Exploring multisensory place experiences through cruise blog analysis

The multisensory approach to understanding consumer behavior has received increasing attention as a factor shaping individuals' perception, attitude, and behavior. However, previous studies have scarcely investigated the role of senses on destination experiences as places of consumption. The aim of the research is to uncover tourists' meaningful multisensory place perceptions by analyzing cruise travel blogs. The study conducted a thematic content analysis of 248 blog entries on Mediterranean port of call experiences using the text analytics software Leximancer. The results show a convergence between visual, gustatory, olfactory, and haptic impressions, while auditory perceptions are scarce and refer mainly to the presence/absence of noise. Interestingly, unlike past multisensory studies that reported haptic perceptions as the least salient sensory dimension in tourist experiences, the research identified three haptic themes associated with cutaneous, hedonic-elicited, and somatic touch. The research yields a threefold contribution: (a) It provides empirical evidence for the relevance of multisensory perceptions on tourists' evaluation of place experiences; (b) a novel methodological approach to assessing sensory impressions is used by analyzing tourists' freely written online narratives; and (c) the research broadens the scope of existing multisensory literature by assessing urban/coastal travel destination experiences.