Memorable Tourist Experiences in National Parks: Impacts on Future Intentions and Environmentally Responsible Behavior

Abstract

This study aims to investigate how national parks, identified as remarkable and, therefore, worthy of the trip, are visited and experienced. The main objective of this study was to explore the influence of memorable tourism experiences on environmentally responsible behavior, satisfaction, and behavioral intentions as its outcome. By giving an account of how national parks may be experienced by nature-based tourists, its main focus is on the concept of memorable nature-based tourist experience (MNBTE). The data for this research were collected through a survey from tourists visiting national parks in Serbia. The results demonstrate the significance of MNBTE as an important relationship mediator. The study’s key contributions are the extension of the memorable tourism experience construct and the inclusion of tourist satisfaction, intention to revisit, recommend, share the experience, and the environmental responsibility of tourists. Practical implications and potential future research approaches are also highlighted in the conclusion.

1. Introduction

The tourism product is a comprehensive experience that meets various traveler needs and offers matching benefits. In tourism products, experience is fundamental [1]. Tourism has always been a unique “business of holiday experiences”. However, in recent years, the significance of intentionally providing emotional tourism products has increased; we can now clearly see ongoing efforts to multiply and intensify the tourism experience [2,3]. Tourism products include complete experiences that satisfy various needs and provide matching advantages [1,2,3,4,5]. The term “tourists’ experiences” refers to psychological occurrences in visitors’ minds, in response to the tourism-related services supplied by tourism providers [6,7,8]. Experiences in tourism are generally described as being remarkable, unique, personal, entertaining, memorable, and meaningful—which is antithetical to routine experiences [9,10,11]. A memorable tourism experience (MTE) includes significant moments in visitors’ experience, feelings, and thoughts about when visiting a destination [11]. However, given that those moments constitute only the most crucial and meaningful memories, not all tourist interactions will be remembered.

Therefore, despite being unique constructs, experiences have a strong connection to and dependence on the environment in the context of tourism [12,13,14]. Natural resources are an important component of customer satisfaction since nature-based tourism is frequently marked by intense experiences drawn from a variety of outdoor activities [15,16]. The process of transforming natural resources into unique tourism experiences through human usage and valuing is referred to as nature-based tourism. People’s activities when they visit natural places outside of their typical surroundings are also included in nature-based tourism [16,17].

The definition of nature-based tourism provided by Fossgard and Fredman [12] includes natural resources and any other tangible and intangible elements present in the physical, social, and cultural environments relevant to the visitor’s experience. According to Manning [18], people pursue enjoyment and specific goals in all of their activities, including those related to tourism. Understanding the benefits that tourists derive from their leisure time is essential since it affects the way they evaluate their experiences. Giving tourists an unforgettable and memorable visit is considered to be a key tactic for maintaining a competitive advantage [19,20]. Such a visit creates unique tourist experiences for visitors and encourages their repeated visits, while also attracting others [21,22].

According to the previous research, the concept of MTE can be applied to other types of tourism, such as nature-based tourism [23,24]. Additional research is needed to understand how tourists interact with national parks and other protected sites in settings outside of developed economies [25]. The need for additional research that tests the scale of MTE in different environments has also been highlighted [11,19]. According to Kirillova et al. [26], visitors’ engagement and perception of a destination’s surroundings, in general, may have an impact on their satisfaction with the overall travel experience. As the original seven MTE dimensions [27] may not be applicable in these contexts [28,29], and especially in the context of memorable nature-based tourism experiences (MNBTE), some recent studies also highlight the need to identify additional decisive antecedents that influence tourists’ MTE. Studies examining memorable experiences in nature-based tourism context [16,24,30,31] through various research constructs, including the impact of MTE on travel intentions (revisit, recommend, and share the experience), are scarce. The study by Sthapit et al. [28] is the only one so far that focuses on visitors’ environmentally responsible behavior in addition to MTE.

By offering a detailed interpretation of tourist experience in the context of nature-based tourism in national parks, this paper seeks to mitigate the literature gap. The main objective of this study was to explore the influence of memorable tourism experiences, and the environmentally responsible behavior, satisfaction, and behavioral intentions as its outcome. Building and testing a structural equation model (SEM) of tourists’ environmentally responsible behavior, MNBTE, satisfaction, and various intentions (revisit, recommend, and share the experience) are the key goals of this study. It also focuses on the effects of MNBTE on tourists’ environmentally responsible behavior. Additionally, our research explores how tourists’ MNBTE affects their perception of satisfaction and how this satisfaction affects various intents (revisit, recommend, and share the experience). In Serbia’s national parks, the empirical data were gathered through a survey involving local tourists.

The paper is organized as follows. Section 1: The research background and scope are explained in the first section, which is a comprehensive introduction to the topic. Section 2: In this section, a critical analysis of nature-based tourism, MTE, environmentally responsible behavior, satisfaction, and intentions (to return, recommend, and share the experience) is presented. This is followed by the presentation of hypotheses regarding the development of the research model and the relationships among the variables, and the testing of the relationships using the data collected from nature-based tourists. Section 3: The methodology, data collecting, survey tools, and analysis methods are covered in the third section. Section 4: The results and analyses are presented in the fourth part. Section 5: A discussion is presented in the fifth, followed by the conclusion in the last, sixth section (Section 6).

2. Literature Review

In line with the aims of this study, the literature review is divided into four sections: (a) nature-based tourism, (b) memorable tourism experiences, (c) tourists’ environmentally responsible behavior, and (d) satisfaction, willingness to return, recommending the destination, and sharing the experience.

2.1. Nature-Based Tourism

A significant component of global tourism is nature-based tourism [32]. For a very long time, natural places and attractions have drawn tourists who enjoy being outside and engaging in outdoor activities [33,34]. Increasingly, people around the world are drawn to nature-based tourism and leisure that involves being outside and embracing it [35,36]. Before the COVID-19 epidemic, protected areas received 8 billion nature-based tourists annually, bringing in about USD 600 billion in annual direct in-country expenditure and USD 250 billion in annual consumer surplus [37]. The COVID-19 epidemic caused a substantial surge in nature-based tourism in many countries; for instance, Finland’s national parks saw a spike in visitors [16]. From a global perspective, the growing tourist industry includes a significant percentage of nature-based tourism [32,38].

Nature-based tourism, which typically occurs in protected areas outside inhabited areas, is committed to preserving biodiversity and ecosystem services as well as natural and cultural heritage for the benefit of present and future generations [38,39,40,41]. In this respect, nature-based tourism can be observed as a method of achieving sustainability, developed as an alternative to the devastating environmental effects of tourism [42]. The term “nature-based tourism” is used by several researchers to refer to a broad category of the tourism industry, including adventure tourism, ecotourism, wildlife tourism, and even cultural tourism [17,38,43,44,45,46,47]. Therefore, the term can be used to apply to any form of travel where relatively untouched natural features are the main attraction or setting [38,48].

Nature-based tourism refers to travel motivated totally or partially by interest in natural destinations’ beauty and history, in which visits combine education, recreation, and often adventure [49]. As opposed to other types of tourists, nature-based tourists have distinct motivations and behaviors [12,50]. The desire to experience the natural environment and the opportunity to partake in different activities in nature are the main reasons given by many tourists for traveling to a destination [27,51]. Nature tourists stand out among the other types of travelers for their striving to inspire people to learn about nature and experience it. In addition to admiring the scenery, wildlife, and uninhabited places, nature tourists often love visiting historical and cultural institutions [27]. Individual perceptions or interpretations of nature are the major factor in the nature-based tourism experiences [32]. The degree to how much visitors will appreciate nature depends on their travel experiences [36]. Nature-based tourism is a direct experience of fairly undisturbed natural phenomena. In this respect, visitors may perceive such an experience as memorable.

2.2. Memorable Tourism Experience

The emergence of the experience economy has brought great changes, especially the transition from the traditional products and services to the experience consumption [52]. Customers have become interested in purchasing a complete experience that enables them to expand their knowledge, have fun, and engage in activities, thus creating meaningful memories [53]. Customer experience refers to personal response to any type of contact (direct or indirect) with the provider of goods and commodities [54]. It was assumed that if customers are provided with positive experiences, then it will result in their satisfaction and loyalty [55,56]. Therefore, customer experience emerged as one of the most important tools for gaining a competitive advantage and differentiating on the market [57].

The concept of customer experience was gradually introduced in many areas and industries, including tourism, where DMOs began to focus increasingly on improving and evaluating the visitor experience [58]. Furthermore, tourists’ satisfaction and intention to revisit and recommend are influenced by the perceived value of their travel experience [59]. Tourism providers must therefore learn and understand more about experiences in order to be able to properly design and deliver them to their consumers [60].

In tourism, experiences are created through the interaction between the tourist and the environment, including its physical and social aspects. While the physical aspect refers to the physical surroundings and characteristics of the destination, the social aspect suggests various social influences that may have been present at the time of the experience (interpersonal relationships, relationships with other tourists, service personnel, local people, and the host–guest relationship) [61]. However, each individual may perceive the same experiential components very differently [52]. According to Tung and Ritchie [62], the tourist experience is based on personal evaluation and psychological processes (cognitive, affective, and behavioral) related to tourist activities. Thus, the tourism experience can be defined as a subjective state of mind arising from personal feelings and emotions concerning the trip [63].

Memory is identified as one of the most important aspects of the tourist experience [64]. When planning the next trip, tourists rely heavily on their previous experiences [65]. However, it has been proved that only those experiences that were sufficiently impressive to remain in the long-term memory of an individual can have an impact on their behavior in the future [66]. According to Kim et al. [11], a memorable tourism experience (MTE) stands for a positive experience that is remembered and recalled long after the event. Such experiences are composed of selective moments stored in the individual’s memory and they constitute the most important source of information when deciding whether to revisit the place or recommend it others [11,67]. Given their ability to transform attitudes and influence future behavior, experiences in tourism are often described as transformative in addition to being memorable [68].

Since its inception, the MTE concept has attracted the interest of numerous researchers who have sought to determine its constituent components [11,62,65,67,69]. Kim et al. [11] identified seven dimensions of MTE: hedonism, novelty, refreshment, meaningfulness, local culture, knowledge, and involvement, and developed a 24-item measurement tool that is now widely used in tourism research. These experiential aspects are the ones that tourists tend to recall the most and they contribute to the perception of particular experiences as memorable. Since travelers nowadays seek more than just goods and commodities, marketers should focus more on enabling and enhancing the quality of memorable experiences [70]. Previous studies also highlight various benefits of providing tourists with MTEs, including a positive impact on satisfaction, intention to revisit, recommend, and spread word of mouth [24,70,71,72,73,74,75,76]. Additionally, Dias and Dias [77] emphasize that MTEs can influence travelers’ decisions to extend their stay at a destination, which can be of great importance to tourism providers.

Recognizing the potential of MTE as an effective tool in destination development and marketing, many studies on the antecedents and outcomes of MTE in various study contexts have been conducted, but there is a slight lack of those regarding nature-based tourism. Several authors [16,24,30,31] measured memorable nature-based tourism experience (MNBTE) and confirmed its positive relations with place attachment [16], word of mouth, and revisit intentions [24], while Lončarić et al. [31] identified a few experiential dimensions (hedonism, refreshment, and involvement) that influence visitor satisfaction. Despite the fact that they provided some evidence, more research is needed to supplement the existing findings or to include other research constructs, such as tourists’ environmentally responsible behavior (TERB), which is implemented in this study.

2.3. Tourists’ Environmentally Responsible Behavior

Understanding tourist behavior is one of the most important prerequisites for successful destination management, which is why it is a very common topic among researchers [78]. Tourism behavior is a term used to describe a person’s actions related to tourism activities [79]. Additionally, tourism behavior can be defined as a set of visible activities and mental processes that are the result of social interaction. It includes perceived tourist behavior and psychological processes, such as decision-making, motivation, and cognition [80]. Based on previous literature, decision-making, motivations, expectations, attitudes, values, self-concept and personality, satisfaction, trust, loyalty, and perception were singled out as important conceptual dimensions of behavior in tourism [78].

The long-term socioeconomic and environmental health of a tourism destination depends on tourists’ environmentally responsible behavior (TERB) [81,82,83], which is a key component of the destination management for sustainability [84,85]. It is frequently thought that environmentally responsible attitudes, knowledge, and behavior are all influenced by nature-based tourism [50,86]. TERB refers to a variety of activities that tourists engage in: the ones that minimize or prevent a harmful impact on the environment during visits to such sites, or help in their preservation and conservation [87,88].

If both economic and environmental sustainability are to be expected, nature-based tourism areas must understand TERB [89,90]. According to various researchers [91,92,93], tourists are more likely to behave sustainably when they are exposed to the natural environment, engage in nature-based activities on-site, and feel a connection to particular sites. It has been observed [93,94] that by enhancing tourists’ environmental understanding and attitudes, the connection with natural environment fosters nature-based TERB. Therefore, it makes sense to assume that visitors who have had positive experiences at a site that provides nature-based tourism and who have significant environmental concerns will act in a more environmentally responsible manner [95,96]. Consequently, the following hypothesis has been put forward:

H1: 

MNBTE positively impacts tourists’ environmentally responsible behavior (+).

2.4. Satisfaction, Willingness to Revisit, Recommend, and Share Experience

One of the most important aspects of sustainable tourism is providing visitors with a high-quality and satisfying experience while preserving the local community’s natural resources and cultural identity [97,98]. Satisfaction is highlighted as one of the most important components for developing quality relationships [99]. When experience and expectation are compared, satisfaction is the outcome. Visitor satisfaction will rise as a result of satisfying emotional and intellectual experiences [100]. It is also well known that satisfied tourists are more likely to repurchase the same products and services, return, and recommend to others, resulting in customer loyalty, which is a significant benefit to destinations [101].

Satisfaction is defined as a pleasant feeling resulting from a comparison of tourist expectations and the actual experience at the destination [102]. According to Huang and Hsu [103], an individual’s satisfaction is determined by his or her subjective assessment of the provided travel experience. Tourists’ expectations shape their behavior, decisions, and choices at the destination, and if the desired standard is met or even exceeded, the evaluation of the experience will be accompanied by positive emotions and will result in satisfaction [104,105]. In a natural environment, people are more likely to behave sustainably [91,92,93] and thus contribute to the preservation of natural resources by their own actions [87]. Besides enabling tourists to be closely in touch with natural environment, Ballantyne and Packer [94] added that nature-based experiences may provide tourists with the feeling of satisfaction and joy. Some authors believe that tourists’ environmental attitudes affect their satisfaction and perception of the destination [101,106,107]. Moreover, previous research has revealed a positive association between environmentally responsible behavior and satisfaction, pointing out that satisfied tourists are more likely to behave carefully and responsibly [87,93,95,101,108,109]. Given that tourists’ behavior and satisfaction are closely related, this study intends to examine their relationship but in the opposite direction, which, to our knowledge, has not been done. Therefore, it is suggested that:

H2: 

Tourists’ environmentally responsible behavior positively influences satisfaction (+).

An individual’s satisfaction is a result of consuming the tourist experience [110,111]. It has been widely confirmed that memorable experiences improve the level of tourist satisfaction [72,74,76,112], including studies in the nature-based tourism context [24,31,113,114,115]. In addition, meeting tourists’ needs is highlighted as the main predictor of their future behavioral intentions [116]. Visitors are more likely to remember a place positively when they have a good memory since they are more likely to feel good about themselves and the experience. The intention to return will be influenced by this upbeat attitude [114,115,116]. According the literature data, satisfied tourists are more likely to repeat the visit, share their experiences with others, and recommend it [27,31,117,118,119,120,121,122]. Thus, it can be hypothesized that:

H3: 

MNBTE positively impacts tourists ‘satisfaction (+).

H4: 

Tourists’ satisfaction positively impacts revisit intentions (+).

H5: 

Tourists’ satisfaction positively impacts recommendation intentions (+).

H6: 

Tourists’ satisfaction positively impacts sharing of experience (+) (Figure 1).

3. Materials and Methods

3.1. Study Sample

The research was conducted among the local tourists who had recently visited any of the national parks in Serbia: Fruška Gora, Tara, Kopaonik, and Đerdap. This study focuses on the national parks of Serbia because they are the most visited areas regarding nature-based tourism in the country. The study sample consisted of a total of 474 participants. All people included in the research were residents of Serbia older than 18. The sampling method used in this study is convenience sampling, along with snowball sampling, as respondents were asked to share the questionnaire with other people.

3.2. Instrument

The questionnaire consisted of four segments. The first one included sociodemographic characteristics of the respondents (gender, age, education, employment status, marital status, and income) together with some travel-related information (the national park they visited most recently, how long they stayed there, and who they went with).

The second part evaluated the national park’s memorable nature-based tourism experience. This part consisted of 33 items. The majority of the items (24) were obtained from Kim et al. [11]. In studies intended to identify the most memorable tourism experience, it is the most commonly used assessment instrument. The items were adjusted to achieve a more natural experience. Other experience-related factors were taken from other studies, including experience escape [123], experience intensification [124], and memorable nature-based travel experiences [125]. A 5-point Likert scale was used to evaluate all of the assertions (1—strongly disagree; 5—strongly agree).

The survey’s third part focused on tourist environmentally responsible behavior (TERB). Studies by Cheng et al. [126], Chiu et al. [101], and Su et al. [127] were the starting point for questions about TERB (five items). All of the claims were rated on a 5-point Likert scale (1—strongly disagree; 5—strongly agree).

The final section assessed visitor satisfaction, intent to return, recommend, and share the experience. This section contained 12 elements taken and modified from earlier studies [27,104,125,128,129,130,131]. On a 5-point Likert scale, respondents were asked to rate their level of agreement with the proposed statements (1—strongly disagree; 5—strongly agree).

3.3. Procedure

The questionnaire was first designed and tested for the appropriateness for the study’s objectives before being revised to make it as clear and comprehensible as possible. The study was conducted during October and November 2022 using a Google Docs online questionnaire that was shared via email and social media (Facebook and Instagram). The data collection was followed by data processing and analysis, discussion, and final conclusions. The target audience consisted of the local visitors who had recently visited (last three years) any of the abovementioned national parks. All respondents were informed of the study’s overall goal, the anonymity and voluntariness of participation, and the fact that the data would only be utilized for research purposes.

3.4. Statistical Methods

Data analyses were conducted using IBM SPSS AMOS 21.0 (SEM-CFA) and IBM SPSS 21.0 Statistics (descriptive statistical analysis (

Table 1. Sociodemographic characteristics of the respondents (n = 474).

Gender		Employment Status		National Park
Male	40.9%	Employed	65.8%	Fruška Gora	27.4%
Female	59.1%	Unemployed	9.5%	Tara	34.8%
		Student	16.7%	Kopaonik	19.0%
Age		Retired	8.0%	Đerdap	18.8%
Average age = 39		Marital status		Length of stay
Std. = 13.913		Single	22.2%	Average stay = 4
Age range (18–84)		In a relationship	24.5%	Std. = 3.343
		Married	44.9%	Stay range (1–20)
		Divorced	6.1%	Travel company
Education		Widow	2.3%	Family member/s	37.3%
Elementary	-			Partner	23.0%
High school	27.2%	Income		Friend/s	24.5%
Bachelor’s degree	42.6%	Below average	44.9%	Colleague/s	8.0%
Master’s degree	24.5%	Average (EUR 623)	33.1%	Alone	4.2%
PhD degree	5.7%	Above average	21.9%	Other	3.0%

), Cronbach’s alpha) [132,133]. To test the validity of the questionnaire, Pearson correlation was used in SPSS. The validity test is performed by correlating each item’s questionnaire scores with the total score. Sig. (2-tailed) was a significant level of 5%. Each item was validated individually in two ways: Pearson correlation and the item with a total score, also known as rxy. The next step was to determine the reliability and consistency. To evaluate the construct validity, the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used.

Table 2. Results of goodness-of-fit (50 items, n = 474).

Goodness-of-Fit Criteria	Fit Indices	Good Fit	Acceptable Fit	Goodness of Fit Obtained	Fit Situations
Statistics of the chi-square test	χ2	0.00 ≤ χ2 ≤ 2.00 × sd	2.00 xsd ≤ χ2 ≤ 5.00 × sd	78 ≤ 99.436 ≤ 390	Good
Chi-square value	CMIN (χ2/sd)	0.00 ≤ χ2/sd ≤ 2.00	2.00 ≤ χ2/sd ≤ 5.00	99.436/39 = 2.550	Acceptable
Root mean square error of approximation	RMSEA	0.00 ≤ RMSEA ≤ 0.05	0.05 ≤ RMSEA ≤ 0.10	0.057	Acceptable
Standardized root mean square residual	SRMR	0.00 ≤ SRMR ≤ 0.05	0.05 ≤ SRMR ≤ 0.10	0.014	Good
Normed fıt index	NFI	0.95 ≤ NFI ≤ 1.00	0.90 ≤ NFI ≤ 0.95	0.987	Good
Relative fix index	RFI	0.95 ≤ RFI ≤ 1.00	0.90 ≤ RFI ≤ 0.95	0.966	Good
Incremental fit index	IFI	0.95 ≤ IFI ≤ 1.00	0.90 ≤ IFI ≤ 0.95	0.992	Good
Goodness-of-fit index	GFI	0.95 ≤ GFI ≤ 1.00	0.90 ≤ GFI ≤ 0.95	0.973	Good
Adjusted goodness-of-fit index	AGFI	0.90 ≤ AGFI ≤ 1.00	0.85 ≤ AGFI ≤ 0.90	0.918	Good
Tucker–Lewis index	TLI	0.95 ≤ TLI ≤ 1.00	0.90 ≤ TLI ≤ 0.95	0.979	Good
Comparative fit index	CFI	0.97 ≤ CFI ≤ 1.00	0.95 ≤ CFI ≤ 0.97	0.992	Good

Note: df (the number of degrees of freedom) = 39. Source: [139,140,141] (modified by the authors based on data analysis in SPSS AMOS 21.0).

lists the many indicators that were calculated for this study (such as GFI, IFI, AGFI, etc.), along with their values for good or satisfactory fit. The main determinants of whether a good fit exists are the quality of various indicators with various sample sizes, types of data, and ranges of acceptable scores [134,135,136,137,138]. The following workflow presents all steps, including practices and various quantitative methods used in this research (Figure 2).

4. Results

4.1. Respondents’ Sociodemographic Profiles

The descriptive summary of the structure of the respondents, presented in Table 1, reveals that women accounted for 59.1% of the sample while men accounted for 40.9%. The respondents were, on average, 39 years old (age range 18–84). The vast majority (42.6%) of the respondents had a bachelor’s degree. The majority of the respondents (65.8%) stated being employed but there were also 9.5% unemployed tourists, 16.7% students, and 8.0% retirees. Most respondents (44.9%) were married and had a below-average income (44.9%).

The Tara National Park had the highest percentage of visitors (34.8%). The average length of stay was 4 days, and the most common type of traveling companion was a family member/s (37.3%).

4.2. Structural Equation Model (SEM)

In contrast to many statistical techniques, SEM makes it possible to comprehend and analyze a whole model together with the impact of the model’s constituent components. The structural equation model developed in the study consists of the variables related to the tracked concepts that are to be measured. The MNBTE has 10 dimension latent variables, and the satisfaction, revisit, recommend, and sharing the experience are four dimensional latent variables in the constructed model.

When analyzed by SEM, the adaptive values of the model must be within the accepted limits in order to be meaningful. The SPSS AMOS package tool was used to test the study’s model [133]. Table 2 shows the goodness-of-fit values and their range for the developed model.

Table 2 shows the goodness-of-fit values and their range for the developed model. It can be observed from Table 2 that the goodness-of-fit indices are almost always within acceptable parameters. As a result, the goodness-of-fit values show that the model is entirely valid and that the relationships in the model are fully consistent with the sample data. It can be concluded from the fit values that the model and the data fit each other well.

When developing a scale, each item loading should be assessed for statistical significance and magnitude [142]. Although Field [143] suggests cutting factor loadings below 0.3, scores greater than 0.4 are considered stable by Guadagnoli and Velicer [144]. A fully standardized item-to-factor loading magnitude higher than 0.5 is strongly recommended [145,146]. In this investigation, completely standardized item-to-factor loading magnitudes ranging from 0.601 to 0.904 were used (Appendix A).

Reliability analyses were performed to ensure the items used to evaluate each factor were internally consistent. According to Taber [147], Cronbach’s internal consistency reliability is the most commonly used reliability test method. Nunnally and Bernstein [148] suggest that the desired reliability be 0.7 or higher. These data can be regarded as acceptable, satisfactory, and sufficient with a total scale reliability of 0.95 and individual domain Cronbach’s alpha reliability scores ranging from 0.90 to 0.97 [147]. This demonstrates internal consistency by showing that the variables have a favorable or strong connection with their factor grouping. According to an evaluation of internal consistency, this scale offers very high level of reliability.

Composite reliability (sometimes referred to as factor-level reliability or construct reliability) is the internal consistency of items measuring the same underlying components [142,149,150,151]. Typically, composite reliability higher than 0.7 is considered adequate [148,152]. The composite dependability value of our model is greater than the threshold of 0.70, and it ranges from 0.78 to 0.97 (

Table 3. Table discriminant validity.

Constructs	1	2	3	4	5	6
MNBTE	0.894
TERB	0.775	0.707
Satisfaction	0.892	0.666	0.883
Revisit	0.844	0.680	0.870	0.854
Recommend	0.776	0.649	0.841	0.802	0.800
Sharing of experience	0.728	0.609	0.739	0.770	0.843	0.742

Note: Diagonal elements (bold) are the square root of AVE; off-diagonal are correlations.

). Another technique used to verify the convergent validity of the items is the average variance extracted (AVE) [150], which was used in addition to Cronbach’s alpha scores. Typically, a good convergent validity would be defined as an AVE greater than 0.5 [153]. The test results for the modified model show that the AVE values typically ranged from 0.50 to 0.80, exceeding the 0.5 threshold value (Appendix A). According to both techniques, each concept in the 50-item model has sufficient convergent validity.

A comparison of the square roots of the AVEs for all constructs with diagonal and off-diagonal values is shown in Table 3. The square roots of the AVEs values are higher than the correlation values, clearly suggesting discriminant validity [150].

4.3. Testing of Hypotheses

Based on the covariances found via CFA using AMOS 21, the study results from tests on the hypotheses are provided in

Table 4. Hypothesis test using CFA (covariances) via AMOS 21.

Hypothesis	Relationship	Estimate
		Beta	Std. Error	C.R. (t)	Status of Hypothesis
H1	MNBTE to TERB	0.576	0.045	12.763	Supported
H2	TERB to Satisfaction	0.591	0.049	12.065	Supported
H3	MNBTE to Satisfaction	0.713	0.052	13.782	Supported
H4	Satisfaction to Revisit	0.822	0.058	14.284	Supported
H5	Satisfaction to Recommend	0.777	0.055	14.009	Supported
H6	Satisfaction to Sharing of experience	0.706	0.055	12.934	Supported

. The covariances were performed between the independent construct MNBTE and the dependent constructs TERB and Satisfaction, between the independent construct TERB and the dependent construct Satisfaction, between the independent construct Satisfaction and the dependent constructs Revisit, Recommend, and Sharing of experience (see Figure 1).

As shown in Table 4, all six hypotheses were confirmed, and all relationships in the model were favorable and significant at a confidence of 99.9% (Sig. p-value = 0.001).

5. Discussion

The results of this study offer a comprehensive understanding of the tourist experience in the context of nature-based tourism in Serbian national parks. The impression of memorable tourist experiences can affect tourists’ environmentally responsible behavior, and this affects their satisfaction with their travel experience and the place they are visiting. The effect of satisfaction on intents to revisit, recommend, and share the experience was another relationship that was examined and subsequently confirmed. The empirical results support all six hypotheses.

5.1. The Influence of MNBTE on TERB

The results of the SEM and CFA covariance indicate that MNBTE has a positive effect on TERB (confirmed H1). According to Ardoin et al. [50] and Fossgard and Fredman [12], nature-based tourists are different from other types of visitors in that they have different motivations and behaviors. As a result, they are more concerned with the environment. A person who values nature, wildlife, and landscapes will work to preserve them and reduce any potential adverse effects on the environment [27]. It has been demonstrated in a number of studies [91,92,93] that having an unforgettable and lasting experience with nature and its resources influences the transition of people’s behavior toward environmentally responsible behavior. Positive nature-based experiences encourage TERB [94,95], which is also confirmed by our study. People who are interested in nature have major environmental concerns and act in more environmentally responsible ways [95,96]. According to our research, visitors to national parks are more concerned with the environment and its preservation. This is in line with the study by Stewart and Craig [154], which shows that individuals who are often exposed to the natural environment are more likely to adopt environmental protection behaviors.

5.2. The Influence of TERB on Satisfaction

Hypothesis 2, suggesting that TERB has a favorable effect on satisfaction, has been supported by the analyses. In a natural context, such as national parks, nature-based experiences may give visitors the feeling of satisfaction and joy [94] in addition to giving them the chance to be in close contact with the natural environment and to contribute to its preservation [87] through responsible behavior [91,92,93]. In contrast to our findings, prior research has found a link between environmentally awareness and satisfaction, arguing that satisfied visitors are more likely to act responsibly [87,92,95,101,108,109]. Sthapit et al. [16] have studied the direct and significant effects of place attachment on TERB. Our research shows that TERB is a prerequisite for satisfaction. Tourist satisfaction grows with the growing opportunities for environmentally conscious behavior among tourists, which makes sense given that visitors value nature and wish to contribute to its preservation.

5.3. The Influence of MNTBE on Satisfaction

These results reinforce the significance of memorable tourist experiences [76] and highlight the significant contribution of positive emotions connected to memorable experiences on visitor satisfaction [155] and TERB [102]. It has been discovered that tourists’ opinions about and interactions with the natural environment have a favorable impact on the levels of satisfaction, which is in line with both common sense and research findings [156]. Therefore, in our study, the tourists’ satisfaction was directly impacted by the memorable experience associated with national parks (H3 supported). A driving force behind satisfaction with nature-based tourism is the memorable tourism experience, which includes the components of hedonism, novelty, local culture, refreshment, meaningfulness, involvement, knowledge, experience escape, experience intensification, and memory. This is supported by previous research [31,115,157], which found that the key components MTE influenced visitor satisfaction. The results of the current study suggest that the more memorable the travel experience, the higher the level of satisfaction, which is in line with the findings of Kim et al. [66]. This is consistent with literature data [16,124] showing that a positive perception of an environment generates positive subjective memories and emotions of satisfaction. In this respect, our findings are in line with Jurowski and Nickerson [158]. They discovered that participating in activities is the primary catalyst for the excitement emotion, which has a big impact on one’s degree of satisfaction. This study supports previous research by Kim et al. [11] showing that tourists place a greater emphasis on memorable experiences than on merely satisfying ones.

A number of studies [31,72,113,114] focus on the effects of each component of memorable tourism experience on satisfaction. For instance, according to some studies [24,31,72,114], only hedonism, refreshment, and involvement have a direct beneficial effect on tourist satisfaction. Pan and Ryan (113) highlight that visitors to forest parks who are relaxed report higher levels of satisfaction overall. According to Lončarić et al. [31] and Kim et al. [27], tourists’ involvement is crucial for obtaining their satisfaction. This suggests that ensuring tourists’ satisfaction with their nature-based experience may require a high level of memorable tourism experience.

5.4. The Influence of Satisfaction on Revisit, Recommend, and Sharing the Experience

The research findings show that future behavioral intentions and satisfaction with the nature-based experience are directly related. Satisfaction with the nature-based experience has a significantly positive influence on visitors’ intents to return, recommend, and share the experience. This confirms hypotheses 4–6. According to the literature data [65,104,159], the degree of satisfaction with a destination has an impact on the visitors’ tendency to recommend it and return to it. Previous studies [31,120,121,122] have shown that tourists who were satisfied with a national park and its amenities were more likely to return, recommend it to others, and share their experience with others According to the literature data [27,118,119], satisfied visitors are more likely to recommend tourist destinations to their friends, family, and co-workers, and to make a repeat revisit them. Recommendations from those who are close to the person usually boost motivation and appeal for visiting a place. Satisfied nature lovers visit national parks more frequently and for a longer period of time. According to studies by Lee et al. [160] and Zhang et al. [65], people who have these positive experiences become loyal, which motivates them to return to the place and recommend it to others. The findings of our research are in agreement with the conclusions of previous research [104,161] and they support the findings of Prayag et al. [117], who discovered a positive relation between satisfaction and ecotourists’ recommendations. Additionally, it was found that sharing the experience was significantly positively impacted by satisfaction. Our findings are in accordance with those of Sotiriadis [162] and Lončarić et al. [31], who found that travelers satisfied with their trip were more likely to share their travel experiences both offline and online.

6. Conclusions

6.1. Theoretical Implications

The theoretical contribution of this study includes the extension of the memorable tourism experience scale by including some other constructs of experience (experience escape, experience intensification, and experience memory) in the context of nature-based tourism. One of the key objectives is to provide a thorough understanding of nature-based tourism experience in national parks. The purpose of this study is to examine how national parks experience affects environmentally responsible behavior together with how it affects satisfaction. This study is the first to explore the relationship among MNBTE, TERB, satisfaction, and various intentions (revisit, recommend, and share the experience) within a single research framework. Therefore, it provides some new and valuable insights by filling the gap in tourism research literature, which needs more scholarly and context-based studies into the implications of using this in tourism research, but mainly in nature-based tourism, ecotourism, etc. This study makes some important contributions. Primarily, it is the first study to prove that memorable tourism experience influences tourist responsible behavior; hence, it contributes toward a rather underexplored field in tourism. Additionally, it investigates how environmentally responsible tourist behavior influences satisfaction. Finally, in line with the previous findings, this study confirms that MNBTE influences satisfaction, and indirectly influences revisit and recommend intention and sharing the experience, but again, in a specific context (national parks) and for a specific type of tourists (nature-based). Our research offers deeper knowledge on how people experience nature-based tourism differently and the related effects (e.g., TERB, satisfaction, revisit, and WOM intention). This shows that visitors whose nature-based experience is memorable and unforgettable are more environmentally responsible, satisfied, and more likely to return to the site, and also more likely to speak well of it.

Overall, through deepening our awareness of the effects of memorable nature-based tourism experiences, this study advances our knowledge of memorable tourism experiences and sustainable tourism research. This fills a gap in the research on tourism, namely by explaining how MNBTE components can affect TERB and satisfaction, and indirectly through satisfaction and future intentions (revisit, recommend, and share the experience).

The findings demonstrate the validity and reliability of the instrument in the context of nature-based tourism from the viewpoint of the visitor and revealed significant, positive connections among all variables. From a theoretical perspective, the availability of this instrument will encourage urgently required empirical study concentrating on the significance of visitor experiences.

6.2. Practical Implications

The results of this study have ramifications for destination marketers and managers on both theoretical and practical levels. The study suggests a valid and reliable scale that may be used to measure memorable experiences in the context of tourism, particularly for the management of nature-based tourism, making the results very significant. The outcomes demonstrate that a memorable tourist experience influences an individual’s commitment to environmental responsibility. People are more likely to act responsibly if they find their nature-based tourism experience memorable. For instance, destination marketers ought to create tourism initiatives that allow visitors to engage with locals, experience the culture up-close, and actively take part in national park environmental improvement projects. Secondly, the research reveals that being environmentally responsible affects visitor satisfaction.

As a result, decision-makers and destination management agencies should concentrate on how national parks are presented and perhaps plan tours with locals to make visitors more engaging. They should always work to develop their offers and provide new, interesting experiences. In this way, tourists would become even more connected to nature and create more memorable experiences. Additionally, advertising efforts could include activities that encourage participation from tourists, such as environmental initiatives. Visitors may be able to make the most of their time while visiting these destinations with the help of the on-site interactive activities that involve social connection, deep mental involvement, and nature conservation. Owing to their willingness to persuade others to protect and preserve the environment of the destination, this would also have an impact on how actively they participate in national park conservation initiatives. Giving visitors unique experiences and encouraging environmentally responsible behavior would increase their satisfaction. If people are satisfied, they will return to the national park, tell others about it, and spread the good word. As a result, the number of devoted nature tourists would increase.

For those promoting sites such as national parks and other protected areas, this can be an opportunity. Working on specialized programs that emphasizes nature and biodiversity is important, like an intensified promotion of nature-based destinations that offer an unforgettable experience to encourage visitors to return.

6.3. Limitations and Future Research Recommendations

This study has some limitations that might be addressed in future studies. Future research could build on and expand the findings of the current study by incorporating additional factors, such as service quality and the motives driving individuals to visit national parks, which may affect memorable nature-based experiences.

Investigating the factors that influence environmentally responsible behavior is also important. Future studies can concentrate on whether or not MNBTE differs for travelers based on the national parks they have visited, the length of their stays, and sociodemographic characteristics.

This study does not address the participants’ primary reason for visits. Future research should take this into consideration. A subsequent study can examine more sites, both within Serbia and beyond. As foreign tourists were not included in our study, it would be interesting to compare their perspectives and identify any potential differences. Additionally, the same approach could be used to analyze other forms of tourism (for example, culture tourism, rural tourism, heritage tourism, and wine tourism).