Escaping Modern Routine: Experiential Immersion as a Regulatory Mechanism in Living History Tourism

Living history tourism is traditionally framed through heritage preservation and edu-cational interpretation, yet the motivational mechanisms translating visitor engage-ment into behavioral commitment remain insufficiently theorized. This study develops and tests an integrated structural model conceptualizing living history environments as experiential systems operating under conditions of late-modern acceleration. Data were collected from 1,066 visitors at Skansen (Sweden) and analyzed using structural equation modeling. The findings indicate that detachment-oriented motives signifi-cantly activate experiential immersion, which emerges as the central psychological mechanism within the model. Immersion strengthens perceptions of historical authen-ticity and constitutes the dominant predictor of behavioral intention, whereas educa-tional motives exert a comparatively weaker effect. Mediation analysis demonstrates that the influence of escape on behavioral commitment operates indirectly through immersion, confirming a fully mediated experiential pathway. These results suggest that living history destinations function not primarily as didactic heritage platforms but as structured experiential environments enabling temporary disengagement from routine pressures. By integrating immersion, authenticity construction, and behavioral intention within a unified framework, the study repositions living history tourism as an experiential counter-space embedded in accelerated modernity.