Theme Park Visitors Research Articles

Consuming the mundane and extraordinary: hospitality facilities and transport in the spatiotemporal behaviour of theme park visitors

ABSTRACT This study investigates the components of the mundane and extraordinary in park visitors’ experience using time usage analysis. The results show that visitors spend nearly 26% of their time engaged in mundane activities (hospitality facility and transport activities). The sequence alignment analysis identifies three behaviour patterns with concentrated usage on hospitality facilities, attraction and a combination of both. These patterns reflect the visitors’ different levels of spatial engagement with the park, which contributes to the visitors’ evaluation of the park layout, visitor crowds, facilities and waiting time.

Leveraging customer-to-customer interactions to create immersive and memorable theme park experiences

PurposeTheme park experiences ubiquitously unfold in the presence of others. In acknowledgement of this important part of theme park consumption, this research set out to examine if other visitors help create an immersive environment and, in turn, memorable experiences for theme park visitors.Design/methodology/approachAn online survey was distributed to 561 theme park visitors. Structural equation modeling (AMOS 26) was used for testing the hypotheses in the proposed framework.FindingsResults of SEM analyses reveal the positive impact of perceived similarity on visitors' sense of immersion at theme parks and the memorability of the experience. In turn, memorable experiences further drive behavioral intentions (i.e., return intention and willingness to pay premiums).Practical implicationsThe findings provide suggestions for theme parks to leverage customer-to-customer interactions in order to create immersive and memorable visitor experiences.Originality/valueThis research marks one of the first attempts to approach customer-to-customer interactions (CCIs) at theme parks by empirically examining the impact of the perceived similarity of others on focal visitors' emotions and experiences.

Exploring the role of experience intensification autobiographical memory and nostalgia in the relationship between experience and behavioural intention

ABSTRACT This study extends the stimulus-organism-response framework of Mehrabian and Russel on the theme park environment. Visitor’s overall experience and experience intensification were assessed as stimuli that influenced their memory and nostalgia (organism) and behavioural intention (response). Samples have been collected from India's 360 theme park visitors and finding confirmed that the visitor’s overall experience has positively influenced experience intensification and experience intensification has a positive effect on memory and nostalgia, and both influences behavioural intention. The study also explored the mediating effect of experience intensification, nostalgia, and memory.

Segmenting visitors of a Greek recreational theme park using factors that motivate attendance

ABSTRACT Purpose This study aims to segment visitors to a Greek theme park using factors that motivate attendance. Research methods Three hundred and twenty-two young and adult visitors of an outdoor recreational theme park, located in the midlands of Greece, completed a questionnaire that measured four dimensions: motivation, service quality perceptions, intention to revisit, and word-of-mouth communication. Results and Findings A principal component analysis of the motivation items revealed a clear five-factor structure. Thereafter, a cluster analysis of the five factors was performed. This classified participants into three psychographic segments: “incurious to activities and social life”, “recreation and nature oriented”, and “outdoor activities enthusiast”. An analysis of variance test successfully validated the three segments relative to visitors’ perceptions of service quality and future behavioural intentions. Practical implications Theme park management can use this study’s newly developed visitor segmentation to better understand, commercialise, and personalise their services. Managers can more effectively execute visitor management strategies to attract customers and develop marketing techniques to create new competitors’ advantages. Research contribution The study successfully developed three validated psychographic theme park visitor segments: “incurious to activities and social life”, “recreation and nature oriented”, and “outdoor activities enthusiast”.

Integrating the tourist gaze with the social servicescape: Implications for creating memorable theme park experiences

This research examines how the social servicescape-directed gaze (i.e., perceptions of similarity, appearance, and behavior of other customers) influences theme park visitors’ affective states and experiences. A quantitative, survey-based research design was adopted with a total of 561 theme park patrons participating in the study. Results of structural equation modeling analyses reveal that similarity and behavior positively affect visitors’ feelings of arousal and curiosity, which in turn contribute to memorable theme park experiences. Other visitors’ appearances, however, are not a significant predictor of affect/experience. From a theory standpoint, this research represents a first attempt to study the tourist gaze at theme parks and makes a unique contribution by integrating the three dimensions of the social servicescape with the theoretical lens of the tourist gaze. Practically, this research provides suggestions for theme park management to create more memorable experiences by leveraging the social servicescape-directed gaze among visitors.

Perceived robotic server qualities and functions explaining customer loyalty in the theme park context

Purpose This paper aims to explore theme park visitors’ attitudes toward interacting with robots and investigated the qualities and functions of robotic servers and their influence on customers’ loyalty. A structural equation modeling approach was used to identify the complex relationships among variables in the entire network. Design/methodology/approach An online survey randomly assigned respondents to four different robotic server scenarios with robots that look like humans, animals, cartoon characters and anime features. The influence of robot types was investigated by manipulating robot type with four different pictures; however, the data were analyzed with a structural equation modeling model to identify the complex relationships rather than one-way analysis of variance to identify influences of robot types on different variables in separate analyzes. Findings The data collected from the 385 experienced theme park visitors revealed that perception of robots with human orientation and safety qualities had the strongest effect on the perceived robotic functionality, while emotions and co-creation qualities hardly had any effect on the perceived functionality, which included utilitarian rather than experiential functions such as excitement. Human orientation qualities, regardless of the specific robotic design, had a significant impact on perceived robotic functionality. The study also revealed a strong positive influence of perceived robotic functionality on customer loyalty. Originality/value The debate of whether or not to introduce and blend the growing robotic technology into the theme park experience is in its infancy. The study contributes to the theory of how robotics qualities and functions can augment customer loyalty.

Geospatial and Social Media Analytics for Emotion Analysis of Theme Park Visitors using Text Mining and GIS

Scrutinizing the emotions of customers and social media analytics are gaining popularity in the recent days. However, analysis of the emotions of visitors in theme parks are done on a lesser scale. In this paper, based on social media messages, the emotions of the visitors of a theme park is analyzed using geospatial as well as social media analytics convergence and visualization of cohesive places where expressions are gathered. Based on the Russell’s Circumplex Model of Affect, the words and emotions are analyzed in around 50,000 tweets collected of which 20,400 tweets contained one or more such words. Analysis of exploratory spatial data based on GIS and analysis of text mining represents various emotion in each quadrant based on the tweets. The visitor emotions are associated to various topics and emotions of considerable spatial variations. Based on the significant clustering of emotions in each quadrant, the areas of riding attraction in the theme park are identified and displayed using this research approach. Based on the analysis and implications of this research work, it is possible to develop ways in which the pleasant emotions of the visitors can be evoked by practitioners.

Visualizing theme park visitors’ emotions using social media analytics and geospatial analytics

Abstract Despite the popular use of social media analytics to scrutinize customer emotions, less scholarly efforts have been invested in visualizing theme park visitors' emotions. Employing the convergence of social media analytics and geospatial analytics, this paper visualized cohesive places where Disneyland visitors express distinct types of emotion in social media messages. Among 226,946 collected tweets, this study used 19,809 tweets containing one or more emotion words listed in Russell's Circumplex Model of Affect. Text mining analysis and GIS-based exploratory spatial data analysis showed that tweets reflecting each quadrant of emotions have considerable spatial variations and different topics related to visitor emotions. The research approach enabled displaying particular spots in theme park zones and areas of riding attractions where emotions of each quadrant are significantly clustered. This study highlights methodological implications of visualizing spatial patterns of visitors' emotions and provides practitioners with a useful guide to develop routes evoking pleasant emotions.

Islamic and Muslim tourism: service quality and theme parks in the UAE

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify dimensions of theme park quality from an Islamic perspective and develop a framework to examine the interrelationships between theme park service quality dimensions, visitor delight and visitor loyalty in theme parks in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Design/methodology/approach The study is based on a detailed literature review and analysis of visitors’ comments on TripAdvisor.com about their experience in theme parks in the UAE. Findings Theme park service quality can be assessed across 4 main dimensions (physical environment, interaction, consumables and access) and 13 sub-dimensions. A relationship is proposed between these dimensions and visitors’ delight, with visitor loyalty a consequence of visitor delight. Nationality is proposed to have a moderating effect on the delight–loyalty relationship. Originality/value This study attempts to propose a model for theme park service quality that reflects both traditional dimensions of service quality and dimensions related to Islamic attributes. It is one of very few attempts to investigate theme park visitors’ perception of service quality and its relation to delight and loyalty in the UAE. It is also, as far as the authors are aware, the first study to investigate the moderating effect of nationality on the delight–loyalty relationship.

Exploring Theme Park Visitors’ Experience on Satisfaction and Revisit Intention: A Utilization of Experience Economy Model

ABSTRACT Although the success of a theme park depends heavily on visitors’ experience, few studies have sought to understand visitor behaviors. This research employs the experience economy model to investigate how different types of experience influence visitors’ satisfaction with the theme park and intention to revisit. A structural equation modeling approach with 530 visitors showed that both educational and esthetic experiences in theme parks significantly influenced visitors’ satisfaction while escapism was the only important experience that led to intention to revisit. This study offers a conceptual and specific perspective for understanding the various experiences available to a visitor and their separate impacts on satisfaction and intention to revisit. Findings provide concrete suggestions for developing effective programs and promotional materials, which in turn will help theme park operators to enhance their offerings and services and enrich visitors’ experiences.

Use of the pathfinder network scaling to measure online customer reviews: A theme park study

AbstractWe use pathfinder network scaling (PENETS) approach to measure and evaluate theme park visitors' online reviews. PFNETS as an effective tool of big data analytics can be used to identify unobserved meaningful interrelationships between concepts. Although there are many research analyzing online reviews, this study is the first attempt to use an analytical approach of PFNETS to explore online reviews in theme park visitor experiences. The article collects 14,142 effective reviews of the world's first Disneyland in California from TripAdvisor. Using parallel and similarity comparison in pathfinder scaling, four individually but fully connected networks were generated to reveal different visitors' experiences in different segments. The findings indicate the dissimilarity of concept relatedness between different segments and revealed the knowledge gap of marketing to different segments in theme parks.

테마파크 서비스품질이 방문객 만족도에 미치는 영향

Although there have been a lot of studies on service quality, there have been limited researches that reflect the characteristics of theme parks. In particular, there have been little studies use focusing on densities as moderating variable. The purpose of this study is to analyze the moderating effect of usage density on the effect of theme park’s service quality on visitor’s satisfaction. Two hypotheses were formulated and the empirical analysis was conducted on Disneyland in Shanghai, China. As a result of analysis, four factors such as ‘reliability’, ‘convenience’, ‘tangibility and attractiveness’ and ‘assurance’ were derived as constituent factors of the theme park service quality. Hypothesis 1 stating that the service quality of the theme park has a significant effect on the visitor satisfaction was supported and it was found that the factors are affecting the satisfaction of visitors in order of ‘assurance’, ‘tangibility and attractiveness’, ‘convenience’ and ‘reliability’. In addition, the hypothesis 2 stating that the effects of service quality on satisfaction of visitor depend on the use density was also supported. This study suggests that ‘assurance’ should be planned and managed in order to improve the satisfaction of the theme park visitors. The more consideration shall be given to such service quality factors as ‘assurance’, ‘tangibility and attractiveness’ showing the higher difference in the satisfaction depending on the use density, This study is meaningful in that it investigates the relationships between service quality and visitor’s satisfaction with the moderating effect of use density theoretically and empirically. This study suggests that future research investigate the critical point of use density regarding visitor’s satisfaction in high use density situation.

Role of Service Experience on Vivid Memory and Loyalty

ABSTRACT Creating memorable experiences has become one of the key success factors for the theme park business. However, few studies focused on ‘visitors’ memorable experiences’ in the context of theme park service settings. Further research is required to understand the factors that make certain experiences as special and memorable, specifically in the context of theme parks. This study examines the role of theme park visitors’ subjective experiences on their vivid memory and loyalty. Results revealed that theme park visitors’ service experience impacts visitor loyalty through vivid memory. Each dimension (hedonics, peace of mind, involvement, and recognition) of service experience significantly influences vivid memory and loyalty. The study‘s conclusions provide valuable implications for theme park managers in terms of designing and creating memorable experiences for visitors.

An empirical investigation of the impact of service experience on emotions, satisfaction and loyalty for theme park visitors

An empirical investigation of the impact of service experience on emotions, satisfaction and loyalty for theme park visitors

Creating Educational Theme Park Visitor Loyalty: the Role of Experience-Based Satisfaction, Image and Value

Purpose – The aim of this study is to test the inter-relationships between the educational theme park image, perceived educational value, educational experience satisfaction and visitor loyalty in educational theme parks. Methodology – 150 respondents participated in this study. Data was collected through self-administered questionnaire at two educational theme parks in Batu and Malang, East Java Province Indonesia. The Partial Least Squares with inner and outer model evaluation was employed and it indicated that the model built was robust. Findings – The results show that the educational image, educational experience satisfaction and perceived educational value play important roles in affecting visitor loyalty. In addition, this study found that image and value are the predictors of satisfaction. The mediating test explains that apart from having a direct effect on loyalty, both image and perceived value have an indirect effect on loyalty through satisfaction. Originality – This study provides new insights about how educational theme park visitors build their loyalty. Furthermore, the conceptual model presented in this study not only captures the direct relationships among educational image, perceived educational value, educational experience satisfaction and visitor loyalty, but also explains the indirect relationships. In addition, the setting of this study is the educational theme park industry which is believed to have special characteristics when it is compared to other industries.

Effects of virtual reality on theme park visitors' experience and behaviors: A presence perspective

Advances in virtual reality (VR) technology exert increasingly influential impacts on tourism. Drawn upon a presence perspective and a process theory, this research aims to explore how VR technology may help enhance theme park visitors' experience and behaviors. Data was collected from 396 theme park visitors who had experienced VR roller coaster over the past twelve months. Results of stepwise regression analysis suggest that users' sense of presence is predominantly driven by their feeling of control, followed by participation, effectiveness, curiosity, vividness, temporal association, and enjoyment provided by VR system. Results of simple linear regression analyses reveal positive impacts of sense of VR presence on visitors' overall theme park experience and intentions to revisit and recommend. Further sensitivity tests are performed using Hayes’ PROCESS model to accommodate the potential influence of two individual factors (i.e., personal innovativeness and VR familiarity) on the results. Theoretical and managerial implications are presented.

Selecting the best route in a theme park through multi-objective programming

The theme park industry has grown intensely in recent times and offer every day a greater number of attractions and activities to visit. The problem is that, when a tourist visits a theme park, he has a short space of time and he wants to maximize the usefulness of the visit, such as enjoying as many attractions as possible. Visitors face a serious selection problem – they must identify the best alternatives so as to optimally utilize their time and visit to the attractions that most interest them, besides keeping a check on the money spent during the visit. It would be very useful if they had a tool to help them take an optimum decision from among the different alternatives, considering their goals, restrictions and preferences. Therefore, we are going to develop a tool that, through a multi-objective model, helps theme park visitors who want to obtain an ideal route, helping them choose among the various alternatives: what activities to pursue, in what order, at what time, etc. The system can be used from home through a web page or application, or when present in the park, which also allows the tourist to incorporate the suggestions that arise in the park on the fly. This tool could improve the satisfaction of tourists visiting the park as it offers the maximum utility with regard to the activities undertaken within the timeframe available to them, thus also rendering added value to the theme park. One of the challenges facing theme parks management is the management of visitor flow, characterized by the dual objective of ensuring the highest quality experience for the tourists and reducing the risks arising from congestion of the different areas and/or most visited attractions, and we consider that this tool can help them to do it.

테마파크 가상환경 놀이시설 경험이 관계품질과 재방문에 미치는 영향

With the development of information and communication technology (ICT), the virtual environment (VE) can be combined with the facilities of theme parks, thereby overcoming limitations of limited space and providing various attractions. The purpose of this study is to suggest the necessity of VE facilities to secure the competitiveness of theme parks by embracing the relationship between theme park visitors’ experience of VE facilities and relationship quality and revisit intention. For this purpose, correlation analysis and regression analysis were conducted for six factors identified through factor analysis. The following conclusions were drawn. VE experience had a relatively higher impact on satisfaction than trust on relationship quality. Visitors were more satisfied with their experience than with the information provided by theme parks or the reliability of park operations. Experience and relationship quality using VE had a low impact on revisits. This means that visitors are satisfied with the VE facilities, but there are difficulties with revisits because they require the consideration of various factors such as admission fees, time, and amusement facilities. Nevertheless, theme parks are expected to continuously introduce VE facilities for ICT development and competitiveness.

테마파크의 서비스스케이프가 고객만족, 구전의도 및 재방문에 미치는 영향

The purpose of this study is to understand the influence of servicescape, which is physical environment, among various elements of theme park. In other words, this study tried to grasp the relationship between servicescape and customer satisfaction, word-ofmouth and revisit. Factor analysis revealed seven factors. The effect of servicescape factors on customer satisfaction differed according to the main factor and the ancillary factors of theme park visitors. It has a high impact on direct elements such as space utilization and comfort, but convenience and accessibility partsare not considered. Customer satisfaction has a statistically significant effect on the word of mouth and revisit, which means that the high satisfaction level of the theme park visitors is that they share experience with others and consider revisit to confirm their experiences. Therefore, the results of this study will be useful in enhancing customer satisfaction and improving revisits through management of servicescape factors.

A Visual Analytics Framework for Exploring Theme Park Dynamics

In 2015, the top 10 largest amusement park corporations saw a combined annual attendance of over 400 million visitors. Daily average attendance in some of the most popular theme parks in the world can average 44,000 visitors per day. These visitors ride attractions, shop for souvenirs, and dine at local establishments; however, a critical component of their visit is the overall park experience. This experience depends on the wait time for rides, the crowd flow in the park, and various other factors linked to the crowd dynamics and human behavior. As such, better insight into visitor behavior can help theme parks devise competitive strategies for improved customer experience. Research into the use of attractions, facilities, and exhibits can be studied, and as behavior profiles emerge, park operators can also identify anomalous behaviors of visitors which can improve safety and operations. In this article, we present a visual analytics framework for analyzing crowd dynamics in theme parks. Our proposed framework is designed to support behavioral analysis by summarizing patterns and detecting anomalies. We provide methodologies to link visitor movement data, communication data, and park infrastructure data. This combination of data sources enables a semantic analysis of who , what , when , and where , enabling analysts to explore visitor-visitor interactions and visitor-infrastructure interactions. Analysts can identify behaviors at the macro level through semantic trajectory clustering views for group behavior dynamics, as well as at the micro level using trajectory traces and a novel visitor network analysis view. We demonstrate the efficacy of our framework through two case studies of simulated theme park visitors.