What leads to an immersive night tourism experience? The relevance of multi-sensory stimuli, emotional involvement, and delight

As interest in immersive tourism grows, it remains to be seen how destinations can create an immersive night tourism experience (INTE) through strategic sensory stimuli. Using a mixed method approach, this study innovatively explores how tourists' multi-sensory experiences stimulate emotions and influence the INTE. The results from structural equation modelling revealed that multi-sensory experiences, emotional involvement, and feelings of delight, had positive impacts on the INTE, and results from fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (Fs/QCA) further uncovered several combined paths that led to an INTE. These fresh insights offer implications for destinations that wish to improve the night tourism experience.