Nostalgia triggers impact on the revisit intention of young tourists: In the context of applying cognitive appraisal theory (CAT)

Abstract

The study aims to investigate the psychological and behavioral outcome of young tourists under the impact of nostalgia triggers. Specifically, this research built a framework for nostalgia triggers as antecedents by applied cognitive appraisal theory to comprehensively measure nostalgic experiences and revisit intention as the consequence. To test the presented hypotheses, an online survey of 300 domestic young tourists in Ho Chi Minh City was conducted by using Google Forms and analyzed via the use of software SPSS 20.0 and Smart PLS 3.2.8. The findings revealed that nostalgia triggered by loneliness, cognitive destination image and affective destination image highly evoked tourists’ long-term memories (i.e. memorability). Positive emotions were positively influenced by both memorability of previous travel experiences and image experiences. Ultimately, positive emotions led to a significantly increased in revisit intention. Also, the findings make significant contributions to the theory by advancing and analyzing simultaneously conceptual models of nostalgia triggers and intention to revisit through nostalgic experiences to better understand nostalgia and enriches extant literature. From that point, the results reveal important insights for marketers, managers and practitioners in the tourism context into how nostalgia triggers can enhance tourists’ nostalgic experiences and their revisit intentions