Abstract: Immersion is important for the formation of memorable, extraordinary tourism experience. In-depth exploration of tourist immersion is of great value. This article explored the connotation of tourist immersion from the perspective of tourists, and developed and validated the scale. Study 1 explored the connotation of tourist immersion based on existing literature, online travel notes and interviews using grounded theory. Based on the online and offline questionnaires and combining exploratory and validation analyses, Study 2 clarified that the tourist immersion scale contains 14 items in 4 dimensions: embodied perception, emotional expression, spatio-temporal dislocation, and deeply participation, and the scale has good reliability and validity. Study 3 constructed a rule network including satisfaction and loyalty, and verified that the tourist immersion scale had good rule validity based on the online and offline questionnaires using structural equation model. This study provides a valid measurement tool for future academic research on tourism experience and tourist immersion, and provides practical enlightenment for the development, management and marketing of tourism destination immersion.

Key words: tourists, immersion, tourism experience, grounded theory, scale