When night-time pedestrian tourist streets provide leisure benefits for residents: the roles of multi-sensory experience and cosmopolitan atmosphere

Night-time leisure spaces have become important sites for sustaining urban vitality in tourism cities. However, limited attention has been paid to how local residents, particularly younger residents, experience night-time pedestrian tourist streets as urban leisure environments. This study examines how multi-sensory experience and cosmopolitan atmosphere shape leisure benefit and place attachment among Gen Z residents participating in leisure activities at Hue Western Quarter, a night-time pedestrian tourist street in Hue City, Vietnam. Data were collected from 298 valid responses and analysed using PLS-SEM. The findings indicate that multi-sensory experience enhances both leisure benefit and place attachment, whereas cosmopolitan atmosphere only exerts an indirect effect on place attachment through leisure benefit. Leisure benefit also strengthens place attachment. The study contributes to urban tourism research by examining how residents respond to night-time pedestrian tourist streets within tourism cities. Practical implications are also provided for tourism cities seeking to develop night-time pedestrian leisure spaces that better serve both residents and tourists.