Creative Experiences on Memorability of Destination and Loyalty: The Case of Avanos

Abstract

Creative tourism, which emerges as a result of the changing interests and desires of tourists, has been studied by many researchers in recent years. These studies focused on the managerial aspects of creative tourism, but the tourists' perspective was ignored. This study aims to bridge this research gap by examining the effect of tourists' creative experiences on their destination memorability and destination loyalty. The research data were collected by convenience sampling method from 394 tourists who participated in the pottery making in Avanos town. The collected data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. The results show that the unique involvement, interactivity and learning dimensions of the creative experience have a positive effect on destination memorability. In addition, it has been determined that creative experience did not directly affect destination loyalty. On the other hand, unique involvement, interactivity and learning dimensions were found positively affect destination loyalty through destination memorability.