From Emotions to Place Attachment

Abstract

Tourism is all about places and people. Tourism and places are a relation to be explained under the tenets of sociology and psychology. This void the present research, that aims to assess place attachment as an emotional state. As the discussion is positing only on domestic tourists, the cultural attachment is engrained. Hence the only dimension that remains to explain is the relation within people and places, i.e. emotions. This chapter based on a sample of 1358 domestic tourists with a relation with the south of Portugal of more than 25 years, explores the role of emotions in place attachment. Grounded on pleasure-arousal model of Russell (Plato on pleasure and the good life, Oxford University Press, 2005), 12 emotional states were regressed throughout an order probit model to explain the long lasting relation with the Algarve. The results suggest that relation with the Algarve will keep on if the place will be able to delight, fascinate and surprise tourists that feel also nostalgic when their holidays are over. These results put a great pressure in tourism authorities, retain tourists is overwhelming their expectations.