Experiência turística memorável, percepção cognitiva, reputação e lealdade ao destino: um modelo empírico

Abstract

As tourists’ behavior changes, tourism destinations have started to assume the role of experience providers. In this context, recent studies reveal that relevant tourist experiences tend to increase the likelihood that the tourist will remember the destination. The main purpose of this paper was to propose and test a model of relations between the underlying dimensions of memorable tourism experience, cognitive perception, reputation, and loyalty towards a destination. The study method consisted of a survey involving 664 tourists from all Brazilian states. The study procedures included (1) analysis and exclusion of univariate and multivariate outliers, (2) exploratory factor analysis, and (3) validation of the measurement model and structural model using structural equation modeling. The results indicate that 11 of the 13 tested hypotheses were validated at a significance level of 1%. It was also observed that among the five underlying dimensions of Memorable Touristic Experience identified – (1) Hedonism, (2) Novelty, (3) Local Knowledge and Culture, (4) Revival and (5) Engagement - Novelty was the one that stood out most.