How Different Tourist Sites Evoke Different Emotions: Investigation Focusing on the Urban and Rural Sites in Japan

Abstract

In this research, we examined the affective values realized by two different tourist sites: Sannomiya (Kobe) and Asago. We conducted interviews based on the Evaluation Grid Method with 14 participants. The result of the interviews revealed different affective values according to the site and valence. For Sannomiya, “increasing return motivation” and “enjoyable” were extracted as attractive factors, whereas “unwillingness to walk around,” “feeling dangerous,” and “uneasiness” were perceived as unattractive aspects. In contrast, for Asago, “relaxing,” “feeling of novelty,” “feeling of sightseeing,” “enjoyable,” and “feeling of extraordinariness” were identified as attractive factors, whereas “decreasing return motivation,” “decreasing visit motivation,” and “feeling of wasting” were determined as unattractive aspects. We also examined the kinds of impressions and tourist resources that influence these affective values. In addition to these qualitative analyses, we conducted a quantitative analysis to verify that these affective factors could distinguish these two sites. These differences in affective values, impressions, and tourist sites enable us to visualize the attractiveness and unattractiveness of each site. The approach used in this research is helpful in investigating different affective values realized in different tourist sites and for describing the characteristics of the sites.