The Mediating Effect of Experiential Value on Tourist Outcomes from Encounter-Based Experiences

In this paper, we examine the mediating effect of experience value between experiential elements of employee-tourist encounters and the final experiential outcomes. The Tourism Encounter Mediated Experience Value (TEMEV) model is tested via a survey at 13 different locations (attractions, hotels and retail) in Copenhagen (n=2955). The findings illustrate how, for different types of tourism companies, experiential value plays varying roles as a mediator between employee-tourist encounter characteristics and tourists’ intentions to recommend an experience as well as their memory of the experience. The most complex relationship identified is for hotels, where experiential value is a significant mediator for the personalized, flexible and emotions constructs of encounters. Surprisingly, experiential value plays no significant mediating role between co-creation or knowledge/learning in encounters and memory or recommendation intention in any of the sectors examined. The study concludes with implications for theory, practice, and study limitations.