In pursuit of identifying the overall value of Gotaek (Korean traditional old house) as a tourism resource, this study delved into the distinct experience levels tourists feel through a Gotaek stay. Detailed experience elements such as entertainment, education, novelty, and relation were proposed, based on the experience economy theory (Pine & Gilmore, 1998). Furthermore, the unique value of the Gotaek experience was focused on the causal relations between memorability and place attachment and between place attachment and behavioral intention. Data collection was conducted over a month from July 15 to August 15, 2020, from tourists with Gotaek stay experience.
Researchers personally visited 12 Gotaek in Gyeongju and Andong to collect data and collected 383 completed questionnaires, from which 62 invalid responses were excluded, leaving 322 copies for final analysis. SPSS 21.0 and LISREL 8.6 programs were used for the various statistical analyses. First, a frequency analysis was performed to understand respondents’ demographic and general characteristics, and reliability analysis was performed to evaluate each measurement. After completing a correlation analysis and a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to confirm the association between the suggested factors, a t-test and ANOVA were conducted to analyze any other differences among the factors. Lastly, the independent variable and the dependent variable''s detailed influences and structural relationships were confirmed through structural equation modeling (SEM).
Results showed that among the four proposed Gotaek experience elements, all except education experience had significant effects on memorability. The relative influence of the proposed experience elements was novelty experience, followed by entertainment experience, and relation experience. Results also revealed that the Gotaek experience''s memorability is linked to place attachment and then to both revisit and recommendation intentions. For some practical implications, this study also presented various concrete plans and ideas for improvement and reinforcement of detailed experience factors to increase the value of the Gotaek experience. Above all, it is necessary to prioritize a strategy to improve services'' content and increase tourists'' overall levels of experience by presenting differentiated experiences based on segmented tourist information.