Influence of sensory experiences on tourists' emotions, destination memories, and loyalty

Abstract

We examined the influence of tourists' sensory experiences on their destination loyalty, and the mediating effects of tourists' emotions and memories of their experience. Data were collected using a self-report survey from 304 tourists visiting Wuyi Mountain, a natural and cultural World Heritage Site in China. We found positive impacts of sensory experiences on emotions, memories, and loyalty; of emotions on memories and loyalty; and of experience memories on loyalty. Further, sensory experiences increased tourists' loyalty by positively influencing their memories, and sensory experiences positively affected tourists' memories by arousing their emotions, thereby affecting their loyalty. Our findings provide a deeper understanding of the internal mechanism of stimulating sensory experiences for enhancing tourist loyalty. Avenues for engaging tourists should address the effect of sensory experiences on emotions and destination memories.