Exploring Memorable Tourism Experiences: Antecedents and Behavioural Outcomes

Abstract

This paper presents the findings of an exploratory research which examines the antecedents and behavioural outcomes of memorable tourism experiences (MTEs) from Australian travellers' perspectives. 35 in-depth interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of frequent Australian travellers. Inductive content analysis of the transcripts revealed 9 antecedents of MTEs of which eight represent the cognitive domain-perceived meaningfulness of the experience, perceived opportunities to encounter authentic local experiences, perceived significance of the experience, perceived novelty of the experience, perceived opportunities for social interactions, perceived serendipity and surprises encountered during the experience, perceived local hospitality and perceived professionalism of local guides - and the last theme represent the affective domain i.e. various emotions such happiness and excitement associated with MTEs. Analysis also revealed that novelty seeking travellers do not intend to re-visit the same destination despite they have had a memorable experience but they tend to recommend MTEs to others. These findings provide important managerial implications for destination marketing organizations (DMOs).