Exploring the role of place attachment in shaping satisfaction among adventure tourists in Malaysia

Adventure tourism is increasingly popular in ecologically rich destinations like Malaysia offering immersive experiences that foster place attachment. This study explores the impact of place attachment on tourist satisfaction among adventure tourists in Malaysia, conceptualizing attachment into four dimensions: place affect, place identity, place dependence, and place social bonding. A quantitative approach was employed, with survey data collected from 402 adventure tourists in Gopeng, Perak, ensuring robust statistical analysis. Using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM), the study found that place affect (β = 0.704, p < 0.001) and place identity (β = 0.122, p = 0.031) positively influence satisfaction, emphasizing the role of emotional and self-identity connections in enhancing tourist experiences. In contrast, place dependence (β = -0.095, p = 0.108) and place social bonding (β = - 0.097, p = 0.028) had insignificant or negative effects, suggesting that functional reliance and social interactions are less critical in adventure tourism satisfaction. The model explained 45% of the variance (R² = 0.45) in satisfaction, with place affect exhibiting the highest predictive power (f² = 0.290). Findings underscore the need for destination managers to prioritize emotional engagement, storytelling, and immersive experiences to strengthen attachment and satisfaction. The study contributes to sustainable tourism management by highlighting the significance of emotional and identity-based connections. Future research should adopt longitudinal and qualitative approaches to examine evolving place attachment dynamics over time.