Tourism experiences: Core processes of memorable trips

Tourism is an activity that can provide different experiences to customers, but there is still a lot to know about the factors that contribute to a memorable journey. This study aims to propose a theoretical framework by identifying the core processes that are sense-making and meaningful in a Memorable Tourism Experience (MTE). The method is exploratory and qualitative, using travel narratives of Brazilian tourists. Data analysis was based on grounded theory and followed the steps of open, axial, and selective encoding. The results contribute to the formation of a substantive theory and point out three dimensions (personal, relational, and environmental), which appear to be crucial to memorable experiences. Besides, the tourist who has a memorable experience goes through the stages of: 1) Ambiance, 2) Socialization and 3) Emotions and Reflection. The findings also indicate that it may be more enriching to investigate MTEs components of experience in general rather than consider what makes a particular experience more memorable than others.