The Relationship between Cultural Tourist Experience and Recommendation Intention: Empirical Evidence from Montenegr

The cultural tourist experience emerges as an essential part of the offer of tourism services and is considered a crucial factor for tourism destination development. Although the existing literature has investigated the effect of cultural tourism, empirical evidence on the impact of cultural tourist experience on tourist behavior remains scarce. Therefore, this study aims to explore the relationship between different dimensions of cultural tourist experience and recommendation intention. Using Structural Equation Modelling, based on a sample of 80 tourists who visited Montenegro, the results indicate a statistically significant relationship between different dimensions of the cultural tourist experience and the recommendation intention of Montenegro as a destination. More precisely, the findings reveal that sensory, social, and emotional dimensions positively impact recommendation intention. Furthermore, the social dimension has a stronger effect than sensory and emotional dimensions. This study extends current research on cultural tourism by providing a better understanding of the relationship between components of cultural tourist experience and tourist behaviors, and, as such, can serve as a premise in improving destination management strategy.