Exploring memorable cultural tourism experiences

Cultural tourism is a significant element of tourism for many destinations; nevertheless, relatively little is known about the contributing factors that form the overall cultural travel experience. This study sought to contribute to this extant knowledge gap by enhancing our understanding of the nature of cultural tourism experiences and the process by which they are formed. Through in-depth face-to-face interviews with 29 tourists in the cultural sites of Paris, a theoretical model of memorable cultural tourism experiences (MCTEs) was developed and six key factors affecting cultural tourist experiences in a destination have emerged using a grounded theory approach: prior perceived significance of the experience, authenticity, engagement, cultural exchange, culinary attraction and quality of service. The findings of this study contribute to ongoing efforts in tourism scholarship to understand the essence of memorable tourism experiences (MTE) in general and more particularly within the context of cultural tourists' experiences. The theoretical and practical contributions of the study results are discussed and several avenues for future research are also proposed.