Conceptualising audience immersion in tourism performing arts: Definition and characteristics

Minyan Feng and Yueying Hazel Xu

Annals of Tourism Research, 2025, vol. 112, issue C

Abstract: Immersion has recently become a buzzword in tourism literature; however, its application is often casual and context-blind, without an adequate delineation of what immersion truly entails. This study, focusing on tourism performing arts, establishes a precise and comprehensive conceptualisation of audience immersion to reflect tourists' distinctive experiences accurately. A two-stage qualitative method is employed, incorporating data from online comments and focus group discussions. Analysis via an inductive–deductive approach reveals six key characteristics of immersion, leading to a new and context-specific definition. An experiential model depicting three levels of immersion is established according to the human information processing framework. This study introduces a dual-component method to conceptualise immersion and provides practical insights for better understanding immersive experiences in a specific context.

Keywords: Audience immersion; Immersive experience; Tourism performing arts; Human information processing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:anture:v:112:y:2025:i:c:s0160738325000623

DOI: 10.1016/j.annals.2025.103956

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