川藏南线自驾游客情感体验的特征与影响机制

Examining Self-drive Tourists’Emotional Experience along the South Section of Sichuan-Xizang Highway(G318):Characteristics and Influencing Mechanism

以流动性体验为核心的旅游形式在全球化背景下日益流行。作为大尺度流动型旅游形式典型代表的长途自驾游,因冒险、追逐自由、私密、个性化、高不确定性等特征,赋予了游客独特且复杂的情感体验。目前,学界尚缺乏从更为系统的视角关注大尺度流动情境下游客情感体验的特征、前因与影响机制的实证研究。文章基于景观感知理论,采用定量研究与定性研究相结合的方法,以川藏南线(318国道成都至拉萨段)的自驾游客为研究对象,分析游客在大尺度流动情境下的情感体验特征与影响机制。文章发现:1)自驾游客的积极情感体验未达强烈水平,情感体验(尤其是积极情感体验)伴随着自驾这一流动性实践呈现出动态变化的波动特征,且涉及多个维度;2)基于自我需要满足与否、满足程度如何这一标准,自驾游客与环境的互动(包含两组类型、6类特征)促进了他们上述情感体验的产生,并通过动态反馈机制持续影响了情感体验。上述研究发现不仅完善了有关游客情感体验前因和影响机制以及自驾入藏旅游体验的实证研究体系,还为目的地的管理与营销提供了思路。

Self-drive travels,train travels,cycling,motorcycling,hiking,and hitchhiking,have increasingly adopted by tourists across the globe.Long-haul self-driving,which arguably provide tourists with adventure,freedom,privacy,personalization,and high level of uncertainty,is particularly popular.However,from the extant literature,we could see that previous empirical research rarely focus upon the antecedents and influencing mechanisms of large-scale mobility tourists’(e.g.,self-drive tourists,train tourists,and motorcyclists)emotional experience.Therefore,based upon the Landscape Perception Theory,this study aims to examine the emotional experience of tourists travelling along the south section of Sichuan-Xizang Highway(i.e.,G318,from Chengdu to Lhasa)and its influencing mechanism.We employ mixed-methods,conducting a fusion of questionnaire surveys,in-depth interviews,participant observation,and informal interviews.Specifically,three quantitative datasets were adopted respectively,namely the post-trip retrospective emotional experience of self-drive tourists along the south section of G318(Dataset 1,n=392),real-time emotional experience of self-drive tourists when visiting tourism attractions(e.g.,scenic spots/viewing platforms)along the south section of G318(Dataset 2,n=72),and the daily retrospective emotional experience of self-drive tourists along the south section of G318(Dataset 3,n=16).The findings of this study are as follows:First,the positive emotional experience of self-drive tourists along the south section of Sichuan-Xizang Highway does not reach a‘strong’level.That is,the mean value of self-drive tourists’positive emotional experience in the three datasets(i.e.,measured with a 5-point Likert scale)respectively are 3.74(Dataset 1),3.30(Dataset 2),and 2.95(Dataset 3).The scores on each of the nine positive emotional items rest between 2 and 4,suggesting a level of below‘strong’.Similarly,in these three datasets,the mean value of self-drive tourists’negative emotional experience are 1.48(Dataset 1),1.17(Dataset 2),and 1.10(Dataset 1),respectively,and the scores on each of the nine negative emotional items are all situated between 1 and 2.Second,the results derived from the real-time and daily retrospective data(Dataset 3,n=16),which manifest the emotional variability and emotional instability indices,indicate that self-drivers’emotional experience represent an irregular dynamic trend different from the inverted U pattern as reported in many previous studies on hedonic tourists.At the same time,the dimensions of tourists’emotional experience are found highly diversified.Third,when it comes to the underlining mechanism,we analyse it assessing the extent to which tourists’needs are satisfied before looking at the levels of their satisfaction.We unpack that the interactions(including two categories with six types of characteristics)between self-driving tourists(i.e.,human)and the environment(i.e.,nature)have facilitated the generation of tourists’diverse emotional experience.The impacts are perpetuated through continuous dynamic feedbacks.Overall,this research is theoretically significant,insofar as it has deepened our understanding of the antecedents of tourists’emotional experience and tourists’experience of travelling to Xizang.Practically,it provides management and marketing implications for destinations along the south section of Sichuan-Xizang Highway(G318)and other linear tourism routes,as well as tourism-related businesses involved in mobility travels.