Fantasy curiosity: a new theoretical perspective to understand anime pilgrimage

Chunxiao Li, Mingjun Ji, Scott McCabe, Jian-Wu Bi*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Curiosity stands as a significant driving force in comprehending tourist behaviour. Nonetheless, within the realm of anime pilgrims, the objects of interest, the underlying mechanisms and the resulting behaviours stemming from their curiosity deviate notably from those exhibited by typical tourists. Through the utilization of in-depth case studies of anime pilgrims, this research unveils an innovative impetus for tourism known as ‘fantasy curiosity’ with four distinct attributes, differentiating it from prevailing conceptualizations of general curiosity. Moreover, by utilizing a Latent Dirichlet Allocation model, we pinpoint distinct characteristics of anime-related behaviours across different phases of anime tours. These findings serve to propel the progression of research within the realms of tourism motivations, while concurrently broadening the horizons of curiosity theory.

Original languageEnglish
JournalCurrent Issues in Tourism
Early online date9 Nov 2023
DOIs
Publication statusE-pub ahead of print - 9 Nov 2023

Bibliographical note

Funding:
This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant numbers 72074126 and 72101124]; One Hundred Talents Program of Nankai University [grant numbers 63233170 and 63233169].

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Keywords

  • Anime pilgrimage
  • curiosity
  • data mining
  • fantasy
  • interpersonal relationship

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Geography, Planning and Development
  • Tourism, Leisure and Hospitality Management

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