ABSTRACT

This study examines psychological factors that can trigger nostalgia from the heritage tourism experience. We treat nostalgia as an emotion rather than a push travel motive and argue that nostalgic feelings can be predicted by visitors’ (domestic and international) motivation, positive and negative emotions, and perceived authenticity of the heritage experience. We develop and test five hypotheses among 500 visitors to Su Nuraxi, the most visited UNESCO world heritage site in Sardinia, Italy. The findings show that statistically no significant difference exists between domestic and international visitors on their felt nostalgia. Nostalgic feelings are higher when the site is part of the visitor’s own heritage and is world famous, suggesting a positive relationship between visitation motives and nostalgia. Nostalgia can be triggered by both positive (astonishment and gratitude) and negative emotions (guilt and disappointment) felt at the site and has, therefore, a bittersweetness to its affective signature. More importantly, perceived authenticity is not a strong predictor of nostalgia. Implications for heritage site management and marketing are offered.

摘要

本研究探讨了可能引发遗产旅游体验怀旧情绪的心理因素。我们将怀旧视为一种情感，而不是推动旅行的动机，并认为怀旧情感可以通过游客（国内和国际）的动机、积极和消极的情绪以及对遗产体验的感知真实性来预测。我们在 500 名Su Nuraxi游客中提出并测试了五个假设，意大利撒丁岛参观人数最多的联合国教科文组织世界遗产。研究结果表明，从统计数据来看，国内和国际游客的怀旧情绪不存在显着差异。当该地点是游客自己遗产的一部分并且世界闻名时，怀旧情绪会更高，这表明访问动机和怀旧情绪之间存在正相关关系。怀旧情绪可以由在现场感受到的积极情绪（惊讶和感激）和消极情绪（内疚和失望）触发，因此，其情感特征苦乐参半。更重要的是，感知的真实性并不是怀旧的有力预测因素。提供了对遗产地管理和营销的启示。