Tourists' Psychological Connection to Pop Culture Tourism: A Perspective of Psychological Continuum Model

This study analyzes tourists' psychological connection to pop culture tourism. Based on the psychological continuum model (PCM), the article identifies three different tourist groups in terms of awareness, attraction/attachment and allegiance, and employs statistical analysis of tourist experiences, based on a survey of Chinese tourists who visited South Korea. The major findings suggest that tourist experiences vary significantly, depending on the tourists' levels of psychological connection to pop culture. Specifically, three segments have different characteristics, and tourists behave differently regarding these characteristics: reasons for travel, media uses for Korean pop culture, tourists' value fulfillment (utilitarian and hedonic value), and commitment to a destination (attitude and loyalty). The results provide a clear empirical foundation that the concept of "psychological involvement" in leisure is relevant to tourists' participation in pop culture tourism. One important practical implication from this study for strategic marketing is that in predicting tourist behaviors one should recognize the subgroups of visitors according to psychological segmentation connected to pop culture.