Memorable Tourism Experiences: The Role and Application of Experiential Marketing Tools and Models to Generation Y
Creators: name: Jahan, Nusrat
Publisher: name: University of Surrey
Year: 2024
Subjects: Information Processing Theory, Memorable Tourism Experiences (MTEs), Memory, Episodic Tourism Memory (ETM), Emotion, Tourism Experience (TE), 4Es of Experience, Experiential Marketing (EM), Experiential Marketing Tool, Travel Memory Story (TMS), Behavioural Intention (BI), Millennials/Generation Y, Bangladesh, Cox's Bazar (CB)

description: Memorable tourism experiences (MTEs), as outlined by Tung and Ritchie (2011), Coelho et al. (2018), and Seyfi et al. (2020), are events stored, recalled, and selectively constructed from tourists' memories following their experiences. MTEs involve experiences that tourists can remember and recall long after their vacation, intertwining memory, emotion, and experiences within a unified framework. These concepts are crucial in addressing future challenges in destination experiential marketing. However, MTEs have not been widely applied in developing destinations, indicating a need for a deeper understanding of how MTEs are formed and the interplay among memories, emotions, and innovative promotional techniques. Therefore, this study aims to bridge this knowledge gap.The research identifies several gaps in the existing literature. Firstly, the absence of a clear link between the experience economy frameworks and episodic tourism memory (ETM) formation, which refers to tourists' sequential recall of travel memories. Secondly, it's unclear how experiential marketing (EM) dimensions influence positive emotions and MTEs at destinations. EM intensifies consumers' rational and emotional connections with purchases (Schmitt, 2001), creating powerful differential effects. Thirdly, while studies have focused on MTE antecedents and scale development, none have integrated ETM and emotion into a single model to examine their impact on MTEs. Fourthly, there is a lack of research exploring the potential of EM tools and techniques in understanding Millennial tourists' memory formation, emotional attachment to destinations, and MTE development. Finally, recent evidence suggests that the MTE topic lacks practical, current, and methodologically sophisticated empirical research.The study uses Generation Y in Bangladesh as the context and employs a mixed-methods approach in three phases. Phase 1 involved qualitative research through semi-structured interviews with tourism industry experts providing experience-based services to Millennial travellers. Phase 2 used quantitative methods, distributing to Millennial tourists at Cox’s Bazar. This phase also included an embedded experiment (with a travel memory story (TMS) to assess whether a TMS enhances the memorability of Millennials' vacations at Cox’s Bazar. Travel memory stories represent a collective narrative of memories, experiences, and expectations in tourism.The study’s findings indicate that esthetic and escapist experiential activities have a more significant impact than educational and entertainment experiences in developing ETM and emotional attachment at Cox’s Bazar. Furthermore, the study demonstrates that ETM and emotion significantly and positively affect Millennials' MTEs at Cox’s Bazar. Moreover, the study indicates that using a travel memory story as an experiential marketing tool results in better memory retention, increased emotional attachment, and enhanced behavioural intentions among the group that read the story compared to the group that did not.The importance of understanding and tracking the ETM and emotions of a significant tourist segment (Pendergast, 2010) is vital for destination management organisations (DMOs). This understanding enables DMOs to effectively plan, manage, and implement experiential marketing strategies, moving beyond traditional patterns. Theoretically, this thesis enriches the understanding of how episodic memories in tourists can enhance future behavioural intentions. Practically, it provides guidelines for tourism administrators, policymakers, and governments to adopt and implement experiential marketing initiatives. Such strategies are aimed at boosting memorable tourism experiences, which, in turn, positively influence the Millennials' behavioural intentions.