1. Introduction

Early years experiences oftentimes become a predictor ofone'sattitudinal and behavioral patterns in his or her adolescence. Within the context of travel and tourism, previous studies showed there is a relationship between childhood experiences and memories and adulthood personalities, lifestyles, and their recreational behaviors (e.g. Elmi, et al., 2019; Xu, et al., 2023). This paper presents a study thatexamined the relationship betweenexperiences with childhood stories andvisit intentiontothe places that were told in childhood stories. Children's exposure to the places in their childhood stories, whether the places are real or fictional, can instill a particular image of the places in their minds.Such image that was built and brought from their childhood can predict how adults perceive the places in the stories.

Aside from affecting visit intention, childhood experiences also affect children's cognitive development (Piaget, 1929).Cognitive progress involves a wide aspect of mental activities, such as memorizing, solving problems and being creative, inventing, and dreaming and fantasizing, to name a few. In tourism studies, scholars have investigated the relationships between past active experiences and tourists'cognition. For example, they studied the relationship between individuals' past travelrelated activities and the effects on individuals' cognition. One study revealedthat there is an influence of family trips on children's academic scores(Park, et al., 2020). In another study, Elmi, et al. (2019) found that travel experiences contribute to personal growth, for instanceopenness to receivingcriticismfor improvements from others.

Other scholars have researched into various other related themes, including the relationshipsbetween mass media and tourists' cognitions, andthe relationships between childhood story-inclusive experiences and tourists' behaviors. Examples of the firstmentioned themeinclude television program- and movie-induced tourism, in that tourists' intention to visit a tourist attraction or destination isa consequence of theirexperiences with watchingthe places shown or depicted in television programs and movies (e.g. Busby & Klug, 2001; Connell, 2005; Abd Rahman, et al., 2019; Riley, et al., 1998; Telim, et al., 2022; Tuclea & Nistoreanu, 2011).These studies suggested that destination-specific movies and television programs increase tourism demand to the places portrayed in the movies and television programs. Examples from the second mentioned theme showed that literatures also provide a motivational background for tourists to visit particular sites that are included in the readings (e.g. Busby & Shetliffe, 2013; Engelking, 2019; Herbert, 2001; Suyasa, 2019).Such findings suggest that the places made known in publicized mass media, be it electronic or print, usually attract visitors, which may be the case for those in childhood stories.

Still in relation to past experiences, one study specifically focused on travel photographs and how they affect tourists' revisit intention to a destination (Zhang, et al., 2020). Zhang suggests that photographs from past travels – not necessarily from childhood – can build autobiographical memory whichwill in turn drive tourists' revisit intention to the places documented in the photographs. All these topicslinked to past experiences in building tourists' cognitions support the notion that what children absorbedand processed in their younger years usually will construct their future attitudinal and behavioral patterns. Thus, based on these findings, it can be suggested that individual's past experiences with childhood stories determine their positive attitudes and behaviors toward the places narrated in childhood stories.

Other studies examined places that are told in childhood stories and have attracted tourists to visit the places. Several examples include New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and Belitung Island, Indonesia. New Zealand, particularly Lake Wakatipu, Glenorchy Village, and Mount Earslaw in the South Island, were some of the filming locations of the fictionaltrilogy books, Lord of the Rings (LOTR), which were written by a famous British author, J.R.R. Tolkien, and published in 1954. Singh

& Best (2004) studied how these locations have generated a variety of motivations for international visitors to visit, which included to experience the natural scenery, the movie set, and the fantasy theme of LOTR; to learn about the filming locations; motives that are related to a sensory pleasure and recognition; the interest in the story itself; to satisfy children's interest in the story; and to visit the destination that are facilitated by the easy accessibility. Meanwhile, some places in England, Scotland, and Wales have been associated with those in fictional Harry Potter novel series, which were written by a British author, J.K. Rowling and published between 1997 and 2007. The study found that social media have played a role in building a basis for Chinese tourists to visit, experience, and build perceptions of real places that are associated with those in the fictions. Another example is Belitung Island in the Province of Riau Island, Indonesia, which became the basis for a novel by an Indonesian author, Andrea Hirata, that was published in 2005 and became a success nationally. The story, which was based on the author's childhood life, features real places in the west part of the island that have attracted domestic tourists following the success of the book publication. Atmaja, et al. (2011) examined how the island has become a magnet for domestic tourists, which began in the west part and eventually spread out to the east part where the entry gate for tourists visiting the island is located. The popularity of Belitung Island in this context also has been facilitated by tour operators that created packaged tours to the places and the local hotel industry. Based on these studies, a similar pattern can be made which suggests how places in children stories, be they real or fictional, can develop into tourist attractionsafter they are used as a basis for a movie setting.

Despite the numerous studies vis-à-vis previous and juvenile experiences and tourists' future cognitions and attitudes, little is known about the relationship between childhood stories and visit intention in Indonesia. One study example that is perhaps closest to the topic was conducted by Reijnders (2016), where he studied about recollection of beloved stories and tourist practices, such as decision to visit a destination, and tourist experiences in the destination. This study was conducted to fill the gap, with a particular purpose to examine the relationship between childhood stories and intention to visit the places told in the stories among Tourism college students in Indonesia. Findings of this study will contribute to the tourism knowledge, specifically regarding the roles and relationship between childhood stories and future decisions to travel to childhood story-induced attractions and destinations. In addition, such findings also will be beneficial to tourist destination management organizations (DMOs) and tours and travel industry, on which they can use as a basis for consideration, development, management, and marketing of childhood story-inducedattractions and destinations to a specific tourist market segment.

2. Conceptual Review

2.1. Childhood Stories

Stories are an inseparable part of humans' lives. They are part of cultures through which humans express the truth, their experiences, thoughts, and, even, imagination to other humans (Oatley, 1999). They are told to teach lessons, to inspire, and to entertain people. Stories are often told to children and serve variably in the process of their upbringing and development, as well as for them to understand the real world (Gerrig, 2018). In understanding stories, cognitive skills function the same as when humans learn to understand the real life (Gerrig, 2018; Hogan, 2003; Zunshine, 2006). However, some stories also were created out of humans' imagination as fictions. Oatley quoted Aristotle's claim regarding stories, that "it can represent and communicate useful truths about the world, despite the fact that fiction is fabricated and not fully representation of reality". Stories usually include characters, background settings, and places. Places in children stories can be either real or fictional.

The US-based National Storytelling Network in Yabe (2018) defined storytelling as "the interactive art of using words and actions to reveal the elements and images of a story while encouraging the listener's imagination."Yabe (2018) grouped storytelling methods into two, including oral, where direct contacts between the storytellers and the audience take place, and written, where storytelling is undertaken with the use of print media. In oral storytelling method, the presence of the storytellers is key. Storytellers tell the stories to their audience by using verbal and body movements, and are often facilitated with additional materials. This fashion of storytelling is different from that in theprint media, as Yabe further explained, "It should be noted that storytelling is totally different from picturebook reading since storytelling is performed without the use of any printed materials, usually with frequent eye contact between the performer and the listener".

Stories bring many benefits to children. Some of the benefits include building children's social skills and personal development as well as stimulating their imagination. Black, et al. (2021) confirmed the notion of stories' influence on building children's social skills, "Fiction – when it is listened to, or when it appears in print, film, and video games – introduces people not only to storyworlds, but also to characters, their relationships, and complex social interactions. A growing body of research suggests that people who listen to, read, or watch fiction may learn social skills from stories through various mechanisms, including with and forming parasocial relationships with characters, and simulating the social experiences in the stories". Stories also can stimulate children's imagination due to their involvement with children's cognitive senses. Such imagination also can contribute to children's communication skills, including both oral and written. Grecu (2019) elaborated this notion, "The story, as an activity of language education, is attractive and pleasant for children because it accomplishes their need of knowledge and affectivity; it stimulates their imagination forming a necessary way of exercising and developing their communication capacity". In addition, Grecu also suggested that children stories can impel children to acquire knowledge and development by using their imagination with the characters in the stories, "It goes beyond the limits of everyday life and introduces the child in a fantastic world that fascinates and influences him, becoming one of his best trainers in his learning and development process. In the imaginary trips induced of stories and tales, the child feels happy, because he intermingles with characters, he takes part in their actions, good or bad, and even imitates their activity later".

A story should consist of several elements, including a plot (a combination of several narrative threads merged into a single storylinethat audience can easily follow as an overall story), a setting (time, place, and characters), a theme (an initiating event that causes the main character to react and form a goal or face a problem), plot episodes (events in which the main character attempts to attain the goal or solve the problem), and a resolution (the attainment of the goal or solving of the problem, which may have long-term ramifications) (Morrow, 1986). A story also should include characters, ideas, concepts, objects, and relationships that stimulate interest and motivation. Characters include agent (the people in the story), along with their predicament (the problem the agents are trying to solve), intentions (what the agents plan to do), actions (what the agents do to achieve their intentions), objects (the tools the agents will use), causality (the effects, both intended and unintended), of carrying out actions), contexts (the many details surrounding the agents and actions), and surprises (the unexpected things that happen in the story).

It is also noteworthy, and perhaps relevant to this study, that a story should have a narrative point of view. Such narrative point of view means that a story gives an account of something that has occurred. It includes images, such as the place the readers were visiting, the people they would meet, and the experiences of a place setting, combination of words and sound, in which the audience's imagination and emotions are engaged, and feeling that might provoke. Furthermore, a story should be entertaining, inspiring, and memorable.

There is no standardized requirement on how the main content is organized. However, we expect the author to divide it into several sections indicating literature review and analytical results and discussions.

2.2. Visit Intention

People' intention to visit a tourist attraction or destination has been studied in a multitude of tourism studies. It often was used as dependent variable connected to various independent variables. In this study, the authors investigated if visit intention depends onchildhood story-induce experiences, particularly among Tourism college students in Indonesia. Visit intention refers to "… possibility to visit particular places in certain period" (Chen & Tsai, 2007; Kaplanidou & Vogt, 2007; Ng, et al., 2007; Wang, 2015). The indicators of visit intention (Schifman & Kanuk, 2007) within the tourism context include:

First, preferential, which means that a tourist prefers visiting a tourist attraction or destination to other tourist attractions or destinations of similar type. This concept requires more than one option, where a tourist chooses one tourist attraction or destination over the other for one or more reasons. For example, a tourist prefers traveling and spending leisure time on a beachin Seminyak to that in Kuta – both are in Bali. Second, explorative, which means a tourist will make efforts at searching and gathering information on a tourist attraction or destination before they make a decision to travel to the place. This concept involves a proaction after one decides to proceed from the preferential to the transactional stage. Third, transactional, which means a tourist finally makes his or her decision and travel to a tourist attraction or destination and purchase all the products and services needed in his or her trips. Fourth, referential, which means a tourist will recommend a tourist attraction or destination to the others, such as family members and friends, after they travel and spend leisure time at the tourist attraction or destination. In other words, this concept refers to a post-trip action where one will encourage others to visit the place he or she visited.

3. Method

This study employed a quantitative approach to investigate if there is a relationship between childhood stories and visitors' intention to visit the places told in their childhood stories. Based on the purpose, two hypotheses were developed, including:

^H0: There is no relationship between childhood stories and visit intention to the places in the story. ^Ha: There is a relationship between childhood stories and visit intention to the places in the story.

An e-questionnaire containing 13statements for Variable X Childhood Stories and four for Variable Y Visit Intention to Places in Childhood Stories was prepared. The indicators used for Variable X were modified based on Effects of Structural Guidance in Story Retelling on Children's Dictation of Original Stories (Morrow, 1986), and those of Hasan's in Geraldine, et al. (2022) for Variable Y Visit Intention. Using Whatsapp groups, the e-questionnaire was distributed to the respondents in the first half of 2023. The population of this study was Indonesian Tourism students of higher learning institutesand the total number was unknown. Thus, Lemeshow's formula was used to determine the number of samples, which eventually generated valid data from 145 respondents across many parts of the country. For each statement in the questionnaire, respondents were asked to mark any point that closely represented their attitudes as their answers. A 5-point Likert's scale was used, ranging from 1 as Strongly Disagree, 2 Disagree, 3 Fair, 4 Agree, and 5 Strongly Agree. To process the data, an SPSS Statistic was used, which generated a simple linear regression, a t-Test, and a summary model, among others.

4. Results

The following table shows the respondents profile. It can be summarized that the respondents in this study were predominantly female, aged above 21 years old, residing in Bali, West Nusa Tenggara, and East Nusa Tenggara Provinces, and read books as a source of childhood stories.

Table 1. Respondents Profile

Source: Processed Questionnaire Data (2023)

The Table 2 presents the scores obtained for each statement in Variable X Childhood Stories. It can be seen here that the elements of the characters in the stories and the easiness of the stories to be remembered received the highest average score (each 4.17), whereas the element of details in the stories received the lowest average score (3.79).

The Table 3 presents the scores obtained for each statement in Variable Y Visit Intention to Places in Childhood Stories. The indicator of wanting to visit or revisit the places in childhood stories received the highest average score (4.08), whereas those of preferring visiting the places in the stories to other places and making efforts at searching information on the places in the stories received the lowest average scores (3.77 each).

Table 2. Childhood Stories (Variable X)

Source: Processed questionnaire data (2023)

Table 3.Visit Intention to Places in Childhood Stories (Variable Y)

Source: Processed questionnaire data (2023)

The following table presents the calculation of the simple linear regression to see if there is a relationship between childhood stories and intention to visit the places in the stories.

Table 4. Simple Linear Regression

Dependent Variable: Visit Intention

Source: Processed questionnaire data (2023)

The regression formula used is:

\[Y = \alpha + \beta 1 + X1 + e\]
\(Y = 1.785 + 0.259 X1 + e\)

Notes:

Y = Visit intention to the places in childhood stories

E = Standard Error

α = Constant

X1 = Childhood Stories

ß1 = Regression coefficient from the Childhood Stories variable

Based on the regression coefficient value, it can be concluded that:

The value of the dependent variable, Visit Intention to the Places in Childhood Stories (Y), can be seen from its constant value, 1.785, provided the independent variable, Childhood Stories (X), does not affect the dependent variable.

Based on the regression coefficient value, 0.259, it can be interpreted that for every unit of change in the Childhood Stories variable there will bean increase of value of 0.259 for Visit Intention to the Places in Childhood Stories.

Based on the Simple Linear Regression table, the hypothesis test (t-Test) can be concluded as follows:

• Hypotheses
  • H0 : ß1 = 0 (the variable Childhood Stories (X) partially does not influence Visit Intention to the Places in Childhood Stories (Y))
  • Ha : ß1 ≠ 0 (the variable Childhood Stories (X) partially influences Visit Intention to the Places in Childhood Stories (Y))
• Significance value = 0.000
• The value of t count = 10.926
• The value of t table = 1.656
  • The value of t table can be seen on the value of t table with df = 143 and significance 5%
• The conclusion that can be made is because the value of t count > t table, 10.926> 1.656, and the significance value 0.000 < 0.05, then H0 is rejected and Ha is accepted. This shows that the variable Childhood Stories partially but significantly influences Visit Intention to Places in Childhood Stories.

Having presented the Simple Linear Regression and the t-Test, the following table shows the model summary of this study:

Table 5.Determination Coefficient Table

Model Summary

• a. Predictors: (Constant), Childhood Stories
• b. Dependent Variable: Visit Intention

Source: Processed questionnaire data (2023)

The above table shows that the correlation value (R) is 0.675, which means there is a strong relationship between Childhood Stories and Visit Intention to Places in Childhood Stories. Furthermore, the value of simple determination coefficient (R-square) is 0.455 or 45.5%, which shows that 45.5% of Visit Intention to Places in Childhood Stories is influenced by Childhood Stories and the remaining total of percentage (54.5%) is influenced by other variables beyond this study.

5. Discussion

Even though 42.8% of the respondents are members of Gen-Z, and 57.2% are most likely still Gen-Z members (college students aged above 21), it is interesting to find that they still heard stories through conventional methods, which included storybooks, storytelling by their parents at homes and by their teachers at schools, and electronic devices such as movies, television, and radio. This finding is opposite to what the authors presumed that most Gen-Z members would hear stories predominantly from information technology-based media, such as the internet, social media, and YouTube, which made up 13.1% of the total respondents. This finding shows that storybooks and personal storytelling were still common methods among the respondents in this study.

Regarding the Story Childhood variable, findings showed that characters in the stories and the easiness of the stories to be remembered seem to be the elements that respondents found easiest to keep in mind. Characters are one of the main components of stories – thus, it is only sensible that the respondents remember them most than other components. This seems to fit with the element that received the lowest average score, which was the details of the stories. It is also only sensible that people would only remember the general aspect of a story rather than the details.

Regarding the Visit Intention to Childhood Places variable, findings showed that respondents' interest to visit the places in their childhood stories received the highest average score. However, this finding seems to be contrary to the other finding that they still would choose visiting other places beyond those in their childhood stories if they have other options. This finding also is supported by another finding that the respondents would make less efforts at searching for information on the places in the childhood stories if they have a chance to do so.

Perhaps the aforementioned findings explain that even though there is a significant relationship between the two variables, specifically there is an influence of childhood stories on intention to visit the places in the stories, respondents would still prefer choosing to visit other destinations than those in their childhood stories provided they have more options. In other words, even though respondents have a good recollection or imagination of the places from their childhood stories, and that they have the interest in visiting them, the places in childhood stories do not become a priority when they have other options. It would be interesting to find the factors other than those included as the indicators that interest the respondents to visit the places in their childhood stories. Another possibility is that some of the places told in the stories may be fictional or imaginary, which makes it impossible to visit.

It is interesting to find that a big number of the respondents mentioned two places as examples of their recollected places in their childhood stories, and that these places are fictional rather than real ones. Such places are part of local famous legends or folklores, which included the legends of Sangkuriang and Malin Kundang. Thelegend of Sangkuriang, originated in West Java, is related to Mount Tangkuban Perahu in the north of the city of Bandung, whereas the legend of Malin Kundang to a stone on a coastal area in West Sumatra. Both legends contain virtues and have been popularized by the use of either oral storytelling and print media, such as books, rather than being used as a basis for movies. In addition, both legends also are connected to real sites, which become a pattern for the respondents in this study.

Findings of this study support the notion that childhood experiences affect attitudinal and behavioral patterns among adults. They also support findings of previous studies where childhood experiences with places, regardless of the methods of storytelling,mostly result in adults' positive attitudes and behaviors toward the places.

6. Conclusion

The study showed there is a strong relationship between childhood stories and visit intention to the places told in the stories.However, despite respondents' interest in visiting places in their childhood stories, it is noteworthy that visiting such places do not become a priority provided they have other options. Findings of this study fill the gap of information regarding the influence of childhood stories on visit intention. It can give an insight to the DMOs and tours and travel companiesabout the destinations or places than can be planned for development, management, and promotion for a specific tourist market segment, specifically tourists who are interested in visiting childhood storybased tourist destinations or attractions. Further studies can be conducted to explore the 54.5% of unknown factors that influence respondents' intention to visit the places in their childhood stories or the volume of this specific tourist market segment. In addition, it also will be interesting to know if people are more interested in visiting places that are told in childhood stories and become bases for movie settings compared to those that are merely told in stories, regardless they are fictional or real ones. Finding of the recommended study will give an insight to the role of movies in generating tourists to a story- and movie-based tourist destinations.

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