Do memorable tourism experiences remain stable over time? An analysis of online reviews using dynamic topic modeling

Questionnaire-based studies of memorable tourism experiences (MTEs) struggle to capture how memories endure. We analyzed online travel reviews to address this limitation, examining 276,123 TripAdvisor reviews paired by travel and review dates across thirteen 30-day slices (0–390 days) for stability in content and sentiment. Using dynamic topic modeling, we tracked topic meaning and importance alongside sentiment trajectories, quantifying stability with cosine similarity. Across the five attractions, content remained stable and sentiment was consistently positive with minimal drift. Methodologically, we offer a reproducible alternative to survey snapshots. Theoretically, we reveal durable collective structures organizing MTEs and destination anchors sustaining shared recall.