The mediating effect of personality traits on the relationship between tourist experience and revisit intention: A research on tourists who attend alternative tourism types

Alternative types of tourism include the types of tourism that emerged as a response to the new demands and needs of tourists and as an alternative to mass tourism. One of the reasons for the new demands and needs is the desire to live a different experience. In order to create this difference, the experience should be memorable. It is assumed that tourists who obtain a memorable tourism experience are likely to have a higher intention to revisit the destination where they spent their vacation. Personality traits of tourists are expected to play an important role to explain the relationship between these two constructs. The main purpose of this research is to examine the mediating effect of personality traits on the relationship between tourist experience and revisit intention. For this purpose, a number of hypotheses which were proposed by the relational screening method included in the research model. In the current study, the tourists who participated in the alternative tourism types in Bolu (Turkey) where alternative tourism types are rich were selected as the population of this research. Accordingly, a total of 478 usable questionnaires were collected and 420 questionnaires retained for further analysis. The data were analysed using SPSS 24 and Lisrel 8.80. The Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) was used to test the model suggested. The findings of the current investigation show that personality traits have a mediating effect on the relationship between memorable tourism experience and revisit intention. However, it was found that the openness to experience dimension has a mediating effect on the relationship between memorable tourism experience and revisit intention. In addition, the findings suggest that different personality traits affect the dimensions of memorable tourism experience. In the light of the findings, the study proposes several implications.