Title: Tourists' attribution and ambiance scents in tourism destination brands

Authors: Shuvam Chatterjee; Mahmoud Ibraheam Saleh

Addresses: Doctoral School of Social Science, University of Lodz, ul. Narutowicza 68, 90-136 Łódź, Poland ' Tourism Studies Department, Faculty of Tourism and Hotel Management, Helwan University, Helwan, Egypt

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.

Keywords: olfactory marketing; fragrance; tourism fragrance; tourist attribution; locus of control; destination attachment.

DOI: 10.1504/MEJM.2024.138330

Middle East Journal of Management, 2024 Vol.11 No.3, pp.322 - 339

Received: 11 Sep 2022
Accepted: 11 Jan 2023
Published online: 01 May 2024 *

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