Flow in soundscape: the conceptualization of soundscape flow experience and its relationship with soundscape perception and behaviour intention in tourism destinations

The soundscape is an essential type of attraction in tourism destinations. Music can serve as a significant tourist attraction that makes people immersed in it. Similarly, while tourists linger in the leisure and recreation environment, they may have a flow experience of the soundscape in tourism attractions. Yet, there is little research about the relationship between tourists’ perception of soundscape and flow experience. Taking Lijiang old town, a world heritage site, as an example, this study explored the dimensions of tourists’ perception of soundscape and soundscape flow experience and examined the influence of soundscape perception on soundscape flow experience. The results indicate that soundscape perception includes three dimensions: preference, comfort, and richness. The flow experience of soundscape is a second-order construct in this research, which contains four dimensions: time distortion, control, enjoyment, and concentration. Besides, preference and richness positively influence flow experience, and flow experience contributes to behavioural intention, whereas comfort does not significantly affect flow experience. This study applied flow theory to soundscape research, which enriches the study of soundscape experience. This study has also provided management strategies for tourism destinations to improve the quality of the soundscape experience.