Tourists' attribution and ambiance scents in tourism destination brands

Abstract

Olfactory marketing, an integral concept of experiential marketing, is gaining popularity in the service sector to attract consumers more emotionally and personally. However, no prior studies investigate how fragrance controllability, stability, and locus in tourism destination impact tourist attachment. The study surveyed 302 tourists and used the SPSS software program to test the regressions between different variables and build a new structure equation model. This study uses attribution theory to investigate fragrance stability, controllability, and locus on destination attachment. The results reveal that both fragrance controllability and locus significantly impact attachment and increase the time spent at the destination. In contrast, fragrance stability has no impact on destination attachment. Therefore, tourism managers could benefit from these results to adequately build an olfactory marketing strategy in tourism destinations.