Tourists’ on-site immersive experience for shortening psychological distance in the context of homologous and non-homologous cultures

Abstract

Based on the Stimulus-Organism-Response and Construal Level theories, this study collected 467 samples from Qingzhou and 494 samples from Kashgar to explore the mechanisms behind tourists’ cultural contact, destination familiarity, immersive experience, word of mouth, and revisit willingness from the perspectives of cultural homology and non-homology. The results indicated that cultural contact in a culturally homologous context affects immersion differently from a culturally non-homologous context. Those who visited culturally non-homologous destinations and had immersive experiences were more likely to revisit and recommend those destinations. The immersive experience shortens a long psychological distance, a rapid change that brings about immediate behaviors in a tourism context. Theoretical and managerial applications are discussed.