Role of co-creative experience toward driving tourist satisfaction and revisit intention: insights from a spooky destination

Purpose The study aims to empirically explore the tourists’ experiences at a spooky destination in an emerging economy. Building on the existing literature in service-dominant logic and social exchange theory, the hypothesized model examines how perceived value affects tourist satisfaction and their likelihood to revisit. In addition, the moderating role of co-creative experience is analyzed in the relationship between tourist satisfaction and revisit intentions. Design/methodology/approach Primary data was collected through structured questionnaires from 450 respondents, out of which 378 responses were deemed fit for final analysis. Furthermore, the covariance based structural equation modelling (CB-SEM) approach was used to validate and provide empirical support for the hypotheses. Findings The research findings show that both psychological and social factors (like affect and novelty) and traditional aspects (such as economic and functional qualities), collectively representing tourists’ perceived value, significantly improve tourists’ satisfaction with the spooky destination. In addition, the findings provide strong evidence of a positive link between satisfaction and the intention to revisit. The moderating effect of co-creative experience on the proposed relationship was also statistically confirmed. Originality/value This study addresses the niche customer segments and the demand–supply gap in spooky tourism by assisting destination marketing organizations in strategy formulation to increase visitation and facilitate effective management of spooky destinations.