites where tourists (the guests) and the place (the host) interact and have emotional exchanges during the tourism experience (Patwardhan et al., 2020a).
The theoretical relationships between emotional experiences and place attachment, level of satisfaction, behavioral intentions, and loyalty to destinations have been widely explored (Tlili and Amara, 2016; Patwardhan et al., 2020b). However, tourists’ emotional experiences of ATDs comprise perceptions of attachment and behavioral attributions (Ouyang et al., 2017) and not all tourists generate similar emotional representations after having experienced ATDs (Chang and Chang, 2015). For example, some tourists are concerned about the harm caused to the natural environment and human resources of tourism destinations (TDs; Pechlaner et al., 2011; Gea-García et al., 2021) or lament the lack or loss of authentic experiences (Pechlaner et al., 2011; Zamani-Farahani et al., 2019). Such behaviors indicate tourists’ concerns for TDs’ sustainable development (Gálvez et al., 2017). By contrast, some tourists consider the tourism experience as a temporary stopover at the TDs; they find it difficult to immerse into their tourism experience and maintain an emotional distance from the TDs after their trip (Lee, 2016). Based on attachment theory in psychology, the emotional responses and behavioral intentions triggered by the aforementioned tourists in the tourism experience are defined as attachment anxiety and avoidance, respectively. (Bartholomew and Horowitz, 1991). These are jointly characterized as attachment styles (Hazan and Shaver, 1987, 1994).
In marketing, attachment style is used mainly to understand the relationship between consumers and brands (Thomson et al., 2012). Consumers’ attachment styles affect their choice of and purchasing behaviors toward brands (Hazan and Shaver, 1994; Mende and Bolton, 2011; Japutra et al., 2018). Tourists’ emotional attachment to a place directly promotes the attachment process (with varying characteristics) by affecting their levels of satisfaction and behavioral intentions (Japutra, 2020). However, current research in the field of tourism regards place attachment merely as the entry point for studying attachment (Yuksel et al., 2010), with less attention paid to attachment styles of tourists under the emotional experiences of ATDs. The role that tourists’ attachment styles play between establishing an attachment relationship and their behavioral intentions has not been verified (Japutra, 2020).
In this study, the Xijiang Qianhu Miao Village in China’s Guizhou Province was taken as a TD for a case study. Attachment theory was introduced to study tourists’ emotional experiences of ATDs during the tourism process and examine the impact of their attachment styles on their emotional experiences of and behavioral intentions toward ATDs in the tourism setting. The study focused on two issues: (i) do tourists’ emotional experiences directly affect their behavioral intentions toward ATDs under the impact of tourists’ attachment styles and (ii) do tourists’ attachment styles create varying impact pathways on their emotional experiences of and behavioral intentions toward different types of ATDs? The findings would provide theoretical guidance for transforming and upgrading TD products and creating immersive scenarios for emotional experiences. Additionally, the emotion-behavior path of tourists’ experiences at TDs would be clarified, thereby satisfying their real needs for experiencing ATDs.

2 Literature review and research hypotheses

2.1 Emotional experiences

In the 1970s and 1980s, emotional research shifted from philosophy and psychology to fields such as sociology, economics, and management (Hosany, 2012), until the concept of ‘experiential marketing’ was proposed in marketing, and the role of emotions in experience began to be emphasized (Garrod and Dowell, 2020). Emotions during tourism experiences have been widely examined using dimensional classification and self-reporting methods (Han and Jeong, 2013; Li et al., 2015). The impact of positive and negative emotions (Han and Jeong, 2013) has been studied on stress during tourism experiences (Jordan et al., 2019), performance arts as tourism activities (Zheng et al., 2019), and customers’ perceptions of quality and service (Ribeiro and Prayag, 2019). Using cluster analysis, Hosany and Prayag (2013) identified the emotions of happy, peaceful, negative, mixed, and passionate. The present study adopts Kim and Fesenmaier’s (2015) dimensional perspective to categorize tourists’ emotions toward ATDs into two dimensions: positive and negative.

2.2 Attachment styles

Attachment theory originated from Bowlby’s (1949) observations and research on children’s behavioral problems, with the main purpose of describing and explaining the emotional attachment between infants and caregivers (usually referring to mothers). It was not until 1985 that Cassidy and other scholars extended attachment research to social relationships and found that attachment style was formed by the development of attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance (Bartholomew and Horowitz, 1991; Shaver and Mikulincer, 2005). Subsequent research found that attachment styles are developed and shaped by attachment anxiety and avoidance. Attachment anxiety is the level of positive or negative self-perception possessed by an individual with attachment (Hazan and Shaver, 1994). Attachment avoidance is individuals’ over-dependence on themselves, fear of being dependent on others, fear of intimacy, and lack of trust in their relationships (Vogel and Wei, 2005), which cause them to maintain an emotional distance in their relationships with their partners (Shaver and Mikulincer, 2005).
In the 1990s, attachment styles were discovered in interpersonal relationships (Pierce and Lydon, 1998) and extended to consumer behaviors (Fournier, 1998). However, attention to the relationship between tourists’ attachment styles and their emotions and behaviors with regard to specific places is lacking (Japutra, 2020). Therefore, further research is needed to understand the ways attachment anxiety and avoidance shape tourists’ emotional experiences of and behavioral intentions toward ATDs.

2.3 Behavioral intentions

Psychology and marketing have relatively mature research on behavioral intentions of diversive exploration and relationship closeness (or behavioral reinforcement) (McAlister and Pessemier, 1982; Ellen et al., 1989). Berlyne explored diversive exploration from a psychological perspective in 1954, believing that people’s emotional involvement and pursuit behavior toward new things can affect their loyalty (Berlyne, 1954). Barbara (1993) believed that diversive exploration is consumers’ emotional preferences for purchasing different brands and flavors or for the consumer environment (commercial products), and that consumer emotional value will affect diversive exploration. Kelly and Kahn (1994) believes that relationship closeness is the function of interaction model formed between relationship partners over time, Clark and Reis (1988) believes that relationship closeness directly affects emotional experience in interpersonal relationships, Park et al. (2010) introduces relationship closeness into the research field of Consumer behaviour, and proposes that social identity and emotional value are important means to establish and maintain relationship closeness (consumption), and are positive factors to form the relationship between consumers and enterprises, It can encourage them to establish relationship closeness with the enterprise. Meanwhile, Schmitt (1999) believes that emotional experiences are important component of the tourism experience. Tourists’ emotional arousal when experiencing ATDs represents experiential consumption behavior, which guides tourism consumption and behavioral choices (González-Rodríguez et al., 2020). In tourism research, behavioral intentions refer to tourists exhibiting certain desires to seek and strengthen relationships after experiencing ATDs (Hyun et al., 2011). It can be seen that there is a common behavioral representation between tourists’ behavioral intentions and the above relationship marketing expressions in tourism scenarios. In this study, diversive exploration and relationship closeness are used to measure tourists’ behavioral intentions to experience ATDs emotionally.

2.4 Research hypotheses

2.4.1 Relationship between tourists’ emotional experiences and behavioral intentions

Tourism research has demonstrated that emotional experiences significantly affect behavioral intentions (Yuksel et al., 2010; Lee, 2016). Tourists’ emotional experiences of ATDs are considered as regulators of perceived value and behavioral intentions (Kim et al., 2017). Such experiences generate various forms of emotional cognition and sense of belonging to ATDs (Tucker, 2009). However, research mostly discusses the impact of positive emotions on tourism, often ignoring negative emotions (Jordan et al., 2019). For example, Bigne and Andreu (2004) believes that leisure tourism has positive emotions such as satisfaction and happiness; Io (2017) explores the relationship between tourists’ positive emotional experience and satisfaction in casino hotels from two dimensions of positive emotions. Nawijn and Biran (2019) argued that negative emotions during tourism experiences greatly impact tourists’ behavioral intentions.
Emotional experiences are the direct driving factors of tourists’ travel behaviors (Ratnasari et al., 2021), and the emotions aroused in tourists play important roles in the quality of the tourism experience (Jordan et al., 2019). Quality, in turn, has positive and direct impacts on tourists’ level of satisfaction and perceived value through various emotional variables (González-Rodríguez et al., 2020). The relationships between emotional experiences, level of satisfaction, and behavioral intentions have been widely confirmed (Hosany and Prayag, 2013; Jin et al., 2015; Lee, 2016; Io, 2017). Tourists’ emotional experiences during tourism activities positively influence their behavioral intentions (Yuksel et al., 2010; Hosany and Prayag, 2013; Tlili and Amara, 2016). Moreover, the quality of their emotional experiences positively affects their behavioral intentions during the tourism process (Jin et al., 2015). Subsequently, the following hypothesis was proposed (Fig. 1):
Fig. 1 Conceptual model of the relationships and research hypotheses
Hypothesis 1: Tourists’ positive and negative emotional experiences have significantly positive impacts on relationship closeness and diversive exploration.
H1(a): Tourists’ positive emotional experiences have significantly positive impacts on relationship closeness.
H1(b): Tourists’ positive emotional experiences have significantly positive impacts on diversive exploration.
H1(c): Tourists’ negative emotional experiences have significantly positive impacts on relationship closeness.
H1(d): Tourists’ negative emotional experiences have significantly positive impacts on diversive exploration.

2.4.2 Relationship between tourists’ emotional experiences and attachment styles

Research on the relationship between emotional experiences and attachment styles is lacking. Some scholars have proposed that emotional experiences positively affect brand attachment (Wen et al., 2019) and that brand attachment varies significantly among the dimensions of consumer emotions (Park et al., 2010; Japutra et al., 2018). Brand attachment, which affects consumers’ purchasing experiences and behaviors (Kang et al., 2017), emphasizes the emotional interactions and relationship maintenance between tourists and TD brands (Zhang et al., 2021). Tourism produces consumption experiences (Li et al., 2015), which are essentially experiential consumption behaviors (González-Rodríguez et al., 2020).
Emotional arousal is tourists’ main motivation for purchasing and consuming tourism products at TDs (Li et al., 2015; González-Rodríguez et al., 2020). When tourists’ emotional energies are activated by the ATD’s collective symbols, their psychological activities are directly affected (Lau, 2011). Tourists participate in emotional interactions with the TDs through different forms of consumption and emotional experiences (Yoon et al., 2001). Tourists form an emotional attachment to places through their behavioral attributions and representational forms of place attachment (Yuksel et al., 2010; Patwardhan et al., 2020b). Moreover, the emotional bond that tourists have for TDs directly affects their satisfaction toward the tourism experience and loyalty to the TD. In the tourism setting, attachment anxiety and avoidance reflect tourists’ level of anxiety and alienation, respectively, during their emotional experiences of ATDs. Therefore, the following hypothesis was proposed (Fig.1):
Hypothesis 2: Tourists’ positive and negative emotional experiences have significantly positive impacts on their attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance.
H2(a): Tourists’ positive emotional experiences have significantly positive impacts on their attachment anxiety.
H2(b): Tourists’ positive emotional experiences have significantly positive impacts on their attachment avoidance.
H2(c): Tourists’ negative emotional experiences have significantly positive impacts on their attachment anxiety.
H2(d): Tourists’ negative emotional experiences have significantly positive impacts on their attachment avoidance.

2.4.3 Relationship between tourists’ attachment styles and behavioral intentions

Kleine and Baker (2004) proposed that variations in attachment styles reflect individuals’ different expectations and demands when pursuing relationship closeness and undertaking diversive exploration. Relationship marketing scholars analyze the relationship between consumers and brand loyalty based on attachment styles and believe that consumers’ attachment styles play a moderating role in their behavioral choices, particularly their brand choices (McAlister and Pessemier, 1982; Hazan and Shaver, 1994). Moussa and Touzani (2017) believes that attachment styles provide a theoretical mechanism for explaining consumers’ behavior choices, and determines that consumers establish intimate relationships with brands in different ways. Japutra (2020) proposed that tourists’ attachment anxiety and avoidance during the tourism experience have positive and significant negative impacts on TD attachment, respectively. Overall, attachment styles significantly affect levels of satisfaction with TDs. TD attachment affects both post-tour and behavioral intentions (Tlili and Amara, 2016; Japutra, 2020), and the level and form of attachment to a place increase tourists’ likelihood of revisiting (Patwardhan et al., 2020a). Therefore, the following hypothesis was proposed (Fig. 1):
Hypothesis 3: Tourists’ attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance have significantly positive impacts on relationship closeness and diversive exploration.
H3(a): Tourists’ attachment anxiety has significantly positive impacts on relationship closeness.
H3(b): Tourists’ attachment anxiety has significantly positive impacts on diversive exploration.
H3(c): Tourists’ attachment avoidance has significantly positive impacts on relationship closeness.
H3(d): Tourists’ attachment avoidance has significantly positive impacts on diversive exploration.

3 Research design

3.1 Study area

The Xijiang Qianhu Miao Village comprises 1400 households with more than 6000 residents, 99.5% of which are from the Miao ethnic group (Li et al., 2018). According to the connotations of ATDs by Lew (1987), Leiper (1990), Lawton (2005), and the findings of Liao (2012), Wu and Feng (2014), and Li et al. (2018), field research and interviews were conducted to compile the typical ATDs of the site. These were categorized into natural, consumption-related, way-of-life, and institutional ATDs (Table 1).
Table 1 Types of ATDs
Sub-types of ATDs Types of survey sites
Natural ATDs Local flora, rivers
Consumption-related ATDs Local cuisines, hotels/inns
Way-of-life ATDs Architectural landscape, local festivals
Institutional ATDs Village rules and regulations, religious beliefs

3.2 Data sources

3.2.1 Questionnaire design

The questionnaire assessed the respondents’ basic information, emotional experiences, attachment style, and behavioral intentions. Each question was rated on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (‘completely disagree’) to 5 (‘completely agree’). Basic information of the respondents included gender, age, educational level, occupation, annual income, previous visits, and travel companion. The scales compiled by Hosany and Gilbert (2010), Han and Jeong (2013), Tlili and Amara (2016), Ribeiro and Prayag (2019), Patwardhan et al. (2020b), were consulted to measure emotional experiences; those by Mende and Bolton (2011), Thomson et al. (2012), Japutra et al. (2018) and Japutra (2020) for attachment styles; and those by Mende (2008) and Wen (2011) for behavioral intentions. These scales were adjusted and revised to suit the research context. The latent and observable variables for emotional experiences had two and nine questions, respectively; those for attachment styles had two and nine questions, respectively; and those for behavioral intentions had two and eight questions, respectively.

3.2.2 Questionnaire survey

The data were collected through questionnaire surveys over two periods: July 13-17 and October 1-7, 2021. The survey team consisted of one master’s tutor and four master’s students specializing in TD development and impact from the affiliated institution of one of the authors. They went to Xijiang Qianhu Miaozhai to conduct a pre-survey on July 13-17, 2021. A total of 300 written questionnaires were distributed, 300 were collected, and 226 were valid. After analyzing the pre-survey questionnaire data with SPSS statistics 26.0 (IBM), this study found that the factor loading of “My emotional experience of ATDs is peaceful” in the positive emotion scale, “My emotional experience of ATDs is angry” in the negative emotion scale, “My emotional performance for experiencing ATDs sometimes frightens someone else” in the attachment anxiety scale, and “I am a person willing to experience other ATDs” in the diversive exploration scale were less than 0.7 (San and Rodríguez, 2008). Subsequently, these four measurement indices were removed.
Using the questionnaire drawn up after the pre-survey, the five study team members went to the Xijiang Qianhu Miao Village to carry out the formal investigation from October 1-7, 2021 (the National Day golden week), when the scenic spot welcomed 201800 tourists. The surveys were conducted from 08:00-11:59 am and 13:00-19:00 pm every day to ensure that the questionnaire filling time per respondent was about 15 min. The survey sites were selected because they were categorized as natural, consumption-related, way-of-life, and institutional ATDs; an average of 300 questionnaires were distributed at each type of ATD, so 1200 questionnaires were distributed and returned. After excluding questionnaires with missing values and repeated filling in of different types of ATDs, 1001 valid questionnaires were obtained.

3.2.3 Ethical consideration

The survey questionnaire of this study was reviewed and approved by the ethics committee of Guizhou Normal University before the survey, then the study members informed the respondents of this approval and obtained written informed consent. The informed consent letter confirmed that the respondents’ privacy would be protected, their data would be stored and only used for this research, and their personal information would be kept confidential and not be disclosed to a third party without authorization.

3.3 Data analysis

SPSS Amos 24.0 (IBM) was used to test the reliability and validity of the measurement models as well as perform a factor analysis on the latent variables, analyze the goodness-of-fit and differential validity of the measurement model, and test the proposed hypotheses to ensure that the fit indicators of the measurement models met the evaluation criteria.
Additionally, the effective samples of natural (n=256), consumption-related (n=279), way-of-life (n=247), and institutional (n=219) ATDs were adopted to test tourists’ emotional experiences of these types of ATDs and the path coefficients of the various impacts using SPSS Amos 24.0 (IBM). The impact effect paths for the different types of ATDs were analyzed using the PROCESS plug-in of SPSS 24.0 (IBM); the bias-corrected percentile bootstrap method (Cheung and Lau, 2008) was also used to test the significance of the impact effect.

4 Results

4.1 Sample characteristics

Of the 1200 questionnaires distributed, 1001 valid responses were collected (response rate: 83.42%). As shown in Table 2, the proportion of male and female participants was balanced and most were aged 19-45. In terms of educational level, college education (including professional training college) and above was the most common (49.75%). The total proportion of students, company employees, freelancers, and professional technicians was 84.72%. The highest annual income group was 40001-80000 yuan (38.86%). Almost half of participants had previously visited the TD once or twice (45.96%) and over three-quarters were traveling with family and friends (76.32%).
Table 2 Basic characteristics of the sample (n=1001)
Indicator Category n Proportion (%) Indicator Category n Proportion (%)
Gender Male 484 48.35 Occupation Civil servant 35 3.50
Female 517 51.65 Private and institutional employer 99 9.89
Age
(yr)		 ≤18 52 5.19 Professional technician 182 18.18
19-25 212 21.18 Company employee 224 22.38
26-35 354 35.36 Retiree 19 1.89
36-45 236 23.58 Student 244 24.38
46-65 99 9.89 Freelancer 198 19.78
≥66 48 4.80 Annual income (yuan) ≤20000 123 12.29
Educational level Elementary school & below 86 8.59 20001-40000 283 28.27
Middle school 114 11.39 40001-80000 389 38.86
Vocational and high school 303 30.27 80001-120000 185 18.48
College (including professional training college) and above 498 49.75 ≥120001 21 2.10
Previous visits 0 296 29.57 Travel companion Alone 117 11.69
1-2 460 45.96 Family 310 30.97
3-4 193 19.28 Friends 454 45.35
5 times or more 52 5.19 Others 120 11.99

4.2 Reliability and validity tests

As shown in Table 3, the KMO value of the scale was 0.826 and the significance of Bartlett’s test of sphericity was less than 0.05, indicating that the data were suitable for a factor analysis (San and Rodríguez, 2008). The results of the convergent validity test indicated that the standardized factor loadings of all the observable variables were greater than 0.7 and all items significantly loaded onto their respective constructs (P<0.001; San and Rodríguez, 2008). The Cronbach’s α coefficients of the various latent variables were greater than 0.7, indicating that the scale had good internal consistency (Baloglu and McCleary, 1999). The composite reliability (CR) and average variance extracted (AVE) of all the latent variables were greater than 0.8 and 0.5, respectively, indicating that the scale had good validity (Hair et al., 2014).
Table 3 Research variables and related tests (n=1001)
Measurement item (KMO=0.826; Bartlett’s test of sphericity=0) Standard loading t-value
Positive emotions (Cronbach’s α=0.843; CR=0.901; AVE=0.714)
My emotional experience with ATDs is exciting 0.766 -
My emotional experience with ATDs is amazing 0.747 37.16***
My emotional experience with ATDs is comfortable 0.790 29.48***
My emotional experience with ATDs is pleasant 0.824 21.56***
Negative emotions (Cronbach’α=0.815; CR=0.882; AVE=0.573)
My emotional experience with ATDs is disgusting 0.771 -
My emotional experience with ATDs is disappointing 0.716 19.45***
My emotional experience with ATDs is frustrating 0.835 17.08***
Attachment anxiety (Cronbach’α=0.782; CR=0.848; AVE=0.693)
I’m afraid that I won’t be able to experience ATDs again 0.759 -
I feel a little anxious and insecure when I don’t participate in the ATD experience for a period of time 0.782 27.09***
I’m worried that someone who has the same experience with ATDs won’t care as much about the destruction or lack of ATDs as I do 0.873 28.34***
I’m worried that the emotional experience of ATDs will affect the intimate relationship with others 0.709 22.57***
Attachment avoidance (Cronbach’α=0.806; CR=0.881; AVE=0.598)
I don’t like recommending ATDs to others in intimate relationships 0.767 -
I feel uncomfortable when someone in my intimate relationship wants to talk about ATDs 0.792 18.43***
I find myself far away just as the ATDs message approached me 0.768 24.16***
I find it hard to rely on someone who has the same experience of ATDs as me 0.796 19.52***
Relationship closeness (Cronbach’α=0.840; CR=0.913; AVE=0.609)
I will always pay attention to the information of ATDs 0.793 -
I am happy to discuss the changes in ATDs with others 0.808 30.38***
I will actively recommend others to experience ATDs 0.877 32.51***
I am willing to establish a closer relationship with ATDs 0.825 28.69***
Diversive exploration (Cronbach’α=0.815; CR=0.867; AVE=0.643)
I am very interested in other TDs 0.814 -
I will try to experience other TDs 0.797 43.24***
I will also actively pay attention to their ATDs when I experience other TDs 0.763 36.91***

Note: *** P<0.001 level (one-tailed); ATDs: attractions of a tourism destination.

4.3 Model verification and results

4.3.1 Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA)

As recommended by Anderson and Gerbing (1988), CFA was run to analyze the data. As shown in Table 4, the chi-square to the degrees of freedom ratio (x²/df=2.117) for the measurement model was less than 3, indicating a good fit, and the other absolute fit indices (GFI=0.954; AGFI= 0.947; RMSEA=0.029) for the measurement models also reached the recommended goodness-of-fit values (Hu and Bentler, 1999). The relative fit indices (NFI=0.917; IFI= 0.942; CFI=0.966) and simple fit indices (PNFI=0.849; PCFI=0.875) were higher than the respective cut-off points of 0.9 and 0.5. Overall, the measurement models had a good fit (Hu and Bentler, 1999).
Table 4 Goodness-of-fit indicators for the measurement models (n=1001)
Goodness-of-fit indicator Absolute fit indices Relative fit indices Simple fit indices
x²/df GFI AGFI RMSEA NFI IFI CFI PNFI PCFI
Recommended value <3.0 >0.9 >0.8 <0.05 >0.9 >0.9 >0.9 >0.5 >0.5
Measurement model 2.117 0.954 0.947 0.029 0.917 0.942 0.966 0.849 0.875

Note: x²: chi-square; df: degrees of freedom; GFI: goodness-of-fit index; AGFI: adjusted goodness-of-fit index; RMSEA: root mean square error of approximation; NFI: normed fit index; IFI: incremental fit index; CFI: comparative fit index; PNFI: parsimony normed fit index; PCFI: parsimony comparative fit index.

4.3.2 Differential validity test

In this study, the fitting degree of the structural model and significance of the estimated parameters were used to correction sample (n=459) and validity sample (n=542). evaluate and identify the discrimination between the variables. The overall sample (n=1001) was divided into the when the fitting results of two groups of samples are similar, the structural model can be applied to multiple groups of samples (Anderson and Gerbing, 1988). Table 5 compares the fit indices of four factor models, showing that the six potential variables involved in the structural model have good discrimination and that the verified structural model has cross-sample stability (Hu and Bentler, 1999); hence, it can be applied to samples of different ATDs.
Table 5 Test of the differential validity of the variables
Factor model 6-factor model 5-factor model 4-factor model 3-factor model
Calibration
sample		 Validation
sample		 Calibration
sample		 Validation
sample		 Calibration sample Validation
sample		 Calibration
sample		 Validation
sample
χ 2 2326.176 2274.903 2362.478 2337.306 2408.327 2369.239 2485.502 2441.781
Δ χ 2 51.273 25.172 39.088 43.721
P 0.003 0.002 0.017 0.013 0.041 0.027 0.049 0.036
CMINDF 3.136 2.801 3.657 3.593 4.239 4.174 4.945 4.784
RMR 0.163 0.157 0.197 0.178 0.176 0.172 0.248 0.229
GFI 0.901 0.926 0.913 0.925 0.927 0.931 0.934 0.939
AGFI 0.841 0.847 0.824 0.836 0.801 0.812 0.815 0.827
IFI 0.929 0.932 0.921 0.928 0.908 0.916 0.901 0.907
CFI 0.931 0.936 0.917 0.919 0.913 0.924 0.908 0.915

Note: 5-factor model: combination of relationship closeness and diversive exploration; 4-factor model: combination of attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance; 3-factor model: combination of positive emotions and negative emotions; Δ χ 2value is calculated by subtracting the validity sample value χ 2from the corrected sample value χ 2.

4.3.3 Results of hypothesis testing

As shown in Table 6, after verifying the direct paths between the hypotheses, positive and negative emotions stimulated by tourists’ emotional experiences of ATDs were found to have no significant impacts on relationship closeness and diversive exploration. Thus, H1(a)-H1(d) were rejected. These results demonstrate that tourists’ emotional experiences of ATDs did not have direct and significant impacts on their behavioral intentions for relationship closeness and diversive exploration under the impact of tourists’ attachment styles. When assessing the mediating impact of attachment styles, we found that positive emotions had significant positive impacts on attachment anxiety but no significant impact on attachment avoidance. Thus, H2(a) was supported, whereas H2(b) was rejected. Further, negative emotions had no significant impact on attachment anxiety but had significant positive impacts on attachment avoidance. Thus, H2(c) was rejected, whereas H2(d) was supported.
Table 6 Results of the hypotheses testing
Hypothesis Path SRC P-value Result: Supported?
H1(a) Positive emotions → Relationship closeness 0.027 0.273 No
H1(b) Positive emotions → Diversive exploration 0.172 0.425 No
H1(c) Negative emotions → Relationship closeness -0.058 0.163 No
H1(d) Negative emotions → Diversive exploration 0.141 0.349 No
H2(a) Positive emotions → Attachment anxiety 0.052 *** Yes
H2(b) Positive emotions → Attachment avoidance 0.090 0.199 No
H2(c) Negative emotions → Attachment anxiety -0.017 0.328 No
H2(d) Negative emotions → Attachment avoidance 0.116 ** Yes
H3(a) Attachment anxiety → Relationship closeness 0.017 *** Yes
H3(b) Attachment anxiety → Diversive exploration 0.325 0.431 No
H3(c) Attachment avoidance → Relationship closeness -0.023 0.287 No
H3(d) Attachment avoidance → Diversive exploration 0.418 *** Yes

Note: SRC, standardized regression coefficient; *** P<0.001; ** P<0.01.

Tourists’ attachment anxiety had significant positive impacts on relationship closeness but no significant impact on diversive exploration, meaning H3(a) was supported, whereas H3(b) was rejected. Attachment avoidance had no significant impact on relationship closeness but had significant negative impacts on diversive exploration, rejecting H3(c) but supporting H3(d). The results demonstrate that tourists’ attachment styles had partial and complete mediating effects on their emotional experiences of and behavioral intentions toward ATDs, respectively.

4.4 Path analysis of the mediating effects

Although tourists’ emotional experiences of ATDs had no direct and significant impacts on their behavioral intentions under the impact of tourists’ attachment styles, attachment styles had mediating effects on their emotional experiences and behavioral intentions for relationship closeness and diversive exploration. Hence, we analyzed whether the emotion-behavior mediating paths that tourists’ attachment styles had for their emotional experiences and behavioral intentions varied for the different types of ATDs and explored the influence process caused by the mediating effect of tourists’ attachment styles for the ATDs. As shown in Fig. 2, the six variables of the conceptual model had good discrimination and the verified structural model had cross-sample stability. Further, the paths of the mediating effects for the different types of ATDs were analyzed, and the significance of the mediating effects at the 95% confidence interval was tested with 5000 iterations (Table 7).
Fig. 2 Tourists’ emotional experiences of the different types of ATDs and path coefficients of the mediating effects

Note: The solid and broken lines indicate that the paths of the mediating effects were supported and not supported, respectively; ** P<0.01, * P<0.05; “-” indicates a significantly negative impact.

Table 7 Paths of the mediating effects for the different types of ATDs
Type of ATD Mediating path Standard error 95% CI SRC (β)
Natural Positive emotions → Attachment anxiety → Relationship closeness 0.032 [0.155, 0.374] β=0.215**
Negative emotions → Attachment avoidance → Diversive exploration 0.025 [0.103, 0.162] β=0.158*
Consumption-related Positive emotions → Attachment anxiety → Relationship closeness 0.046 [0.163, 0.315] β=0.212**
Negative emotions → Attachment avoidance → Diversive exploration 0.034 [0.147, 0.258] β=0.204**
Way-of-life Positive emotions → Attachment anxiety → Relationship closeness 0.028 [0.125, 0.247] β=0.196**
Institutional Negative emotions → Attachment avoidance → Diversive exploration 0.038 [0.117, 0.205] β=0.162**

Note: ** P<0.01; * P<0.05.

4.4.1 Paths of the mediating effects for natural ATDs

Table 7 shows two complete mediating paths between tourists’ emotional experiences of and behavioral intentions toward natural ATDs. The first path was positive emotions→attachment anxiety→relationship closeness (β=0.215, P<0.01), with attachment anxiety playing a primary mediating role. Natural ATDs provide a natural environment with local characteristics for tourists’ emotional experiences, leading to high experiential quality and perceived value for the natural environment (Ribeiro and Prayag, 2019). Positive emotions generated from experiencing natural ATDs such as Baishui River, Maple Tree, and Shouzhai Tree are presented as short-lived on-site emotional awareness in the host-guest relationship (Hallak et al., 2017), which in practice strengthens the perception of belonging to the natural environment of the village (Gea-García et al., 2021). After leaving the destination, tourists cannot experience the natural ATDs again and worry that excessive tourism will damage the natural environment. They actively pay attention to and recommend information on changes to natural attractions when discussing current tourism development in the destination and establish a closer relationship with natural attractions. In terms of behavioral intentions, the cognition of being part of the natural environment is strengthened (Gea-García et al., 2021). This path reflects tourists’ concern about the excessive development of tourism and the damage to the natural ecological environment of the village. They are willing to establish closer relationships with the village and pay attention to the integrated development of natural ATDs with other types of ATDs.
The second path was negative emotions→attachment avoidance→diversive exploration (β=0.158, P<0.05). This demonstrates that some tourists also have negative perceptions of the experience of natural attractions, with attachment avoidance playing a secondary mediating role. Tourists’ negative emotions arising from the destruction of natural ATDs make it difficult for them to experience a strong experiential perception and emotional identity under the mediation of attachment avoidance. They perceive their attachment to the ecological environment and natural landscape as low. They are unwilling to recommend to others or care about the tourism information and future changes of natural ATDs and prefer to experience other types of ATDs. This path reflects that tourists’ negative emotions, under the mediation of attachment avoidance, are difficult to generate strong experiential perception and emotional identification towards the destruction of natural ATDs.
Therefore, tourists’ experiences of natural ATDs are mainly based on positive emotions, and attachment anxiety plays a main mediating role between positive emotional experiences and relationship closeness. They are concerned about the development of natural ATDs, while some tourists also exhibit negative emotions. Attachment avoidance plays a secondary mediating role. The destruction of natural ATDs reduces the quality of tourists’ experience, and tourists lack awareness of the ecological value of natural environment tourism.
In addition, the results showed that by incorporating attachment anxiety, negative emotions, and diversive exploration into the tourist experience model of natural ATDs, the mediating effect of attachment anxiety was not significant; Incorporating attachment avoidance, positive emotions, and relationship closeness into the tourist experience model of natural ATDs, the mediating effect of attachment avoidance is not significant. This indicates that there is no direct impact between tourists’ emotional experiences such as disappointment towards natural ATDs and the negation of their intrinsic value. Moreover, tourists with attachment anxiety tend to activate their attachment system and actively seek intimacy with their attachment objects, rather than actively seeking other types of TDs. Contrary to attachment anxiety tourists, attachment avoidance tourists tend to avoid attachment relationships and maintain emotional distance from the object of attachment due to negative emotional experiences triggered by natural ATDs, without generating a desire for relationship closeness.

4.4.2 Paths of the mediating effects for consumption- related ATDs

Table 7 shows that tourists’ emotional experiences of consumption-related ATDs present two complete primary mediating paths. The first path was positive emotions → attachment anxiety → relationship closeness (β=0.212, P< 0.01), with attachment anxiety playing a primary mediating role. Tourists have positive emotions such as excitement, surprise, and pleasure when experiencing consumption- related ATDs, which serve as carriers for their immersive experiences during tourist-tourist and host-guest interactions (Zamani-Farahani et al., 2019; Cudny et al., 2022). These interactions that tourists feel when experiencing consumption-related ATDs help them commit their perceptual memories and intimate relationships and facilitate the transformation of their cognitive and emotional loyalties to behavioral loyalty (Yuksel et al., 2010). Consumption-related ATDs such as village gate-blocking wine, GaoShanLiuShui toasting ritual, wax printing, and long table banquets provide emotional experience carriers for tourists’ internal interactions and host-guest interactions (Zamani-Farahani et al., 2019; Cudny et al., 2022), creating an immersive experience scene for tourists. Host-guest interactions in tourism experiences gradually become ATDs that affect tourists’ emotional awakening and behavioral identification. Tourists exhibit emotions such as pleasure and satisfaction in the experience of consumption-related ATDs, awakening their memories and promoting their cognitive loyalty, emotional loyalty, and behavioral loyalty (Yuksel et al., 2010). They are concerned that ethnic elements such as Miao batiks and silver clothing may be commercialized and damaged in authenticity, and local cuisine may be diluted by foreign snacks, weakening their own ethnic characteristics.
The second path was negative emotions→attachment avoidance→diversive exploration (β=0.204, P<0.01), with attachment avoidance playing a mediating role. With their unique authenticity, consumption-related ATDs have strong pulling power over tourists. However, in pursuit of short-term economic benefits, TDs often choose to incorporate a strong commercial atmosphere by introducing bars and taverns. These affect the original ethnic characteristics, causing tourists’ experiences of consumption-related ATDs to be dominated by negative emotions. The experience quality and intimate relationships among hosts, guests, and tourists are then affected. Consequently, they exhibit the “expected behaviors” during the tourism experience (Kahn and Isen, 1993), fearing that tourism development may lead to excessive commercialization. Barbara (1993) believes that positive emotions have a significant interactive effect on behavior selection, even increasing diversified seeking behavior and showing a preference for trying new things. That is, emotions interact significantly with their behavioral choices and they seek diversification to ensure the authenticity and heterogeneity of the TDs.
Therefore, tourists’ experience experiences of consumption-related ATDs are mainly characterized by positive and negative emotions, with attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance playing a mediating role. Positive emotions are manifested as tourists’ high emotional identification and attachment to consumer attraction experiences, while negative emotions are manifested as tourists’ destruction of the authenticity and heterogeneity of consumption-related ATDs through commercial development, reducing experience quality and behavioral loyalty.
In addition, the results showed that by incorporating attachment anxiety, negative emotions, and diversive exploration into the tourist experience model of consumption-related ATDs, the mediating effect of attachment anxiety was not significant; Incorporating attachment avoidance, positive emotions, and relationship closeness into the tourist experience model of consumption-related ATDs, the mediating effect of attachment avoidance is not significant. This indicates that negative emotional experience of tourists caused by consumption-related ATDs hinders their concerns, and attachment anxiety makes tourists unable to tolerate uncertainty, rejecting the diverse demand for consumption-related ATDs. At the same time, tourists who exhibit attachment avoidance towards the emotional experience of consumption-related ATDs are not affected by positive emotional experiences, and tourists who exhibit attachment avoidance are not highly dependent on consumer attractions, so tourists do not exhibit relationship closeness.

4.4.3 Paths of the mediating effects for way-of-life ATDs

Table 7 shows that tourists’ emotional experiences of way- of-life ATDs present only one mediating path of positive emotions→attachment anxiety→relationship closeness (β=0.196, P<0.01), with attachment anxiety playing a primary mediating role. Life attractions such as stilted buildings, beauty stands, and Wind-rain Bridge have become symbolic symbols of the Miao people. Ethnic medicine such as scraping and cupping have strong local characteristics. Way-of-life ATDs have strong local characteristics with daily life (Morais et al., 2019), and the symbolic representation forms of way-of-life ATDs that are excavated become the experience landscape of the destination. By experiencing these ATDs, tourists can perceive the life scenes of the Miao family by experiencing life attractions. Tourists can perceive the living scenarios there and place their emotions into them to realize symbolic representations (Lau, 2011). This further awakens their emotional attachment to way-of-life ATDs, thereby establishing their role in an emotional identity with the production and living scenarios of the TDs (Yuksel et al., 2010). Positive emotions aroused in tourists when experiencing way-of-life ATDs are their perceptions of the living scenarios and understanding of the ethnic culture. When they participate as Miao family members of the ethnic group during the tourism experience, they have stronger emotional perceptions of and preference for way-of-life ATDs, making them willing to immerse themselves in living scenarios.
Therefore, tourists give priority to positive emotions to way-of-life ATDs, and attachment anxiety plays a major mediating role. Positive emotions stimulated by tourists’ experience of way-of-life ATDs are actually positive evaluations of life scenes; at the same time, ‘tourism expectation’ has become an important driving factor for tourists’ tourism experience. Tourism experience is the perceived consumption process of a ‘symbolic landscape’. In the tourism scene, tourists’ expectations and way-of-life ATDs have perceived deviations. Tourists lack authenticity in the interpretation of the symbolic meaning of way-of-life ATDs. Villages should explore the symbolic representation of way-of-life ATDs and strengthen the symbolic expression and integration of tourists’ emotional experiences of way- of-life ATDs.
In addition, the emotional experience of tourists towards way-of-life ATDs does not predict behavioral intentions through attachment avoidance as a mediator. The positive evaluation of way-of-life ATDs by tourists will bring positive psychological feedback, thereby avoiding the generation of attachment avoidance by tourists; At the same time, in the emotional experience context of way-of-life ATDs, tourists’ attachment avoidance caused by perceptual distortion causes their behavioral intentions to deviate from the real situation, resulting in relationship closeness and diversive exploration not being affected by tourists’ attachment avoidance.

4.4.4 Paths of the mediating effects for institutional ATDs

Table 7 shows that tourists’ emotional experiences of such ATDs present only one mediating path: negative emotions → attachment avoidance → diversive exploration (β=0.162, P<0.01), with attachment avoidance playing a mediating role. Tourists focus on the authenticity and heterogeneity of ATDs in their cultural tourism experiences (Pechlaner et al., 2011). Institutional ATDs, as carriers of the collective memory being awakened by the TD’s community, have strong local characteristics and tourists use the perceived materiality of the ATDs as attachment carriers (Williams et al., 1992). However, institutional ATDs such as Guzangtou, Zhailao, water well, and Chiyou focus on presenting the community’s elites and cultural customs, which require tourists’ long-term involvement and accumulation of emotional energy at the TD. Material attachment has a greater impact on tourists’ emotional experiences and behavioral intentions (Williams et al., 1992), but tourism activities only involve tourists’ symbolic consumption behaviors at the TDs, and there is a lack of emotional involvement and ritual interaction in the tourism experience. Consequently, their level of experiential perception of and emotional attachment to these ATDs was lower than that of the TD’s community. When TDs’ tourism development focuses on economic benefits, institutional ATDs are affected (Herrero-Prieto and Gómez-Vega, 2017; Gomez-Casero et al., 2018). The original representation of such ATDs becomes diluted, and tourists’ emotional experiences of the community’s elites such as Guzangtou, Huolutou, and Zhalao tend toward the representational meaning of their true symbolism. Subsequently, the lack of interactive and participatory experiences on-site makes it difficult for tourists to realize the cross-scenario transmission of emotions (Io, 2017), which in turn promotes their behavioral intentions for diversive exploration.
Therefore, tourists’ experiences of institutional ATDs are dominated by negative emotions, and attachment avoidance plays an intermediary role between emotional experiences and behavioral intentions. The reason is that the local characteristics of institutional ATDs are strong, and tourists lack sufficient emotional involvement and ritual interaction in the ‘symbolic’ tourism experience. It is difficult to construct emotional attachment to awaken the collective memory between tourists and village residents, which leads to low behavioral loyalty of tourists and attempts to seek other types of ATDs.
In addition, tourists’ emotional experience of institutional ATDs does not rely on attachment anxiety as a mediator to predict behavioral intentions. Institutional ATD with unique local characteristics need to obtain real emotional experiences in the process of host-guest interaction. The insufficient involvement of tourists leads to their detachment from specific situations, thus failing to effectively play the mediating role of attachment anxiety.

5 Discussion and conclusions

5.1 Theoretical implications

Existing studies of tourists’ behaviors of tourism destination focus on place attachment (Yuksel et al., 2010). 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 examined the impact of tourists’ attachment styles on their emotional experiences of and behavioral intentions toward ATDs. Tourists’ emotional experiences of ATDs did not directly and significantly impact their behavioral intentions under the impact of tourists’ attachment styles, which is inconsistent with earlier findings that emotional experience has a significant impact on behavioral intentions (Yuksel et al., 2010; Lee, 2016). Previous studies have demonstrated that emotional experience is the direct driving factor of tourists’ tourism behavior (Ratnasari et al., 2021) and that the emotion aroused by tourists plays an important role in the quality of tourism experience (Jordan et al., 2019). The relationships among emotional experience, satisfaction, and behavioral intentions have also been widely confirmed (Hosany and Prayag, 2013; Jin et al., 2015; Lee, 2016; Io, 2017; Kim et al., 2017).
Further, tourists’ emotional experiences of and behavioral intentions toward ATDs were mediated by attachment anxiety and avoidance, respectively and the emotion-behavior paths of these mediating effects varied. On the one hand, tourists’ experiences of natural, consumption-related, and way-of-life ATDs were dominated by positive emotions such as excitement, surprise, and pleasure. Further, tourists’ attachment anxiety played a primary mediating role. On the other hand, tourists’ experiences of institutional ATDs were dominated by negative emotions. In particular, attachment avoidance played a primary mediating role and secondary intermediary role in tourists’ negative experience of natural ATDs and consumption-related ATDs. For example, tourists cannot emotionally identify with environmental pollution and consumer behavior in ATDs, which weakens their experience quality and intimate relationships. Therefore, individuals have different expectations and needs when pursuing relationship closeness and diversive exploration. Tourists’ post-tour intentions are also affected by their emotional experiences (Kleine and Baker, 2004; Park et al., 2010; Hyun et al., 2011; Tlili and Amara, 2016; Japutra et al., 2018; González-Rodríguez et al., 2020). The follow-up of this paper will further test the role of attachment styles of different subjects in establishing attachment relationships in tourism scenarios and deepen the ‘emotion-behavior’ paths mechanism of tourists’ emotional experiences of different types of ATDs.

5.2 Management implications

This study provides theoretical guidance for transforming and upgrading of TDs’ products and creating immersive scenarios for emotional experiences. In addition, it clarifies tourists’ emotion-behavior paths during their tourism experience and need to experience ATDs to be satisfied. Tourists’ travel behaviors are based on their emotional experiences at ATDs. Hence, tourism products should meet tourists’ emotional needs. First, experiential types of ATDs should be reasonably arranged according to the TD’s tourism routes. These can serve as emotional carriers to create immersive experiential scenes and participatory rituals for tourists to interact with, thereby enhancing their behavioral intentions. Through a series of high-quality folk experience projects such as toasting ceremonies, attempting to transform TD into deep experiential products, providing an important venue to meet the emotional needs of tourists, deepening the emotional connection between hosts and guests, condensing the resources and value brought by the relationship, and promoting the generation of tourists’ behavioral intentions. Second, natural, consumption-related, and way-of-life ATDs are the main carriers of tourists’ emotional experiences at TDs. The authenticity and heterogeneity of these types of ATDs must be ensured and maintained to create an atmosphere of being present when participating in rituals and during host-guest interactions. In doing so, tourists’ experiential perceptions of belonging to these three types of ATDs are strengthened and their emotional awakening and behavioral loyalty to the tourism setting are realized. In the process of practice, further strengthen the exploration of the cultural connotations of natural, consumption-related, and way-of-life ATDs, create a unique and strong Miao cultural atmosphere, and elevate TD into a tourism destination that integrates emotional exchange and cultural experience. Institutional ATDs have strong local characteristics, but tourists usually lack emotional involvement and ritualistic interaction during tourism experiences. This type of ATD must fully bring out the representational forms of their symbolisms and construction processes of their meanings. This would enhance the symbolic expressions and experiences of tourists’ emotions for such ATDs, thereby realizing cross-scenario emotional transmissions and awakening collective memories during the tourism experience. Fully leverage the representative role and symbolic significance of village elites such as village elders and rural elites in TD, explore, examine, select, and develop symbols with strong ethnic and local symbolic significance with a developmental and innovative perspective, and enhance the emotional integration level of tourists in the interaction process.

5.3 Limitations and future research

First, academic research on attachment styles focuses on their application in psychology and relationship marketing. The role of tourists’ attachment styles in establishing attachment relationships to TDs has not thus far been verified in the tourism setting. The findings of this study must be verified at other TDs to enrich the research findings of attachment styles in different TD scenarios. Second, the items in the survey questionnaire were set with reference to psychology and relationship marketing before being converted, adjusted, and modified according to the TD scenario. This meant that any cognitive biases among the questionnaire items might affect the measurement effects. Follow-up research should strengthen the exploration of specific measurement items for attachment styles in the TD scenario. Thirdly, the Xijiang Qianhu Miao Village was taken as a typical TD in this study to confirm the mediating role of tourists’ attachment styles on their emotional experiences of and behavioral intentions toward ATDs and the various emotion-behavior paths. However, the mechanism causing such variations in the mediating paths has not been analyzed. Follow-up research should explore the mechanism of the emotion-behavior paths that causes tourists to have varying emotional experiences at different types of ATDs. Finally, this study chooses Xijiang Qianhu Miao Village as a case, which is a typical TD of ethnic minority agglomeration. However, considering that there are great differences in tourism experiences brought by different TDs, the applicability of this research conclusion in other types of TDs needs to be further tested in the future.

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