The role of memorable tourism experience and personality in the effect of prestige seeking behavior on destination loyalty

Studies carried out on motivations that will direct individuals to tourism mobility confirm that these motivations are formed by personal needs such as sightseeing, and by interpersonal needs such as gaining prestige and status. Although much is known about the diversity of these motivations, it is noteworthy that there are few studies that examine certain motivations, such as prestige, in depth. In this sense, this study was planned and conducted in order to the role of memorable tourism experience and personality in the effect of prestige seeking behavior on destination loyalty. In line with this purpose, some scales used to collect data were adapted into Turkish and literature of tourism, and the data collection tool was pilot-tested with 57 participants within the study. The data collection tool was applied to 450 participants in Bodrum and Marmaris destinations following the evaluation of the pilot test results. The obtained data were transferred to the SPSS 24 statistical software and reliability and construct validity analyzes were applied to the resulting data set. After determining the reliability of the data, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyzes were applied on the scales of prestige-seeking behavior and destination loyalty to test the construct validity. As a result of the exploratory factor analysis, it was identified that the scale of prestige-seeking behavior was explained with a four-dimensional structure: "perceived conspicuous value, perceived social value, perceived emotional value and perceived quality value". The construct, convergent and divergent validity of the scale was tested with confirmatory factor analysis of the scale following the exploratory factor analysis. The destination loyalty scale was explained and verified with a one-dimensional structure. Multiple linear regression analysis was employed to test the effect between variables representing the validated scales. In line with the findings, it was concluded that the prestige-seeking behavior is effective on both memorable tourism experiences and destination loyalty. Furthermore, it was identified that process macro analysis and memorable tourism experience have partial mediation effect on the impact of prestige-seeking behavior on destination loyalty. It was determined that the tourists with a personality that is openness to experience have more prestige-seeking behavior than the ones with other neuroticism, agreeableness, conscientiousness and extraversion personality traits regarding the effect of the personality traits of the tourists on the prestige-seeking behavior. It was specified that tourists who are open to experience and have compatible personality traits tend to destination loyalty more. On the other hand, among the destinations that the participants consider to be prestigious, it was identified that the most prestigious domestic destination is "Muğla" and the most prestigious foreign destination is "Italy". In line with the results of the research, suggestions were also made for academic literature regarding destination management and tourism businesses.