From online games to offline travel: Gaming flow, attachment, and esports travel

Despite the growing importance of esports tourism as a strategy to attract young tourists to destinations, limited research has been conducted on how the online gaming experience influences offline esports travel. This paper first maps a framework to indicate young players’ heterogeneity in the relationships between gaming experiences, attachment, and esports travel intentions. A survey targeting 751 young egamers in China was conducted using quota sampling. Results confirm the positive relationships between egames flow, attachment, and esports travel. Findings reveal that challenge-based, sensory, and imaginative immersion significantly affect the gaming flow experience, while players’ self-expression and social interaction contribute to their attachment to esports. Further, gender and game experience are essential factors that moderate the role of gaming experience and attachment in esports travel intentions. Practical implications are provided for esport game design and tourism promotion.