A research on solo women travelers in Turkey

The concept of sustainability has become more important with the increase of competition in the tourism industry,. Tourism businesses and destination managers need to follow trends closely and turn tourists into loyal visitors or loyal customers to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage. Therefore, solo travel, which is one of the new trends, is important for tourism stakeholders. The main purpose of this research is to examine the mediating effect of travel satisfaction on the relation of memorable tourism experience and destination loyalty of solo women travelers. This research in literature was examined and hypotheses were formed. This research population consists of solo women travelers in Turkey. Quantitative research technique was applied to the data obtained in this research. Path analysis and structural equation modeling were applied in AMOS 24 program in order to test the hypotheses related to the research. Within the scope of the research, it was concluded that the memorable tourism experience of solo women travelers was highly affected by meaningfulness, hedonism and novelty sub-dimensions, their satisfaction and loyalty levels were high, and their satisfaction levels had a significant effect on loyalty. It has been determined that travel satisfaction has a mediator role in the relationship between memorable tourism experience and destination loyalty. In addition, it has been concluded that memorable tourism experience dimensions have a positive and significant effect on travel satisfaction and destination loyalty. Suggestions regarding the findings of the research are included. Keywords: Memorable Tourism Experience, Solo Women Travelers, Loyalty, Satisfaction, Mediator