Place Attachment Genesis: The Case of Heritage Sites and the Role of Reenactment Performances

The literature about place attachment and its role as antecedent of destination loyalty focussed in the last decade on the sunny side of tourism (recreational and beach tourism), more market(ing)-oriented. Despite the considerable growth in heritage, reenactement and place attachment research literature, studies about the later did not test models on the context of heritage tourism, nor assessed the implication of the reenactment activities in visitor’s experiences and their long-term bond genesis. We used correlation, multilinear regression, and mediation analysis in order to explore the perceived instrumental role of reenactment representations in tourists’ experience at heritage sites and how tourists with different levels of reenactment activities seeking, form their complex bond with heritage tourism sites. The results showed that variables such as the strength of destination’s identification with a reenactment site, the tourist’s level of reenactment attending motivation, independent motivation to visit or the perceived role of reenactment in enhancing patriotic feelings explain a significant part of place identity component in place attachment genesis. The evaluation of alternatives inspired from the transactional theory in the functional attachment genesis from the previous place attachment models does not verify, on heritage sites, as a block. The evaluating process of places against alternatives will take place in some cases, but not in others such as heritage sites with great historical significance for their national or social group. The perceived instrumental role of reenactment in the national identity affirmation seems to partially mediate the level of destination’s identification as an impact of the reenactment site’s impact on place identity.