Perception of Accessibility and Tourist Participation Behavior: Mediating Role of Customer Delight

Tourist participation behaviors play a vital role in enhancing the competitiveness of tourist destinations.However, few studies conducted in the field of tourism have explored the antecedent variables that affect tourist participation behaviors.This study aims to analyse the effect of perception of accessibility on tourist participation behavior, the effect of perception of accessibility on customer delight, the effect of customer delight on tourist participation behavior, and the mediating effect of customer delight between perception of accessibility and tourist participation behavior.Quantitative approaches through the use of survey were used in this study.Data were collected using questionnaires involving 396 group tourists who have previously visited Xi'an.Respondents were chosen using multistage sampling technique.To analyse the data, descriptive analysis and covariance-based structural equation modeling (CB-SEM) were used.The findings showed that perception of accessibility positively affect participation behavior and customer delight.Further, customer delight positively affect on participation behavior.This study also showed that customer delight served as partial mediator between perception of accessibility and participation behavior.This research contributes to the participation behavior literature by considering perception of accessibility and customer delight as antecedent variables and quantifying their influences on tourist participation behavior.The findings of this study can serve as a reference for tourist destination managers when they conduct marketing practices.