Memorable Tourism Experiences Research Articles

AN EXPLORATION OF TOURIST GUIDES' COMPETENCIES TO CREATE MEMORABLE TOURIST EXPERIENCES

Tourist guiding in South Africa is a sector of the tourism industry that is subject to regulation to acquire competence and skills to meet the guiding standards and to provide quality services to tourists. The research aims to explore the skill sets perceived by tourist guides as the most important in their professional practice to create a memorable tourist experience to ensure that skills perceived to be most important are considered during the guiding training course for present and future tourist guides to prepare them for both employment, long-life learning and enhance their performance to attain the highest level of customer satisfaction. This study made use of a descriptive quantitative research approach through an online survey research design to collect data. A non-random sample of 320 tourist guides was selected to participate in the study. Data from the online survey was coded into numerical representations and captured in Microsoft Excel. Descriptive statistics together with a confirmatory factor analysis were used to analyse and interpret the results. The results showed various skill sets perceived as the most important from the tourist guides' perspective, including honesty and reliability, ethical skills, time management, customer care skills, health and safety skills and communication skills.

Memorable Tourism Experience in Slow Cities: A Netnographic Analysis in the Case of Halfeti

The study aims to explore the components of foreign tourists’ memorable tourism experience about Halfeti which is one of the slow tourism destinations of Turkey. The study seeks to answer the questions of “In what expressions do tourists describe their Halfeti experiences?”, “What are the factors that tourists focus on in their description of Halfeti experiences?” and “How does the title of slow city affect tourists’ Halfeti experiences?”. The study is qualitative and netnography design was used in the research. To access the experiences of foreign tourists visiting Halfeti, the Tripadvisor platform was chosen. The data used in this study include 42 online narratives and thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. The factors that shape Halfeti experiences of foreign tourists were determined as “admiration”, “activities”, “nature”, “history”, “local culture”, “restaurants” and “location”. This study provides practical and future recommendations concerning the importance of the awareness of the title of slow city. The results show that the slow city title of Halfeti is not a determinant on MTE. Although some components that guide tourists' MTEs are a result of the initiatives initiated by the title of slow city, there is no indication that they had an MTE due to the destination being a slow city. This shows that while the district continues its activities related to the slow city, it also needs to increase the awareness of this title.

PENGARUH KUALITAS LAYANAN DAN MEMORABLE TOURISM EXPERIENCE TERHADAP KEPUASAN SERTA LOYALITAS WISATAWAN PADA KONDISI MENUJU NEW NORMAL

Currently, the government and destination managers are trying to recover from the crisis caused by the covid 19 pandemic. One of the ways to do this is through communication or promotion through digital marketing in order to generate and increase tourist demand. Therefore, the formulation of the problem as well as the purpose of this study is to analyze and prove: (1) the significant influence of service quality on tourist satisfaction. (2) significant influence of memorable tourism experience on tourist satisfaction, (3) significant influence of service quality on tourist loyalty, (4) significant influence of memorable tourism experience on tourist loyalty. (5) significant influence of tourist satisfaction on tourist loyalty, (6). Significant effect of service quality on tourist loyalty through Tourist Satisfaction. (7). Significant influence of memorable tourism experience on tourist loyalty through Tourist Satisfaction. The research was conducted in the tourist destination of Sarangan Lake, Magetan, East Java. The sample criteria used are tourists who have visited at least 2 times (twice). Data collection using google form. In this study, 129 effective questionnaires were collected which will then be processed using Structural Equating Modeling (SEM) which is operated using the AMOS application. This study concludes that (1) service quality has a significant effect on tourist satisfaction. (2) memorable tourism experience has a significant effect on tourist satisfaction, (3) service quality has a significant influence on tourist loyalty, (4) memorable tourism experience has a significant influence on tourist loyalty. (5) tourist satisfaction has a significant effect on tourist loyalty, (6). service quality has a significant effect on tourist loyalty through tourist satisfaction. (7). memorable tourism experience has a significant influence on tourist loyalty through tourist satisfaction

Memorable Tourist Experiences in National Parks: Impacts on Future Intentions and Environmentally Responsible Behavior

This study aims to investigate how national parks, identified as remarkable and, therefore, worthy of the trip, are visited and experienced. The main objective of this study was to explore the influence of memorable tourism experiences on environmentally responsible behavior, satisfaction, and behavioral intentions as its outcome. By giving an account of how national parks may be experienced by nature-based tourists, its main focus is on the concept of memorable nature-based tourist experience (MNBTE). The data for this research were collected through a survey from tourists visiting national parks in Serbia. The results demonstrate the significance of MNBTE as an important relationship mediator. The study’s key contributions are the extension of the memorable tourism experience construct and the inclusion of tourist satisfaction, intention to revisit, recommend, share the experience, and the environmental responsibility of tourists. Practical implications and potential future research approaches are also highlighted in the conclusion.

Destination Attributes of Memorable Chinese Rural Tourism Experiences: Impact on Positive Arousal, Memory and Behavioral Intention.

There is a lack of research on the composition of destination attributes of memorable tourism experiences (MTEs) and their impact on tourist loyalty in Chinese rural tourism. Based on the extended SOR (stimulus-organism-response) theory, this study constructs a model of destination attributes (gastronomy, accommodation, physiography, and rural lifestyle) of MTEs on tourists' recommend intention and revisit intention under the chain mediating effect of positive arousal and memory in Chinese rural tourism. Through the judgment sampling method, this study distributed questionnaires to the subjects who met the sampling standard in all provincial administrative regions in China. Finally, 270 valid questionnaires from 29 provincial administrative regions were obtained and the proposed hypotheses were verified using a structural equation model. The results show that gastronomy, accommodation, physiography and rural lifestyle are all destination attributes of MTEs in Chinese rural tourism, and all have a positive impact on positive arousal. In addition, they are positively correlated with recommend intention and revisit intention through the chain mediating effect of positive arousal and memory. This study explored the impact mechanism of destination attributes of MTEs on tourist destination loyalty in the field of Chinese rural tourism to enrich findings pertaining to the study of MTEs in different contexts. Four destination attributes of MTEs were proposed and verified, and this study also confirmed that destination attributes of MTEs vary with respect to the research context. The new destination attribute of MTEs was discovered. The research results showed that managers can deliver MTEs to tourists through optimizing gastronomy, accommodation, physiography and rural lifestyle, thus generating positive arousal, deepening their memory and then gaining their loyalty. In addition, the extended SOR theory proved that it could effectively and comprehensively explain the influencing mechanism of MTEs on tourist loyalty.

관광객의 사전 기대와 충족이 관광객의 진정성 인식과 관광경험의 형성에 미치는 영향

This study examined the effects of expectation in congruency on tourists’ authenticity perception and memorable tourism experience. The study was conducted in Bukchon Hanok Village and Korean Folk Village in South Korea. The results suggest that tourists had a more authentic and memorable experience when the experience was congruent with their pre-travel expectations. However, expectation congruent visitors did not show a significant difference in the constructive authenticity level compared to expectation incongruent visitors. Based on the findings, the current article discussed the importance of pre-travel expectations and communicating expectations about a destination that more closely resembles the actual on-site experience. Theoretical and managerial implications are also discussed in the conclusion and implications.

관광자의 기억에 남는 관광경험(MTE) 공유개념도 분석

In an increasingly competitive tourism market, creating long-lasting tourism experiences is critical. In this study, we use Zaltman's Metaphor Extraction Technique (ZMET), one of the visual qualitative research methods, to discover the essence of tourist experiences that tourists have long remembered and to find the universal thought structure shared by tourist groups as a shared conceptual diagram. ZMET believes that most human communication is nonverbal, and that figurative thinking is primarily expressed through images rather than language. In this study, ZMET, an effective methodology for identifying and surfacing invisible empirical thoughts, emotions, thoughts, and motives, was used to analyze the relationship between the constituent concepts and sub-components based on the memorable tourism experience and to determine the common value and final purpose of tourists. As a result, the concept commonly recognized by the tourist group was 1) Self examination and Self-finding 2) Novelty and Heterogeneity 3) Interaction with locals 4) Interaction with companion 5) Natural scenery 6) Serendipity 7) Locality 8) Escape from daily life 9) Healing 10) New knowledge and learning. Based on the findings of this study, it is important to broaden the academic base of the tourism field by developing a shared concept map shared by tourists and using it as basic data for marketing strategies and efficient decision-making, such as the planning and development of tourism contents and products.

Exploring memorable tourism experiences of senior tourists: An embodied cognitive perspective

Memorable tourism experiences (MTEs) play an essential role in decision-making and revisit intentions. However, extant studies have provided limited investigation of MTEs in different groups, especially senior tourists. Thus, following embodied cognition theory, this research explores the components of senior tourists’ memorable experiences (SMTEs) with an emphasis on their body characteristics and uniqueness. Through in-depth interviews with 26 senior tourists in China, the findings show that SMTEs are the result of embodied, situational and cognitive interaction, which are related to sensory enjoyment, embodied barriers, emotional experiences, identity, control and serendipity. Interestingly, our study finds two types of interaction between sensory enjoyment and embodied barriers on shaping memory, discovering the positive role of seniors’ body state on shaping SMTEs. Findings also provide academic and practical implications to help understand senior tourists from a new perspective.

Memorable experience studies in wellness tourism: systematic review & bibliometric analysis

ABSTRACT This paper aims to investigate, summarize, and synthesize existing reviews of evidence relevant to memorable tourism experiences (MTE) and wellness tourism phenomena. An existing review of evidence and the contributions of publications from numerous scientific domains, extracted using Web of Science and Google Scholar databases, extending from 2010 to 2022, on memorable tourism experiences and wellness tourism phenomena, were comprehensively examined, summarised, and synthesised through systematic literature review and bibliometric analysis, employing VOSviewer software. Findings revealed key phrases in scientific publications predominantly on MTE in determining its antecedents, behavioral intentions, attachment to destinations, modelling MTE, and experiences associated with different niche tourism forms; yet, wellness tourism was not outlined among the key phrases. Though recent scholars have meticulously explored MTE, focusing diverse niche tourism forms, being an emergent niche tourist form, wellness tourism shows no evidence in MTE studies, indicating literature and empirical gap. Numerous standard and distinctive dimensions to measure MTE in diverse niche tourism forms, particularly the forms identified as sub-sections of wellness tourism, were identified that would be useful to develop MTE scale on wellness in future. Thus, identifying specific constructs to develop a scale on memorable wellness tourism experiences is suggested while recommending a separate scale.

Time for Tea: Factors of Service Quality, Memorable Tourism Experience and Loyalty in Sustainable Tea Tourism Destination

Underpinned by Script Theory and the S-O-R model, this research enhances the green tourism consumption literature to identify how destination service quality contributes to visitors’ memorable experiences and loyalty towards a place-based food tourism attraction. A total of 202 tourists who visited the Best of Highlands tea plantation in Malaysia were surveyed using an online questionnaire. Using PLS-SEM, this study has several notable findings: (i) destination service quality factors: activities, cleanliness, language, and security emerged as predictors of memorable tourism experiences; (ii) memorable tourism experiences strongly predicted destination loyalty; and (iii) memorable tourism experiences mediate the path between destination service quality and destination loyalty. This study therefore provides new insights into both sustainable tea tourism and script theory with respect to how memories guide future decision making. These results also provide insights for tea tourism providers in designing an unforgettable destination that stimulates the tourist’s intention to revisit the destination and to communicate it to others.

Towards a better understanding of memorable wellness tourism experience

ABSTRACT The global outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 has raised awareness of the importance of physical, mental and spiritual wellness, and many consumers (tourists) are turning to holistic approaches to their health and well-being. This study tests a new model of memorable wellness tourism experience by examining the effects of novelty, experience co-creation, experiencescape, refreshment and involvement. This study also examines the relationship between memorable wellness tourism experience, subjective well-being and revisit intention. Data were gathered from 272 tourists who had recently undertaken a holiday, whose main motivation to undertake this trip was wellness, and who participated in a wellness activity within the six months preceding the data collection period (January–June 2022). An online survey questionnaire was distributed through Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) in July 2022. This study’s main contributions include the extension of the memorable tourism experience concept by including other key factors that influence tourists’ memorable wellness tourism experiences. The relationship between memorable wellness tourism experience, subjective well-being and revisit intention was also shown to be significant.

Memorable Halal Tourism Experience and Its Effects on Place Attachment

ABSTRACT Although Halal tourism is becoming an important tourism sector and represents one of the largest niche markets in global tourism, the aspects that makes this type of tourism memorable are still unexplored for academics and practitioners. The aim of this study is to examine the relationships between hedonism, novelty, local culture, refreshment, meaningfulness, involvement, knowledge and memorable Halal tourism experience. The study also examines the relationship between memorable Halal tourism experience and place attachment. Data were gathered from Muslim tourists who had a halal tourism experience during the 48 months preceding the time of data collection (April 2018–March 2022). The empirical results support all eight hypotheses. The results also extend the memorable tourism experience concept in the context of Halal tourism. A positive relationship between a memorable Halal tourism experience and place attachment was also supported.

Antecedents and outcomes of memorable tourism experiences in tourism recreation: the case of motorcycle tourism

ABSTRACT Mototourism is a kind of tourism that has consistently been overlooked by tourism experts. However, it is currently considered as one of the fastest growing segments of tourism. This is generating and attracting much attention from researchers. Despite the importance of memorable tourism experiences (MTEs) for destinations, no studies have yet assessed this aspect in the motorcycle tourism industry. This paper examines the antecedents and consequences of MTEs in this sector. In this respect, the objective of this research is to explore the concept of mototourism and to propose a structural model with first-order and second-order constructs. To this end, a survey questionnaire was applied to a sample of 457 Spanish motorcycle tourists, and AMOS software was used for the data analysis. The findings show that motivation is an important precursor of MTEs in the mototourism industry. At the same time, the results show that MTEs have an effect on the satisfaction and behavioural intention in this industry.

A Review of Memorable Experiences and Their Implications for Tourism Experiences in Management and Marketing Science

The memory that a tourist experience will leave with consumers is a key variable that can assist researchers to understand better the key mechanisms of a memorable experience. Memorable experiences have powerful connections with satisfaction, repeat purchase, and positive recommendations. Beyond assessing the quality of the experience itself, studies investigating memorable experiences allow researchers to gain a broader vision of the key components that differentiate a memorable experience from one that is not. Various studies have been conducted on memorable tourism experiences, but a consensus has not yet been reached and the present paper aims to condense the cumulative knowledge acquired so far in management and marketing, and identify which areas should deserve further attention. The paper also draws attention to the evolution of experience memories: how they evolve over time and keep impacting consumption choices. This area has been less researched in the tourism literature, although it is also a strategic marketing dimension.

자아이미지 일치성, 집단응집력, 정서적 연대가 기억에 남는 관광경험(MTE)에 미치는 영향: 여행관여도의 조절효과

The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of self-image congruity with destination, group cohesiveness of travel members, and emotional solidarity with local residents on memorable tourism experiences (MTE). It also examines the moderating effects of travel involvement on the relationships suggested. An on-site survey was conducted to tourists who were visiting Jeju, and a total 233 of questionnaires were used for the final analysis. The results are as follows. First, self-image congruity positively affects MTE. Second, group cohesiveness and emotional solidarity also positively affect MTE. Third, the travel involvement moderates the relationship only between ideal self-image congruence and MTE. The results suggest that the more the ideal self-image shows congruence with the destination, the more it gives a greater impact in the MTE for those with high travel involvement. Several practical implications are also suggested.

Exploring the influence of tourists’ happiness on revisit intention in the context of Traditional Chinese Medicine cultural tourism

Based on how tourists interpret the destination experience and on attachment theory, this study investigates the influencing mechanism of tourists' happiness on revisit intention for traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) cultural tourism destinations. Three tourist samples confirm the three dimensions of tourists' happiness: positive emotions, engagement, and meaning. Two surveys were conducted to test the direct and indirect influence of tourists' happiness on revisit intention and the moderating role of tourists' health consciousness. The results show that tourists' happiness promotes memorable tourism experience and place attachment, in turn stimulating revisit intention. The results also support health consciousness as a significant moderator between happiness, place attachment, and revisit intention. The findings enrich theoretical understanding of tourists’ happiness and provide marketing and management advice for TCM cultural tourism destinations.

Sources of negative memorable experiences: Finnish Airbnb guest perspectives

PurposeThis study aims to bridge the gaps in the extant literature on memorable tourism experiences (MTEs) and Airbnb by exploring the sources of negative memorable Airbnb experiences among Finnish guests.Design/methodology/approachThis study used a qualitative approach and used data collected through semi-structured interviews. The sampling criteria for selecting participants were that they must be Finnish nationals who had booked and stayed in an Airbnb accommodation within the past 36 months. The participants were selected using a criteria-based snowball sampling technique. A qualitative empirical study was conducted using self-structured interviews that were completed by 18 Finnish tourists who had stayed at an Airbnb property in the past three years.FindingsThree main sources constitute the conceptual framework of a negative memorable Airbnb experience: unclean accommodations, unpleasant host behaviour and poor customer service.Practical implicationsAirbnb management should make efforts to reduce guests’ negative experiences. This goal can be achieved by developing service-quality-management policies and strategies that are standardised, clear and universally applicable to all hosts. In addition, Airbnb management should recruit qualified customer service personnel and equip them with service recovery skills through training and control mechanisms. Such training should focus on upgrading their ability to handle complaints.Originality/valueThis study responds to the need to examine negative incidents that are a part of MTEs and the sources of negative memories. The originality of this study includes the extension of the existing literature on MTEs and Airbnb, as a conceptual framework of negative memorable Airbnb experiences that comprises three main components: unclean rooms, unpleasant host behaviour and poor customer service has been proposed.

Equifinal paths to megafauna conservation through memorable wildlife tourism experiences: evidence from the restitution of the European bison (Bison bonasus) in Poland

ABSTRACT Despite a vast literature conceptualizing a memorable tourism experience, empirical studies overlook the context in which those experiences are produced and compiled into actions that benefit the environment. Accordingly, we need to better understand to what extent the experience of megafauna enclosures strengthens visitors’ overall support for wildlife protection. To close this knowledge gap, we study memorable tourism experiences in the Bison enclosures within Poland to better understand the significance of the environmental context in which the experience induces support for protecting the species. To this end, the study employs both symmetric and asymmetric models to uncover the complexity of individual behavioural paths. The PLS-SEM results confirm the role of memorable experiences in the relationship between attitudinal and behavioural outcomes. In a complimentary manner, the fsQCA results reveal how environmental planners can analyze complex constellations of internal and external factors to elucidate the conditions that generate visitor support for wildlife protection.

Memorable tourism experiences and critical outcomes among nature-based visitors: a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis approach

ABSTRACT Intense global competition for natural resources, manifesting in negative environmental externalities, has forced hospitality and tourism stakeholders to adopt strategies that may result in economic growth in tandem with environmental conservation. One such strategy is to cultivate travellers’ loyalty to the tourism destinations and encourage them to participate in environmentally friendly activities. Using the affective theory of social exchange, social identity, stimulus–organism–response, tourism consumption system and attachment theories, this study proposes and tests a configurational model that predicts the antecedents of visitors’ pro-environmental behavioural intentions (PEBIs) regarding their desire to revisit (REVI) and recommend (RECI) the services that they experienced. Fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis was applied to assess the effect of memorable tourism experiences, place attachment, and demographics on these outcomes. The findings revealed that multiple configurations can predict visitors’ intentions at tourist destinations. This study’s implications for theory, practice, and future research directions are also discussed.

The mediating roles of memorable tourism experiences and destination image in the correlation between cultural heritage rejuvenation experience quality and revisiting intention

PurposeThis study primarily aims to investigate the indirect and direct effects of cultural heritage rejuvenation experience quality on tourists' revisiting intention through memorable tourism experiences and destination image in the context of cultural heritage tourism.Design/methodology/approachA structural equation modeling test with maximum likelihood estimation was used to test structural relationships between variables in the proposed model using the responses of 461 participants.FindingsThe results indicated that the cultural heritage rejuvenation experience quality exerted a significant positive impact on memorable tourism experiences. Destination image and memorable tourism experiences positively correlated with tourists' revisiting intention. Destination image and memorable tourism experiences partially mediated the correlation between cultural heritage rejuvenation experience quality and revisiting intention.Originality/valueThe study shows that it is meaningful to include memorable tourism experiences and destination image in tourism destination quality–loyalty models and confirms that the cultural heritage rejuvenation experience quality should be viewed as crucial aspects of marketing strategies aimed at improving memorable tourism experiences, destination image, and revisiting intention.