The impact of experience on satisfaction and revisit intention in theme parks: An application of the experience economy

Abstract

<p>In recent years, theme park is becoming a more and more popular destination for tourists around the world. Moreover, theme parks provide visitors with various experiences. It is crucial to understand visitors’ experiences in the theme park since experience is an important factor that is related to tourist behavior. The experience economy is widely used in the tourism setting to measure experience from four dimensions: education, entertainment, escapism and esthetic (4Es). However, limited research has examined visitors’ experiences in the theme park setting. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to measure visitors’ experience in the theme park applying 4Es and investigate the relationship between experience, and satisfaction and revisit intention. Furthermore, the differences on the means of these variables and differences on the impact of experience on satisfaction and revisit intention were also tested. In this study, 486 visitors who have been to Disney parks in the U.S. within the past twelve months took the online survey. Independent sample t-tests and multiple linear regression analysis were adopted. The results showed that experience has a significant impact on satisfaction and revisit intention in the theme park and differences existed between the groups. Overall, findings of this study enhanced the concept of experience in the theme park literature and offered practical implications to the theme park operators.</p>