Despite the military and political tensions surrounding the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), over 1.2 million individuals visit the destination each year. Considering various tourist motivations and the group-oriented tour setting at the DMZ and employing the Interaction Ritual Theory as a theoretical guide, this study examined how South Korean DMZ tourists' motivations and interaction led to emotional solidarity, thereby facilitating the co-creation of their DMZ experience. Study results (N = 409) revealed that politics and curiosity motivations significantly influenced their interaction, while knowledge and war motivations only impacted emotional solidarity. Emotional solidarity directly contributed to experience co-creation, whereas interaction only had an indirect impact mediated through emotional solidarity. The findings enrich the understanding of the distinctive roles of South Korean DMZ tourists' motivations and highlight interaction as a key in evaluating their experience co-creation. It especially offers new insights that emotional solidarity is a critical antecedent to experience co-creation. The findings provide government officials and destination managers with practical suggestions for further management and marketing of DMZ tourism. Future research can further consider group differences when testing the conceptual model—such as DMZ tourists' travel pattern (e.g., individuals or groups) or nationality (e.g., South Korean or foreigners)—and utilize qualitative research methods to complement the quantitative findings.

中文翻译：

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韩国非军事区游客的共同创造体验通过动机、互动和情感团结来解释

尽管朝鲜非军事区 (DMZ) 周围的军事和政治局势紧张，但每年仍有超过 120 万人访问该目的地。考虑到不同的游客动机和非军事区的团体旅游环境，并以互动仪式理论为理论指导，本研究探讨了韩国非军事区游客的动机和互动如何导致情感团结，从而促进他们的共同创造。 DMZ 经验。研究结果（N = 409）显示，政治和好奇心动机显着影响他们的互动，而知识和战争动机仅影响情感团结。情感团结直接有助于体验共同创造，而互动仅通过情感团结产生间接影响。研究结果丰富了对韩国非军事区游客动机独特作用的理解，并强调互动是评估他们共同创造体验的关键。它特别提供了新的见解，即情感团结是体验共同创造的关键前提。研究结果为政府官员和目的地管理者提供了进一步管理和营销非军事区旅游业的实用建议。未来的研究可以在测试概念模型时进一步考虑群体差异，例如非军事区游客的旅行模式（例如个人或团体）或国籍（例如韩国人或外国人），并利用定性研究方法来补充定量研究结果。