ABSTRACT
In recent years, academics and practitioners have garnered increased interest in understanding affective dimensions of tourists’ experiences and the meanings of places/destinations (e.g. Ekinci and Hosany 2006; Hosany et al. 2006; Gretzel et al. 2006). Intensifying competition among regions, countries and cities requires marketers to appreciate the symbolic value and experiential qualities of the tourism offerings (Gretzel et al. 2006). Tourist experiences often include satisfying and pleasurable emotions (Gnoth 1997; Aho 2001; Coghlan, Buckley and Weaver 2012). Tourist emotional reactions are fundamental determinants of satisfaction, behavioural intentions and attitudes (Gnoth 1997). Prior studies also establish that people develop relationships with places (e.g. Hidalgo and Hernandez 2001) and elicit emotions toward their immediate physical and social environment (Farber and Hall 2007). Despite the signifi cance of emotions in tourism, empirical studies investigating the emotional associations or meanings tourist attached to places/ destinations remain limited (Yuksel, Yuksel and Bilim 2010).
