Investigating the Role of Memorable Tourism Experience towards Revisit Intention and Electronic Word of Mouth: A Study on Beach Tourists

Abstract

Purpose: Although many studies have addressed destination marketing concepts, the relationship between beach tourists' memorable tourism experience (MTE), revisit intention and electronic word of mouth (eWOM) remains unknown. To address this issue, the authors established a model to investigate the effects of MTE's dimensions on revisit intention and eWOM. Research design, data and methodology: Drawing on 581 questionnaires from domestic beach tourists in Vietnam, a quantitative study approach was administered to empirically analyze a partial least squares path model in PLS-SEM. Results: The findings revealed that four dimensions of MTE including hedonism, local culture, meaningfulness and involvement have positive influence on beach tourists' revisit intention. Besides, meaningfulness and knowledge directly affect eWOM. It is worth noting that beach tourists' revisit intention significantly and directly influence their eWOM. The findings also confirm the indirect effects of hedonism, local culture, meaningfulness and involvement on eWOM through the mediating role of revisit intention. Conclusions: This study will be important to determine beach tourists' behavior through each dimension of MTE. This study also emphasizes on the direct effect of beach tourists' revisit intention on eWOM, as well as confirms its mediating role in the relation between MTE and eWOM. The findings will assist policymakers and destination marketers with strategies and effective future actions.

1. Introduction

Beach tourism comprises a great deal of total national revenue in many countries around the world that offer “sun, sea and sand” (3S) tourism (Mestanza-Ramón et al., 2020). In contemporary times, it is supposed that beach tourism is becoming more and more fiercely competitive. Besides world-famous beaches, there is a broad range of wild and spectacular beaches which have been exploited recently. However, thanks to the continuous development of communication technology, promoting and sharing these beaches has been easier than ever.

Intense competition in the tourism market requires investigations into crucial elements such as revisit intention and eWOM to attract tourists. Revisit intention is considered as tourists’ interest in returning to the destination to experience their pleasure and reminding it (Wang et al., 2017). With an increase in the prevalence of social media platforms, online user-generated content (UGC) is one of the most prominent behaviors of EWOM. Because a large number of individuals read and trust it, eWOM plays an integral role (Rather, 2021b). In the digital age, eWOM shared by veterans and cordial is priceless: its perceived authenticity may help potential customers to mitigate their uncertainty when choosing lodging (Jeong & Jang, 2011). Therefore, it is believed that revisit intention and eWOM show the loyalty of travelers, which can lead to a significant rise in the number of tourists especially beach tourists in the near future.

There is a growing understanding that destinations must deliver and bring tourists memorable tourism experiences to strengthen their competitiveness (Neuhofer et al., 2012; Neuhofer et al., 2015). Memorable tourism experiences which are seen as a perception of service quality have been thoroughly investigated their influence on intention to revisit. Zhang et al. (2018) showed that recollection of the tourism experience is one of the most vital elements to anticipate tourists’ intentions to return to a destination. There are several studies (Chandralal et al., 2014; Zhang et al., 2018) that illustrate that MTE plays an important role in predicting the future behavior of travelers. Thus, if memorable experiences at a destination fulfill tourists’ satisfaction, they will be willing to visit similar destinations (Kim et al., 2010). Until now, there has been little research examining both direct and indirect relationships between MTE and eWOM. This study, hence, researches the role of MTE on tourists’ revisit intention and eWOM with a case study on beach tourists. The result validates the impact of MTE on these factors.

This research does not focus on comprehensively explaining all psychological effects on revisit intention and eWOM. It aims to examine how MTE affects revisit intention and Ewom, which can result in future behaviors. This research evaluates Kim’s seven-dimensional scale in the context of beach tourism. As a result, it investigates the influence of each dimension of MTE on tourists’ revisit intention and eWOM as well as the mediating impact of revisit intention on the relationship between MTE and eWOM. The following research questions are addressed in this study:

(1) Does MTE have any impacts on the revisit intention among beach tourists?

(2) Does MTE have any impacts on eWOM among beach tourists?

(3) Doesrevisit intention among beach tourists influence eWOM and what role does it play in the relationship between MTE and eWOM?

To answer these questions, this research first conducts a sample survey of domestic tourists in Vietnam which has a coastline of 3,260 kilometers. Thanks to rich resources, favorable climate and cultural features, beach tourism in Vietnam has many advantages. With 28 coastal provinces and cities, beach tourism has become a crucial driver of the ocean economy in Vietnam. Along with foreign tourists, attracting domestic tourists to visit, return and share online positively about their beach travel plays an integral part.

2. Literature Review

2.1. MTE

The 'experience' of leisure and tourism can refer to the subjective mental state felt by participants (Otto & Ritchie, 1996). Tourism experience is defined by Tung & Ritchie (2011) as “an individual’s subjective evaluation and undergoing (i.e., affective, cognitive, and behavioral) of events related to his/her tourist activities which begin before (i.e., planning and preparation), during (i.e., at the destination), and after the trip (i.e., recollection).” The concepts of memorable tourism experiences and tourist experiences are interconnected but they differ in their connotations and extent (Zhang et al., 2018). Memories are likely to serve as a great filtering mechanism connecting the experience to other attitudinal outcomes of the tourist experience (Oh et al., 2007). Therefore, a recognized valuable outcome of the tourism experience should be memorability. Tsai (2016) mentioned memorable tourism experience is selectively constructed by individual tourists based on how their tourism experiences are assessed.

In order to encourage future intentions for revisiting or recommending a destination, tourism managers should create conditions that trigger visitors to enjoy positive MTE in the destination; hence, it is essential that destination managers determine and comprehend the factors which contribute to tourists enjoying MTE (Bigne et al., 2020). Tung and Ritchie (2011) identified four dimensions which represent aspects of experiencesthat make them particularly memorable: affect, expectations, consequentiality, and recollection. Regarding affect, the experiences involve in positive emotions and feelings. In terms of expectations, they were reflected in responses about the fulfillment of intentions and/or descriptions of surprises encountered during the trip that exceeded tourists’ planned agendas. Consequentiality represents the responses that indicated some sort of personally perceived importance from the outcome of the trip. Recollection involves statements specifically about the efforts made and actions taken by participants in order to recall the tourism experience and/or reflect back on their trip. Chandralal et al. (2014) examined MTE in travel blog narratives and found seven themes: local people’s life and culture, perceived novelty, perceived serendipity, personally meaningful experiences, shared experiences, services of professional guides and tour operators, and affective emotions.

The operational definition of a positive memorable tourism experience is “a tourism experience positively remembered and recalled after the event has occurred.” According to the research results, there are seven constructs (i.e., hedonism, refreshment, local culture, meaningfulness, knowledge, involvement, and novelty) which are considered as essential components of the tourism experience that are likely to impact a person’s memory. Thanks to this study, remarkable findings can be drawn for both academic research and marketing practices. Notably, this study has contributed to a new benchmark to develop a literature on tourist experiences (Kim et al., 2012).

2.2. Revisit Intention and eWOM

The term revisit intentions is considered as plans to return to the place at a later time (Cole & Scott, 2004). Destinations offer several distinctive features that are different from common products where the repurchaser anticipates exactly the same commodity with consistent quality. The instance to illustrate the view is that the quality of the holiday experience may change at different times because it is dependent on the performance of the service providers. Furthermore, the expectations of repeat tourists with experience have changes. It is even doubtful whether they visit the same destinations, engage in the same or different things to do when returning to a site (Lehto et al., 2004). Many attractions and destinations have an inclination to depend significantly on repeat visitation because of the less expensive cost of retaining this group compared to attracting new ones (Um et al., 2006). Therefore, it is believed that revisit intention plays an integral part in business survival and development in the tourism field (Paisri et al., 2022).

Interpersonal communications have acted as one of the most influential elements in the tourism industry. Because most tourism products are intangible, there are many difficultiesin assessing them before consumption. Thanksto the advancements in Internet technologies, the number of travelers utilizing the Internet to find destination details and conduct transactions online is increasing. Within these contexts, we consider the concept of eWOM (Litvin et al., 2008). According to Hennig-Thurau et al. (2004), eWOM is defined as “any positive or negative statement made by potential, actual, or focal customers about a product or company, which is made available to a multitude of people and institutions via the Internet.” The information they acquired for eWOM from the Internet can attract the attention of tourists due to its convenience and practicality. In the modern era, great destination image and good service quality is inadequate, thus, eWOM has proven to be an effective and affordable way to boost a tourism site.

2.3. The Influence of Memorable Tourism Experiences on Revisit Intention and eWOM

MTE plays a vital role in destination competitiveness and sustainability because they have an impact on destination choices in the future. According to Zhang et al. (2018), the likelihood that tourists will return to a destination increases if the site can offer MTE to them. The relationship between MTE and revisit intention is seen as a vital element for sustainability destinations strategy on tourist revisit behavior (Melón et al., 2021). Kim et al. (2010) investigated how the seven components of the tourism experience affected intention to revisit. The result showed that the memorable experiential components of involvement, hedonism, and local culture are inclined to increase behavioral intentions to revisit the same destination. Later, Chen et al. (2020) demonstrated that the levels of hedonism, novelty and meaningfulness experienced by tourists at destinations are high, which will effectively trigger positive emotionsthat can motivate theirstrong recommendation and revisit intentions. This study also pointed out that dimensions of memorable tourism experiences including local culture, knowledge, hedonism and refreshment had a stronger influence on tourists’ behavioral intention; for instance revisit intention. In other words, tourists consuming local foods and cuisines at a tourist destination not only acquire local cultures and obtain new knowledge or information but also engage in satisfactory interaction with local residents, which brings them delight and refreshment. These advantages are important factors impacting tourists’ willingness to revisit (Tsai, 2016). Therefore, based on this rationale, the following hypotheses are formulated:

H1a: Hedonism has a positive direct effect on Revisit Intention.

H1b: Novelty has a positive direct effect on Revisit Intention.

H1c: Local Culture has a positive direct effect on Revisit Intention.

H1d: Refreshment has a positive direct effect on Revisit Intention.

H1e: Meaningfulness has a positive direct effect on Revisit Intention.

H1f: Involvement has a positive direct effect on Revisit Intention.

H1g: Knowledge has a positive direct effect on Revisit Intention.

MTE has positive effects on satisfaction of tourist, revisit and recommendation intentions for the destination (Melón et al., 2021),. In this modern era, with the development of online commerce, the Internet has shaped a new form of electronic communication through which consumers can express their views, make recommendations and comment on consumption, such that word of mouth has become eWOM. Rasoolimanesh et al. (2021) believed that due to vivid and meaningful memories of their recent travels, tourists were more willing to engage in eWOM behavior. In this study, some participants narrated their memorable moments on the trip and mentioned sharing intentions about tourism experiences with others on social media platforms. MTE was also identified the importance for engaging tourists in the eWOM communications in previous studies (Kim & Ritchie, 2014; Adongo et al., 2015; Gohary et al., 2020; Kim, 2018; Rasoolimanesh et al., 2021). The results indicated the positive effect of MTE on eWOM directly after measuring seven reflective dimensions. Thus, the hypotheses are proposed:

H2a: Hedonism has a positive direct effect on eWOM.

H2b: Novelty has a positive direct effect on eWOM.

H2c: Local Culture has a positive direct effect on eWOM.

H2d: Refreshment has a positive direct effect on eWOM.

H2e: Meaningfulness has a positive direct effect on eWOM.

H2f: Involvement has a positive direct effect on eWOM.

H2g: Knowledge has a positive direct effect on eWOM.

Figure 1: Research Model

2.4. The Influence of Revisit Intention on eWOM

The favorable links between MTE and revisit intention and eWOM are supported by the theory of the tourism consumption system (Rasoolimanesh et al., 2021). In the tourism industry, positive experiences and retaining a positive attitude toward those experiences are used as predictors of tourists visiting a particular destination (Sparks, 2007). Revisit intention also depends on different factors including the type of tourism, location, tourism features, tourism experiences and external factors. The role of revisit intention was studied by investigating the relationship between these variables and eWOM (Iriobe & Abiola, 2019; Maulina et al., 2023). This study examines the direct influence of revisit intention on eWOM, thus, the hypothesis is proposed:

H3: Revisit Intention has a positive direct effect on eWOM.

3. Methods

3.1. Measures

The constructs in the proposed model (Table 1) was measured using scales from some prior studies with data based on a questionnaire with two separate parts (i.e. demographic and multiple-item scales). MTE adapted 24 items from Kim's seven-dimensional MTE scale included “hedonism”, “novelty”, “local culture”, “refreshment”, “meaningfulness”, “involvement”, and “knowledge”. Revisit intention was operationalized using three items from the study of Kim (2018) and eWOM was adopted from the research of Rasoolimanesh et al. (2021). All items of nine constructs in this study were measured using a Likert scale, ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree).

Table 1: Items in the Proposed Constructs

3.2. Sampling and Data Collection

To test the proposed hypotheses, data were collected from domestic tourists who had visited the beaches in Vietnam in the summer of 2023. The questionnairdis were distributed to domestic tourists by Google Form. The purposive sampling technique was applied. The survey was given to participants in online forum and social media platforms. The authors suggested that respondents’ answersfocus on their latest visit to a beach destination because they can experience many trips during thissummer. The authorsreceived 624 responses. After checking the completion of the survey and excluding some missing data, the study confirmed a total of 581 valid data.

3.3. Data Analysis

Descriptive statistics was conducted to analyze the demographics of respondents, including gender, age, education, the number of beach visits and trip duration. Furthermore, the collected data were processed using the Partial Least Square-Structural Equation Modeling (PLSSEM) method with the assistance of SmartPLS v4.0 software. The aim is to assess the validity and reliability through measurement model evaluation and test the hypothesis’s result.

4. Results

4.1. Sample profile

Out of 581 respondents, 399 (68.7%) respondents were female and 182 (31.3%) male. Among the respondents, the 18-35 year-old group accounted for the majority (66,9%) and most of the respondents had graduated either from college or university (70.7%). Out of 581 respondents, 413 respondents (71.1%) had visited the beach before, and the rest (28.9%) had the first trip to that beach. In terms of trip duration, the majority (52.2%) had 1-2 day trip.

4.2. Evaluation of Measurement Model

With the results of data analysis in Table 2, Cronbach’s alpha coefficient, rho_a and factor loadings were above the recommended thresholds (>0.7; Hair et al., 2017). The AVE of nine constructs was all greater than 0.5, which is acceptable (Fornell and Larcker, 1981). Besides, there is no potential collinearity problem when all the VIFs ranged between 1.699 and 3.079 (lower than 5).

Table 2: Convergent validity results of the model

To establish discriminant validity, the Fornell-Larcker criterion and the heterotrait-monotrait (HTMT) ration have been used. With the Fornell-Larcker criterion, the square root of AVE of all constructs are greater than the correlation with any other constructs, whereas the HTMT value of all constructs are lower than 0.85 (see Table 3 & Table 4). The discriminant validity was proved to be of great significance.

Table 3: Discriminant validity using HTMT ratio

Table 4: Discriminant Validity using Fornell-Larcker criterion

4.3. Hypothesis Test

The results show the values of 0.462, and 0.471 for the R 2 of intention to revisit and eWOM respectively, which these values are considered high in behavioral studies (Hair et al., 2017). Asshown in Table 5, there was a substantial and positive effect of hedonism, local culture, meaningfulness, and involvement on revisit intention (H1a, H1c, H1e & H1f). The results do not support the direct effects of novelty, refreshment and knowledge on revisit intention (H1b, H1d & H1g).

Table 5: Results of Testing Direct Effects

Note: Significance level p < 0.05; Effect size: 0.02 ≤ f2 < 0.15 (small); 0.15 ≤ f2 < 0.35 (moderate/medium); f2 ≥ 0.35 (large)

The results also show negative impacts of hedonism, novelty, local culture, refreshment, and involvement on eWOM (H2a, H2b, H2c, H2d & H2f). Two dimensions of MTE including meaningfulness and knowledge affect eWOM (H2e & H2g). Furthermore, there was a significant positive impact of revisit intention on eWOM (H3). However, all of the effect sizes were small (0.02

In addition to their direct effects on eWOM, this reseach also mentions the effects of MTE dimensions through the role of tourist revisit intention. As shown in Table 6, tourists’ revisit intention has a mediating impact on the relationship between local culture, hedonism, involvement, meaningfulness and eWOM.

Table 6: Analysis of Indirect Effects

Note: Significance level p < 0.05

Figure 2: PLS-SEM Analysis Results of the Reseach Model

4.4. Discussion

By validating the hypotheses, this study contributes to our insight into the formation of revisit intention at a destination and eWOM behavior of beach tourists with empirical evidence. Although there has been extensive research on the influence of tourism experience on tourists’ intention and behavior, the role of each dimension of MTE in this influence has remained absent in current documents.

The implications of the findings in this study illustrate that tourists who have more positive experiences in hedonism, local culture, meaningfulness, and involvement when travelling to beach destinations are more inclined to revisit. These four factors considerably account for 46.2% of the variance in the intention to revisit, of which the most influential variable on tourists’ revisit intention belongs to hedonism. This is consistent with previous research which indicated that tourists’ destination experience could have an impact on their assessment and behaviour (Woodside & Dubelaar, 2002). Nevertheless, novelty, refreshment and knowledge are not direct motivations driving the revisit intention of beach tourists. The result can be clarified by the lack of novelty in beach tourism products which may lead to the concentration on organizing recreational activities instead of refreshment and knowledge. In addition, the need for resort experiences is considered as inherent and essential demand of domestic tourists because of the popularity of annual beach vacations in Vietnam.

The results emphasize that the higher perception of MTE regarding meaningfulness and knowledge will further stimulate the eWOM behaviors of beach tourists. In addition, previous research demonstrated that MTE has a huge impact on individuals’ intentions to distribute positive word of mouth (Kim & Ritchie, 2014; Adongo et al., 2015; Tsai, 2016). In this context of beach tourism research, this statement is strengthened when tourists gain new knowledge, which will influence tourists’ behavior to engage in WOM communications. This reinforces previous research findings which suggested that thanksto meaningful memories of their recent travels, tourists had a greater tendency to engage in eWOM behavior (Rasoolimanesh et al., 2021).

The findings of thisstudy demonstrate the positive effects of revisit intention on eWOM. Therefore, in the beach tourism context, revisit intention at a destination has a considerable influence (the highest coefficient in direct relationships) on eWOM. Besides direct impacts, revisit intention plays a mediating role in the relationship between local culture, hedonism, involvement, meaningfulness and eWOM. It is notable that all four dimensions of MTE directly affect beach tourists’ revisit intentions. This highlights the role of revisit intention on eWOM since it serves as a vital variable mediating the relationship between MTE and eWOM. The result is also consistent with the previous studies conducted by Maulina et al. (2023) which showed that revisit intention could act as a mediator in the relationship between experience quality and eWOM.

Our findings indicate that meaningfulness and knowledge have a positive effect on eWOM. However, revisit intention could not mediate thisrelationship. Thus, we can infer that beach tourists tend to distribute the meaning and the knowledge gained from their trip on social media. Additionally, revisit intention could not mediate the sharing behaviors of tourists.

5. Conclusion

In conclusion, this study provides theoretical and managerial implications to have an insight into the impact of MTE on beach tourists’ revisit intention and eWOM. The results expressed that predictive factors namely hedonism, involvement, meaningfulness and local culture not only have a substantial influence on the intention to revisit a destination but also have an indirect impact on eWOM through the mediate role of revisit intention. Revisit intention among beach tourists have significant impact on eWOM. Besides, when tourists have more positive experiences with meaningfulness and knowledge during their trip, their eWOM behavior is stronger. This findings provide significant research implications to extend the knowledge of the beach destination tourists’ behavior process.

For theoretical implications, this study emphasizes examining the impact of each dimension of MTEs on tourists’s behavior and behavioral intentions, especially in beach tourism settings. As the results mentioned above, the effect of each dimension is different. In thisresearch context, revisit intention has a direct impact on eWOM that has hardly been investigated recently. The result of this study implies it is necessary to test the direct impact and the mediating role of revisit intention in the relationship between antecedent variables and eWOM when proposing both eWOM and revisit intention in the research model simultaneously.

Tourists’ experiences prompt touriststo revisit the beach destination as well as share about their positive travel experiences with their family and friends. Besides, tourists who have previously traveled to a destination are considered as the salient source of information for potential tourists (Heydari Fard et al., 2021). In this day and age, eWOM can build virtual relationships and communities, which creates a new type of reality by influencing readers during their online information searches (Litvin et al., 2008). The findings of this research would provide additional knowledge and have practical implications for policymakers and destination marketers for beach tourism in Vietnam as well as other beach destinations in other countries. This result demonstrates that the more meaningful, exciting and enjoyable tourists find the activities and the destinations in the beach trips, their revisit intention is more stimulated. Apart from tangible aspects, travel managers need to focus on providing beach tourists comprehensive experience of local culture. At the same time, locals also express their hospitality and openness to make a good impression on tourists. These features not only stimulate tourists’visit intention but also boost their sharing of positive experiences at a destination on social networks.

This research also provides empirical evidence in the context of beach tourism in Vietnam, which can make a contribution to a better understanding of how different MTEs of domestic tourists affect revisit intention and online information distribution behaviors. As the finding shown, when tourists think they obtain something important and expand their knowledge, they will share about positive experiences at beach destinations. This implication suggests that policymakers and destination marketers should continue investigating and leveraging the values of resources, history, culture at beach destinations for tourism development. The majority of young tourists tend to post their photos on social media platforms when they travel to beach destinations. In addition, they also have great enthusiasm for sharing information about their trip online. It is noteworthy that this social media activity can create positive spillover effects of the destinaton image in beach tourism. This can support beach tourists to make a final decision in the future. These will assist policymakers and practitioners with future strategies and actions.

Although the significant findings have been mentioned, this research still has limitations and areas for further study. The sampling method hindered the generalization of the study results due to the majority of female respondents. This characteristic of the sample can lead to several hidden errors in describing MTE and explaining revisit intention and eWOM. Hence, the later research can consider applying the random sampling method to achieve more comprehensive results. Besides, thisresearch does not mention the influence of controlling demographic variables in the research model. Therefore, the study in the future can clarify our current limitations in explaining the influence of MTE. Finally, the effect sizes in the noticeable relationships are small. As a result, the impact of the variables in the research model needs to be investigated experimentally in various research contexts.