Understanding Memorable Tourism Experience: Long-Term Memory System and Revisit Intention
, and | Jan 31, 2024
Article Category: Research Article
Published Online: Jan 31, 2024
Page range: 125 - 141
Received: Jun 07, 2023
Accepted: Aug 16, 2023
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/ejthr-2023-0011
Keywords
© 2023 Danni Wang et al., published by Sciendo
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Offering experiences is a primary function of tourism, and the role of any destination practitioner is to construct positive memories for tourists (Tung & Ritchie, 2011a). The experience of tourism involves a complex system with various psychological elements that generate memories (Cutler et al., 2014; Ritchie et al., 2011). In the tourism industry, memorable experiences have influential roles in tourists’ decision-making processes and revisit intentions (Kim et al., 2010; Lehto et al., 2004). Tourism studies have been displaying a growing interest in the importance of Memorable Tourism Experience (MTE), and tourism practitioners have begun to engage in activities that facilitate memory creation and development (Tung et al., 2017). Existing studies on MTE encompass a wide range of research approaches, including case studies, conceptual papers, methodology research, and studies on behavioural models (Hosseini et al., 2023). Given that positive experiences lead to higher satisfaction, desire to repeat visits, and positive word-of-mouth (WOM) (Manthiou et al., 2016), destination-management organisations strive to deliver memorable experiences and increase the competitiveness of their destinations (Ritchie & Crouch, 2003).
Individuals can only transform selected parts of their tourism experiences into long-term memories, which have long-lasting effects on their image of a tourism destination (Kim et al., 2010). This study aims to explore the critical underlying factors of MTEs in long-term memory and investigate their influence on revisit intention. Moreover, this research seeks to comprehend the recollection of MTEs from long-term memory and understand the association between human emotions that emerged from those MTEs and the travel destinations that elicited them. This was to be achieved by answering the following two main research questions: “What is/are the key factor(s) of travel experiences that become most memorable in an individual’s long-term memory?” and “How can MTE factors influence revisit intention?” This research expands MTE studies by employing a long-term memory system as its framework. It also fills a research gap regarding cognitive and affective emotions and their influence on the revisit intentions of alumni tourists, a less-focused-upon market in tourism studies.
A Memorable Tourism Experience (MTE) is defined as “selectively constructed from tourism experiences based on the individual’s assessment of the experience” (Kim et al., 2012, p.13). As of early 2020, 52 articles highly relevant to MTEs were identified, and half of them were related to either MTE scales or tourist behaviour and intention (Hosseini et al., 2023). These studies have identified two main dimensions of MTEs: destination-related attributes and personal psychological factors (Wei et al., 2019).
A study on tourism in Uganda revealed that tourists perceived the four preserved components of the tourism product — attractions, supplementary services, facilities, and lodging — as contributing to the development of their MTE (Tukamushaba, et al., 2016). Tung and Ritchie (2011b) proposed identity formation, family milestones, relationship development, nostalgia re-enactment and freedom pursuits as the five typical characteristics of MTE. Moreover, destination facilities (Kim, 2014); the value for tourists’ money; the variety of activities (Crouch, 2011; Mahdzar et al., 2015); and interactions with and hospitality of locals (Chandralal & Valenzuela, 2013; Mahdzar et al., 2015) are all determinant factors of MTE. Other factors have also been categorized as influential, such as affective factors (Duman & Mattila, 2005); external, social and personal factors (Morgan & Xu, 2009); psychological factors (Kim, 2014); and escapism, recognition, interactivity, learning, unique involvement and peace of mind (Ali et al., 2016). Through the application of a grounded theoretical methodology, Hosseini et al. (2022) constructed a conceptual framework pertaining to memorable dark tourism experiences in the war zones of Iran, including four primary factors — learning from dark experiences, spiritual experiences, involvement in activities and emotional experiences — that exert influence on the nature of dark tourism experiences (Hosseini et al., 2022).
In developing the measurement scales of MTE amongst US college students, Kim (2010) identified involvement, local culture and refreshment as experiential factors that help them remember the benefits of their travel experiences. Inspired by this study, Kim et al. (2012) later established a seven-dimensional scale with 24 items, including hedonism, refreshment, local culture, meaningfulness, knowledge, involvement and novelty. Destination-related attributes and place attachment were proposed as additional variables for measuring MTEs (Kim, 2014), and personality was later identified as an influential external factor (Kim & Jang, 2016).
The measurement scales mentioned above have their uniqueness, and some latter findings generated different results from Kim et al. (2012). Hence, new measurement scales on MTEs have also been developed and adjusted across cultures (Kim, 2013; Kim et al., 2012). Recently, Kim and Chen (2019) developed a four-dimensional scale to test the relationship between autobiographical memory and its functions in the context of tourism. The scales included dimensions that best explicate the memorable travel experience: novelty, social interaction, destination enthusiasm, and learning. Kim and Chen (2021) used the scales developed in 2019 to prove that based on their beliefs, individuals would exhibit a greater level of destination excitement than those who share their memorable travel experiences. Nevertheless, few studies have examined cognitive and affective dimensions as they relate to destination-related attributes or behavioural characteristics.
MTEs have been proven to be indirectly linked to satisfaction and loyalty, subsequently increasing tourists’ revisit intentions and positive WOM promotion (Kim, 2018). Dimensions of perceived MTE values, including emotional, social and economic effects on tourists’ behaviour, vary by demographic features; for example, economic value increases younger visitors’ recommendation intentions (Brochado et al., 2022). Emotional assessments of experiences influence the future behaviour of tourists, and memories of tourist experiences from the distant past can still significantly impact revisit intentions (Barnes et al., 2016).
Previous literature has argued that tourists’ experiences could generate unique cognitive and affective benefits and mediate between destinations and tourists, thereby influencing their revisit intention (Zhang et al., 2018). Researchers have also recommended that scholars integrate memories into their study of tourism experiences, because memories from previous vacations particularly influence tourists’ behavioural intentions, including their inclination to repeat a visit (Kim et al., 2012). Several studies demonstrated the effect of (pleasant) memories of tourism experiences on the choice processing of individuals and their potential for future transactions (Kim & Ritchie, 2014; Kim, 2014).
By merging tourist experiences with autobiographical-memory phenomenology, measurement scales for tourism memory characteristics were developed in tourism memory research to highlight tourist memory and its related effects, such as word-of-mouth and revisit intention (Kim et al., 2021a). Barnes et al. (2016) examined the influence of the most recent, positive, unique and multisensory travel experiences on the revisit intentions of tourists in Denmark. Studies of tourists in Finland revealed that local culture, novelty, involvement, hedonism and knowledge could all significantly influence the behavioural intention of tourists (Coudounaris & Sthapit, 2017). Studies of tourists in Malaysia also highlighted that the positive impact of destination-related attributes on positive MTEs could increase revisit intention (Mahdzar et al., 2015). A recent study on smart tourism reveals that the incorporation of interactive and personalised features in smart-tourism technologies enhances the overall tourism services provided, leading to the creation of meaningful and memorable experiences and influential factors on travellers’ behavioural intentions (Shin et al., 2023). Thus it is vital to understand MTE and its relationship with revisit intention as a stimulating factor for travel interests, especially for alumni tourists, which are a less-focused-upon segment in the repeat visitor market.
Long-term memory refers to the information stored in one’s mind for extended periods (Baddeley, 2012). Long-term memory has been considered the main knowledge base when studying tourist memories and memorable experiences in different situations to identify the elements that affect memorable experiences (Tung et al., 2017; Wei et al., 2019). Tourists retrieve their memories in the long-term memory system in three stages: encoding, consolidating and retrieving. During encoding, the system acquires vivid moments or scenes in one’s mind related to an experience and follows such moments or scenes with a collection of precise information (Conway & Pleydell-Pearce, 2000). During consolidation, the system re-constructs such moments or scenes to make them stable and resistant (McGaugh, 2000). Finally, retrieval involves the act of remembering, which may introduce false or distorted information (Loftus, 2005).
This three-stage model in the long-term memory system was applied to understanding tourists’ travel stories from the practitioners’ perspective and build a framework for memory management of tourism experiences (Tung et al., 2017). The present study adopted the three-stage long-term memory framework to guide the examination of the specific MTEs of the alumni tourists, and to identify stimuli that can build the strength of memorability.
University students represent a crucial market that is well-suited to examining long-term travel memories in alumni travellers. Students may play multiple roles as temporary residents, VFR hosts, guests and/or domestic travellers whilst staying in another country. They also frequently travel during their study period and tend to revisit their study places for leisure or business after some years. Compared with general leisure tourists, these alumni tourists tend to have more memories of their travel experiences whilst studying at their universities, and their memories last longer (Gabe et al., 2006). This implies the significance of the alumni market might have long-term memory processing from the recall of MTEs. The research sample in the present study was composed of Chinese alumni tourists from UK universities.
The present study adopted a mixed-method approach. As illustrated in Figure 1, the qualitative study aimed to discover MTEs within long-term memories and reveal the critical underlying themes that make travel experiences memorable (Step 1). Using the interview data, three main MTE components were identified and a survey was designed to test the relationship between those components and revisit intention (Step 2). Results of the regression model revealed the influential factors on revisit intention. This provided valuable insights that could help destination-marketing organisations in the UK and other places with a large number of alumni tourists to enhance the memorability of their travel experiences.
Figure 1:
Research Methodology
Twenty-five semi-structured interviews were conducted first, including two pilot tests. Purposive and snowball sampling were both adopted, and interviews were conducted in Mandarin Chinese. Two Chinese researchers who graduated from UK universities used their networks to reach out to suitable interviewees. The transcripts were then translated into English by the two researchers who are competent in both languages. Thematic analysis was performed to analyse the data through a process of open coding, axial coding, and selective coding. The survey was designed in Mandarin Chinese and distributed through an online platform. Four were adapted from the scale developed by Kim (2014), one of the most widely adopted measurement scales in MTE studies. Another 11 items were adapted from Chandralal and Valenzuela (2013; 2015), who ran a study with a mixed-method approach to discover leisure travellers’ antecedents and behavioural outcomes. Revisit intention was asked to perform the binary logistic regression as a polar question. Two researchers fluent in both English and Chinese used the back-translation process (Brislin, 1980). A total of 210 questionnaires were collected, of which 184 were deemed valid. IBM SPSS 26.0 was used to execute the quantitative study. Binary logistic regression was conducted to test the relationship between revisit intention and MTE factors generated from the qualitative phase and the literature mentioned above.
Two-thirds of the respondents of the qualitative study were females aged between 20 and 35 years, representing an appropriate mix of generations Y and Z. The respondents had stayed in the UK for an average of 2.6 years between 2012 and 2020. All of them graduated from the UK anywhere from 6 months to 6 years prior to the time of the interview, with an average of 2.3 years. Most interviewees studied in metropolitan areas in the UK, mainly in the southern part of England. England and Scotland were the most frequently mentioned travel destinations, while Wales and Northern Ireland were mentioned the least. Appendix 1 lists the complete demographic information of the 23 interviewees of this study.
The long-term memory system’s coding process manipulated referred to in this study is the coding process suggested by Nadel et al. (2012) and Tung et al. (2017). The memory retrieval procedure is shown in Figure 2. Following the guidelines proposed by Tung et al. (2017), the participants were first asked to share the most memorable scenes and relevant details, such as what features of their destination experience stood out, and relate a collection of particular scenes.
Figure 2:
Retrieval of MTEs by the Long-Term Memory System (Modified from Tung et al., 2017)
In the first stage of encoding, the participants did not acquire a “memory”; instead, they gathered a variety of detailed and vivid moments of their MTEs, which together constituted the foundation of autobiographical memories (Conway & Pleydell-Pearce, 2000).
Next, in the consolidation stage, researchers facilitated the participants’ re-construction of their MTEs and encouraged them to express their emotions when their memories had become more stable (McGaugh, 2000). Lastly, the participants were directed to perform storytelling. Storytelling is one method for people to remember and exchange old experiences with one another while recalling, recreating, and then telling others about their past experiences in narrative form (Tung et al., 2017).
Three MTE themes were generated from the travel stories shared by the interviewees. They emerged from the interviewees’ connection between their emotions and the travel destination. Furthermore, MTE themes were established from these unique and exclusive stories, with which the interviewees would create a symbiotic identity (George & George, 2004). The three major themes from the interviewees’ travel stories, with their related categories and their codes (keywords) as identified by the researchers, are shown in Appendix 2. Interpretations of each theme are provided in the following sections. Each interviewee is denoted by ‘R’ with a corresponding number, and direct quotations are presented in italics.
The first theme, Attraction and Atmospheric Impressiveness, conceptualises destinations as physical places with different features, ranging from cities and towns to foreign locations and local sites. Some interviewees shared their most memorable moments and emotions from their experiences of a certain unique and exclusive atmosphere. In line with the findings of Xu et al. (2009), the interviewees sought out famous attractions with traditional British features; meanwhile, some small cities attracted interviewees through social media postings. Some interviewees chose the attraction for particular reasons. For example, R2 and R6 booked a hotel in Lake District, a location they had studied and analysed for their course assignment. They wanted to experience the place and complete their coursework.
A few famous cities were cited as destinations for memorable travels. R3 presents a typical example of attachment to attractions. Specifically, R3 visited Cotswold on a solo trip after seeing and studying the city’s distinctively British architecture (e.g., stone houses) and local history. Although she spent five hours commuting to this typical British town, she felt that the experience was “ “
Most interviewees shared memorable moments linked to the impressiveness of the scenery, such as the ancient and traditional architecture in Edinburgh. Emotions were generated and connected by a love for the specific features of a destination. The moments involved in the MTEs shared by the interviewees generated unforgettable and exclusive feelings. According to Iwashita (2003), the physical features of a destination, such as its natural resources, cannot be easily changed in the perceptions of tourists; the scenes listed above undoubtedly cannot be replaced by other destinations, given that the specific features of the UK contributed significantly to those memories.
Since university alumni tend to stay much longer in a destination than typical leisure tourists, they have more chances to participate in local events and activities. Most interviewees shared that they preferred to deeply immerse themselves in the local culture of their destinations during their travel in UK. For example, R1 spent much time searching for reservations for an afternoon tea in the British Museum to accommodate her mother’s visit. She commented that her time in London was “
The interviewees wanted to explore the local culture of their destinations and have unique experiences, especially from festivals and other special events. A study on nature tourism has proven that specially-arranged activities to connect with nature could increase the memorability of the trips (Soares & Nunes, 2020). R12 attended Christmas services in a cathedral and participated in London’s New Year fireworks festival with his friends. He described the festival as “ “
Both the
“
Another kind of relationship was established between the interviewees and local residents. R7 revealed a noticeable change in his accommodation preference. After such an experience, he started to choose Airbnb for his future travels. During his conversations with his Airbnb hosts, he felt warmth and a connection to the destination’s local culture and lifestyle. He shared:
“
Various outcomes in relationship and friendship development were observed between the interviewees and their travel partners. For instance, R4 and R8 married their travel companions, whereas R11 broke up with her travel partner after their trip. Unlike the previous two themes,
When asked about their intention to revisit the UK, most interviewees indicated wanting to revisit their MTE destinations and study places, but six interviewees mentioned “
Upon completing the qualitative study, a survey was developed to examine the effects of the three themes on alumni tourists’ revisit intentions for the UK and their MTE destinations. A total of 184 valid responses from participants of different demographic characteristics were collected. The longest length of study in the UK among all participants was 8 years, and the average length of study was approximately 2 years. Participants are mostly between 26 and 30 years old, and nearly 90% were employed full-time. Most participants had left the UK for about 5 years by the time of interview; with the longest one being 18 years. Moreover, 33 of the participants experienced the COVID-19 pandemic before they graduated. The longest travel time for an MTE was 60 days, but some participants even referred to one-day excursions as their most memorable trip experiences. The average length of an MTE was around seven days. Table 1 shows the descriptive statistics of the 184 valid responses.
Participant Profile (n=184)
| Age | ||
| |
1 | 0.5 |
| |
38 | 20.7 |
| |
88 | 47.8 |
| |
46 | 25.0 |
| |
5 | 2.7 |
| |
6 | 3.3 |
| Gender | ||
| |
125 | 67.9 |
| |
59 | 32.1 |
| Marital Status | ||
| |
117 | 63.6 |
| |
28 | 15.2 |
| |
35 | 19.0 |
| |
4 | 2.2 |
| Occupational Status | ||
| |
164 | 89.1 |
| |
10 | 5.4 |
| |
10 | 5.4 |
| Travel Frequency During Study Time | ||
| |
8 | 4.3 |
| |
30 | 16.3 |
| |
40 | 21.7 |
| |
61 | 33.2 |
| |
29 | 15.8 |
| |
11 | 6.0 |
| |
5 | 2.7 |
| Length of the MTE trip (n = 176 with 8 missing values) | ||
| |
66 | 37.5 |
| |
83 | 47.2 |
| |
20 | 11.4 |
| |
7 | 4.0 |
| Travel companion of MTE trip(s) | ||
| |
16 | 8.7 |
| |
17 | 9.2 |
| |
9 | 4.9 |
| |
83 | 45.1 |
| |
59 | 32.1 |
The data analysis included the Principal Component Analysis method to purify the scale measurement and reduce dimensionality. Seven items were dropped by adopting a factor loading of 0.5. The Cronbach’s alpha values of these four retained factors ranged from 0.848 to 0.905, which exceeds the threshold of 0.60 recommended in exploratory studies (Hair et al., 2010). The total variance explained was satisfactory based on the 60% rule of thumb (Hair et al., 2010). The Kaiser-Mayer-Olkin (KMO) result of 0.896 and the significant Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity (p < 0.001) also supported the use of principal component analysis (PCA). The final results yielded four main factors, as shown in Table 2.
Factor Development by Principal Component Analysis (n=184)
| 0.873 | ||||
| 0.851 | ||||
| 0.814 | ||||
| 0.801 | ||||
| 0.770 | ||||
| 0.665 | ||||
| 0.634 | ||||
| 0.776 | ||||
| 0.772 | ||||
| 0.756 | ||||
| 0.700 | ||||
| 0.619 | ||||
| 0.618 | ||||
| 0.802 | ||||
| 0.777 | ||||
| 0.762 | ||||
| 0.722 | ||||
| 0.615 | ||||
| 0.820 | ||||
| 0.735 | ||||
| 0.719 | ||||
| 0.686 | ||||
| 0.672 | ||||
| 9.192 | 3.133 | 1.965 | 1.109 | |
| 20.263 | 16.486 | 15.295 | 14.909 | |
| 0.905 | 0.848 | 0.879 | 0.882 | |
The first two factors, as shown in Table 2, comprised seven and six items, respectively, that were associated with Theme III and Theme I of the qualitative studies. Factors 3 and 4 in Table 4 each incorporated five items that highlighted the events and activities experienced by the participants during their memorable trips, which were associated with Theme II of the qualitative studies. To match the contents of the quantitative results, Factor 3 was relabelled as
Table 3 presents the results of the binary logit regression model for the participants’ revisit intention for their MTE destinations. Among the 151 participants, 82% indicated an intention to revisit their MTE destinations. The model was significant
Revisit Intention to MTE Destinations (Binary Logit Model)
| Constant | 1.105** | |
| 0.77* (1.464) | 1.158 | |
| −0.017ns (0.983) | 1.027 | |
| 0.094ns (1.099) | 1.021 | |
| 0.442** (1.556) | 1.060 | |
| Male | 0.339ns (1.404) | 1.072 |
| Length of MTE trip | 0.160** (1.173) | 1.023 |
| Frequent travellers (once a week during the study time) | −1.444* (0.236) | 1.047 |
| Experienced COVID-19 pandemic when studying in the UK | 0.626ns (0.535) | 1.188 |
| 26 to 30 years old | −0.551ns (0.576) | 1.199 |
| −2 log likelihood (full model) | 148.366 | |
| Nagelkerke’s pseudo-R-square | 0.163 | |
| Chi-square | 18.531** | |
Notes: Dependent variable – Revisit intention to MTE destinations;
p < 0.05;
p < 0.10;
p > 0.10
According to the regression model, only
Among the four factors, a new factor,
The findings of this present study also align with the results of Kim and Chen’s study (2021), which found that recalling memorable travels in episodic memories elicits higher emotional reactions, as well as visual images associated with destination excitement (Kim & Chen, 2021). Tourists recalled experiential elements, such as enjoyment and excitement, when perceiving MTEs (Kim et al., 2012). Their positive emotions associated with such experiences are described as critical components of MTEs (Tung & Ritche, 2011a). Although a few respondents mentioned unpleasant incidents, such as being victimised by theft or having problems with Airbnb hosts, they still demonstrated strong intentions to revisit. Given that perceiving travel memories as either positive or negative has not yet been examined in any empirical study, the influences of negative memories on revisit intention will be challenging to confirm.
The results of this empirical study also indicate that
Several travel characteristics can significantly affect revisit intention to MTE destinations. The length of MTEs demonstrates a positive effect, whereas the frequency of travel while studying abroad demonstrates a negative impact. The positive effect of the length of MTEs on revisit intention is in line with the results of previous studies (Gabe et al., 2006). This suggests that destinations should focus on developing more attractions for tourists who stay longer, providing more opportunities for the development of memorable scenes, as this can stimulate repeat visits.
Revisit intention may be reduced, however, when the frequency of MTE trips was greater, which may indicate that Chinese alumni tourists’ travel interests in the UK have already been satisfied. Experienced travellers tend to be motivated by experiencing different cultures and nature-related attributes (Pearce & Lee, 2005). Therefore, revisiting familiar places may not be a priority for those who frequently travelled during their study time.
In contrast with the above-mentioned factors,
Similarly,
This study offers a few contributions. The study systematically integrates an understanding of the long-term memory process to recall and explore MTE factors. It contributes to the literature on MTE and revisit intention by applying a mixed-method approach. The predominant methodologies that had been employed in prior MTE research were mostly quantitative, with limited utilization of qualitative studies. A few qualitative studies on MTE factors (Tung & Ritchie, 2011a; Chandralal & Valenzuela, 2013) utilised in-depth interviews, but most studies relied on questionnaires for measurement scale development or testing the effects of travel-related factors.
The surprising aspect of this quantitative-dominating phenomenon lies in the multifaceted and intricate nature of the tourist experience, coupled with the absence of consensus among researchers regarding the scale used to measure MTE (Hosseini et al., 2023). Accounting for the emotional states experienced during leisure travel is a relatively subjective process, yet it is essential to understanding the essence of MTEs. Theoretically, Khoo-Lattimore et al. (2019) suggested a mixed-method approach as a strategy for providing outcomes that would not be attainable with a single-method strategy. Some other researchers have extolled mixed approaches as a vital strategy for enhancing the validity of the acquired data and providing greater support for the outcomes (Johnson & Onwuegbuzie, 2004).
As the precedent for applying MTE concepts to the alumni tourists was still limited, this research first employed a qualitative approach to explore the MTE factors, followed by a quantitative approach to test the MTEs’ impact on revisit intention; in-depth interviews were conducted first, with respondents enlisted as storytellers to describe their MTEs in detail. Some respondents were able to refresh their memories and provide strong emotions. Hence, the experiences collected from the interviews provide essential information about exploring the relationship between MTE factors and revisit intention.
The proposed use of a long-term memory processing framework offers new insights for MTE researchers to determine the components that make a specific travel experience stand out from other long-term memories. By confirming the findings of previous studies on MTEs, this research fills a research gap about what MTE elicits cognitively and affectively, and the effect of these factors on the revisit intention of China-based alumni tourists. Previous studies have used students as their survey participants to test the scale of MTEs (Kim, 2010; Kim et al., 2012) or to compare cultural factors of MTEs (Kim, 2013). However, this study is the first to examine both MTEs and the revisit intention of alumni tourists, and future studies may analyse other travel information search behaviour demonstrated by this group.
This study also explores the presence of negative emotions in MTEs. At the second stage of the long-term memory system (presented in Figure 2), the respondents started to bring in more memories and expressed negative feelings associated with some moments. Individuals can retrieve positive emotions related to events much more quickly than negative ones, confirming the existence of “fading affect bias” in this study (Kim & Youn, 2017). Previous studies have applied this term to examine service failure and recovery, and we have found it to be suitable for explaining MTEs. In addition, while many MTE studies have emphasised positive emotions, this study reveals that even a positive MTE may contain specific incidents linked to negative emotions, especially when multiple destinations were visited in a single journey. Many respondents shared negative moments or emotions when they re-constructed their MTEs, while still intending to revisit the associated destinations. Therefore, future studies should examine how multiple destinations being involved in a single trip influences MTE factors, and how this, in turn, affects the revisit intentions of tourists.
The quantitative study provides new evidence to support the impact of
This study also has some limitations because of its small number of interviewees and survey respondents. The China-based alumni were recruited from universities in the UK and are not representative enough for the findings of this study to be generalised to the entire population of international students. The gender and age of the interviewees may also limit the generalisability of these findings.
This study extended the research on MTEs by exploring the effect of the attachment to MTE destinations on the revisit intention of China-based alumni tourists from UK universities. Analysing groups with homogeneous characteristics can reveal the needs of these groups and establish relationships amongst them by providing products that appeal to those specific groups. This is useful, for example, for destination managers who wish to promote enticing destination images (Wu & Jimura, 2019). Using the MTEs shared by interviewees who graduated from UK universities, this research discovered the critical factors that exist in these memories and revealed elements influencing subjects’ intentions of revisiting the UK.
Three themes were identified from the qualitative study:
Finally, travel destinations other than the UK can refer to MTE factors to develop appropriate marketing strategies and create travel products that may increase the revisit intention of alumni tourists. As a symbolic memory, souvenirs could evoke an imagined return to memorable moments and locations (Boulhosa & Casais, 2019). For example, creating tailor-made souvenirs, such as photos, for tourists to keep as proof and memory of their trips is recommended.
In addition, destination managers should be involved in the development of alumni tourism as a new market. More events and activities can be invested with exclusive features and promoted to alumni tourists worldwide. Given that the alumni were students while creating their MTEs, destinations can impress tourists with several meaningful and exciting events and enhance their relationships to make their trips more memorable and meaningful. Destination managers can promote specific attractions of their destinations to remind these alumni tourists of their travel experiences and stimulate their revisit intentions after their return to their own home countries. Destination managers can cooperate with universities in launching special tours that promote the revisit intention of alumni tourists to their study places and other destinations within the same country. Alumni tourists show great loyalty to their study places; therefore, their study places’ destinations should organise various activities and events with local communities to highlight their hospitality and motivate return visits.