The Influence of Tourists’ Sensory Experiences of Street Food on Destination Loyalty: The Mediating Roles of Delight and Place Attachment

Abstract

ABSTRACT Food safety is one of the most researched topics in the existing street food literature. However, tourists’ street food experience, especially their sensory experiences, has been largely ignored. This study explained how sensory experience drives tourist satisfaction and loyalty behavior through the process of psychological states (delight and place attachment) by using the SOR theory as a theoretical foundation. 625 tourists who had street food experience were approached by this research. The structural equation modeling method was adopted by this research to examine the proposed research model and all the hypotheses. The results found that tourists’ sensory experiences related to street food have positive influences on delight and place attachment. Furthermore, this paper identified the mediating roles of delight and place attachment in the relationship between sensory experience and satisfaction. Both theoretical and practical contributions are provided based on the findings.