The Influence of Negative On-site Experience on TourismMemory

Abstract

Tourists generally travel with positive expectations. However, tourists can experience negative events such as unexpected incidents, service failures, unethical business practices and inhospitality while traveling. Nevertheless, previous tourism studies have focused on positive tourism experiences. Negative tourism experiences can result in unexpected behaviors such as avoidance, transition, and complaint. Also, negative experiences have a stronger influence on behavioral intention and memory than positive experiences. Therefore, negative tourism experiences need to be studied and managed in detail. The purpose of this study is to identify the influence of negative tourism experiences on tourism memory. In order to achieve the research purpose, the research model of perceived destination attributes, negative destination emotions and tourism memory was empirically analyzed. As a result, the influence of perceived destination attributes on negative destination emotions(H1) and the influence of negative destination on tourism memory(H2) were partially supported. This study shows the influence of negative destination emotions on tourism memory varied according to the dimension of negative emotions. Among the negative destination emotions, anger has the strongest positive influence on tourism memory. Also, this study suggests the priority of destination attributes management. Among the destination attributes, unethical business practices have the strongest positive influence on anger. Accordingly, in order to manage tourism destinations effectively, it is necessary to manage unethical business practices by priority.