The effect of gastro tourists' memorable experience and customer satisfaction on destination loyalty

Conducted to determine the effects of their experiences on the ground of loyalty to the destination, tourists who have come to Gaziantep for gastronomic visit form as samples of this research. Tourists who visited food and beverage plantations are applied a questionnaire in the scope of the research. In the process of application of the questionnaire, easy sampling methodology is used. The first section of the questionnaire is made up of 5 questions aimed to determine their demographic qualities, the second section is applied as of; 4 questions on education, 4 questions on entertainment, 4 question on aesthetics, 4 on escape which are based on costumer experience as sub-categories. Lastly, 3 questions on customer satisfaction, 3 on memories, and 4 on destination loyalty making a total of 26 questions are prepared. Customer experience, customer satisfaction, memory, and destination loyalty scales, which are in the research model proposal are analyzed on the terms of reliability and validity. In calculation of reliability Cronbach‟s Alpha, confirmatory factor analysis for structural validity, integrated validity for compliance validity and mean square root value of variance for mean explained variance and discrimination validity are calculated. Educational statues of participants are examined in the research. Most of the participants are license, graduate, and doctorate graduates. Educational experience, entertainment experience, aesthetic experience, and escape experience positively affected to memory. Also, memories and customer satisfaction positively affected to destination loyalty. Lastly, tourists' memories positively affected to customer satisfaction. The mediation effect of customer satisfaction between memory and destination loyalty are examined and it has been determined that customer satisfaction mediated positively.