COMPONENTS OF MEMORABLE GASTRONOMIC EXPERIENCE AND THEIR EFFECTS ON VISITOR SATISFACTION

The significance of gastronomy in shaping tourism experiences has been extensively documented. Memories of gastronomic experiences are now considered to be of crucial importance in tourists' cognitive, affective and behavioral evaluations. The objective of this study is to identify the components that constitute memorable experiences in the context of gastronomic tourism and to ascertain the effect of each component on visitor satisfaction. To this end, a quantitative resear ch study was conducted in Gaziantep, a well-known destination in Türkiye with a reputation for its culinary attractions. The data were collected from 244 domestic tourists using the convenience sampling method with face-to-face surveys adapted from the scale developed to measure memorable tourism experiences by Kim et al. (2012). The data were analyzed with exploratory factor analysis (EFA) to extract the factors, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modelling (SEM) to validate the measurement model and to test the proposed relationships between each component of the memorable gastronomic experience (MGE) and visitor satisfaction. The EFA demonstrated that the model, comprising seven subcomponents, accounted for 74.09% of the variance in memorable experiences, thus indicating a robust predictive capacity. The findings of the study indicated that hedonism, involvement, local culture and novelty components contributed the most to the memorability of gastronomic experiences, while meaningfulness and knowledge contributed relatively low. MGE as a total construct was found to be associated with visitor satisfaction. Six of the MGE components (hedonism, novelty, local culture, refreshment, involvement and knowledge) were found to have a significant direct effect on visitor satisfaction individually. However, one other component, meaningfulness, was not found to be significantly associated with satisfaction. By unveiling of the pivotal components of MGE, this study yielded substantial insights and implications for entrepreneurs and DMO's that seek to enhance visitors' satisfaction with gastronomy.