The effect of tourists’ perceptions of a tourism product on memorable travel experience: Implications for destination branding

Abstract

Abstract:The purpose of this study is to analyse how tourists' perceptions of a destination's tourism product influences memorable tourism experiences and how gender differences influence tourists' perceptions of tourism product. To achieve these objectives, Uganda, one of the developing economies in East Africa, was chosen. The five A's of tourism product was used as a basis for the questionnaire construction and data was analysed. Explanatory research design within the framework of confirmatory factor analysis -a structural equation modelling technique was adopted using the AMOS 18 program. A sample of 501 respondents consisting of tourists departing Uganda through Entebbe International Airport was used.Results showed that both the measurement and structural models exhibited better model fit indices. Overall, tourists' perceptions of the retained four dimensions of tourism product (Attractions, ancillary services, amenities and accommodation) had a positive effect on memorable travel experience. Additionally, the independent T-test for gender and tourists' perceptions of Uganda's tourism product showed that on average, females had a positive evaluation of Uganda tourism product compared to their male counterparts. However, the observed difference was not significant. The effect of tourists' perceptions of a tourism product on memorable travel experience: Implications for destination brandingIt is recommended that destination management organisations pay attention to infrastructure, particularly transport that links potential and actual tourists to key tourism attractions. This is likely to enhance positive perceptions and was found to positively influence memorable travel experience. Other implications for destination branding are discussed.

The Impact of Memorable Tourism Experiences on Loyalty Behaviors: The Mediating Effects of Destination Image and Satisfaction

“…Although tourism research acknowledges the importance of studying MTEs (Adongo, Anuga, and Dayour 2015; Ali, Ryu, and Hussain 2016;; Kim and Jang 2016; Tukamushaba et al 2016), the extant literature is limited to elucidating the direct effects of MTEs on future behavior. Thus, the current study is motivated by the need for research to develop an integrated MTE model that links MTEs, DI, overall satisfaction and future behavioral intentions.…”

The accommodation experiencescape: a comparative assessment of hotels and Airbnb

“…In particular, the need remains for more sophisticated models of experiential consumption (Titz, 2007;Walls et al, 2011). Moreover, despite the centrality of the accommodations experience to the memorability of tourists' overall experience of the destination (Tukamushaba et al, 2016) and the evolving nature and dynamics of the accommodations industry, little is known about how customers using peer-to-peer accommodations services evaluate their experiences, versus those who use traditional tourism services (Heo, 2016). Thus, in view of these two trends--that is, the sharing economy's challenge to the hotel industry along experiential factors and the scope for more experience-related research in the literature--the present study uses Stimulus-Organism-Response (SOR) theory to develop and test a model of experiential consumption in the accommodations industry.…”

Motivations for Tourism Shopping in Department Stores: An Exploratory Research about Tourists’ Profiles Visiting El Corte Inglés Gaia

“…The results emphasise that purchases are not the main motivation of the trip for the tourists that answered the survey. Considering that tourists' perceptions about the tourism experience have implications in destination branding (Tukamushaba, Xiao and Ladkin, 2016), this result gives an important information for Porto destina- tion managers, who are informed about tourism shopping not being an asset of the positioning of Porto destination. However, 35% of respondents consider that it is important to make purchases during their trip and 29% consider that shopping is a very important activity, corroborating the tourism shopping concept defended in the literature as a secondary activity in their travel experience (García et al, 2016;Murphy et al, 2011).…”