Constructing nostalgia in tourism: A comparison analysis of genuine and artificial approaches

Abstract This paper investigates the psychological impact of an understudied, yet increasingly popular construct: nostalgia tourism. The research distinguishes between two approaches for constructing historical nostalgia: (a) the genuine approach (i.e. developing nostalgia destinations based on original historical architectures), and (b) the artificial approach (i.e. creating new architectures with collective historical memories). In two experimental studies, the paper explores how the features of nostalgia destinations and people's nostalgia proneness influence people's nostalgia experiences. The results indicate that: (a) both genuine and artificial approaches can elicit people's nostalgic feelings (Study 1 & 2), (b) emotions elicited through the genuine approach are stronger and more positive than the artificial approach (Study 1), and (c) the artificial approach is more effective in eliciting nostagic feelings among people with high nostalgia proneness (Study 2). The research suggests that either personal or non-personal experience could trigger nostalgia, and highlights the role of historical nostalgia plays in tourism.