Intrinsic beauty and emotional experiences: How beach appeal shapes tourists’ revisit intentions in emerging coastal destinations in Ghana

Abstract

The study aims to explore the tourists’ emotional response factors associated with the intrinsic beauty and values of beaches at emerging coastal destinations. The study also examines the influence of tourists’ emotional response factors on revisit intentions. Data collected from 602 tourists at Ghanaian beaches were analyzed using Factor Analysis and the Binary Probit Model in STATA. The research identifies seven emotional experience factors: joy, serenity, awe, longing, love, sadness, and regret, which are associated with the intrinsic beauty and values of the beach destinations. The findings also reveal that the emotional experiences of joy, serenity, longing, and sadness significantly influence beach tourists’ intentions to revisit emerging beach destinations. Beach destination management should, therefore, adopt sustainable practices that align with tourists’ emotional preferences and leverage nostalgia-inducing elements of beach destination attributes.