The influence of sensory experience on senior tourist emotion and word-of-mouth in augmented reality tourism

Purpose Drawing upon sensory marketing theory and the pleasure–arousal–dominance model, this study aims to explore the effect of sensory experience on senior tourists’ emotional arousal, pleasure, dominance and tourist word-of-mouth (WOM) in the augmented reality (AR) experience in the Palace Museum, Beijing, and the Shanghai Museum. Design/methodology/approach This study focused on senior tourists who had experienced AR at the Palace Museum and the Shanghai Museum. Data was analyzed using structural equation modeling. Findings This study found sensory experience positively affects senior tourist’s pleasure, arousal and dominance in AR presented tourism. The influence of sensory experience on arousal is the most significant compared with pleasure and dominance. This study also found that arousal affects senior tourist WOM positively, but pleasure and dominance do not affect tourist WOM positively. Originality/value This study expands knowledge of sensory marketing and PAD model in AR tourism. The findings of this study enhance understanding of the impact of AR tourism on senior tourists.