Can winter sport nostalgia stimulate tourists’ motivation during the off-season? A two-wave longitudinal study

Drawing on theories of sport nostalgia and motivation, this study proposed a Seasonal Nostalgia-Motivation-Intention (SNMI) framework within active sport tourism to explain seasonal transitions. Given the strong seasonality and alpine setting of winter sport tourism, as well as growing concerns about global warming, the influence of winter sport nostalgia on behavior may fluctuate more than in other contexts. This study employed a two-wave longitudinal design to analyze both cross-sectional and cross-lagged relationships using data from 515 Japanese winter sport tourists. Cross-sectional analysis showed a significant direct effect of nostalgia on revisit intentions at both waves, stronger at T₁ (the end of the snow season) than T₂ (the height of the summer season), with the relationships mediated by motivation. At cross-lagged setting, nostalgia at T₁ exerted a negative effect on motivation and an indirect negative effect on revisit intentions at T₂. This study provides pioneering empirical evidence of the beneficial short-term impact and the bittersweet nature of winter sport nostalgia over time. The findings provide practical implications for strategic initiative in winter sports industry.