The Integration of Creativity into Paragliding Tourism: The Case of Babadağ, Fethiye

Creativity has been frequently explored in artists’ work. However, this concept has also been studied in the economic context of business and management. The concept of creativity has also recently become a subject of tourism research, as tourism is considered an important industry. Tourism classifications that include experiences are becoming more widespread. Alternative and special-interest tourism encompasses a range of tourism types presenting unique experiences. Within the classifications of sport, adventure, and experiential tourism, commercial tandem paragliding can be examined through a creative tourism lens in terms of perceived learning, interaction, and unique involvement. Hence, this research was conducted in Babadağ, Fethiye, a renowned paragliding destination. A total of 360 visitors were included as the participants. PLS-SEM was used to estimate a structural equation model. The results clearly demonstrate the centrality of the creative tourist experience. Firstly, the direct effect of the creative tourist experience on behavioral intentions was found to be quite strong and significant. The results show that the creative tourist experience is strongly and positively associated with behavioral intentions (revisit, recommendation, and positive word of mouth). The effect of the creative tourist experience on memories indicates that creative experiences leave a strong impression on visitors’ memories. Similarly, the creative tourist experience had a significant and positive effect on satisfaction. Considering these three results together, it can be said that creative experiences strengthen cognitive/affective memories, increase overall evaluative satisfaction, and directly affect behavioral intentions. This finding is consistent with the experiential and creative tourism literature on the determinative role of experience quality in memory value and satisfaction. These findings reveal that creative tourist experiences strengthen both memories and satisfaction; that memories are positively related to satisfaction and behavioral intentions; and that satisfaction is positively related to behavioral intentions, thereby extending fundamental assumptions in the experience economy and creative tourism literature to the specific context of commercial tandem paragliding as a guided air-based adventure activity. The study’s unique contribution to the literature is that it not only examines creative tourism through cultural/workshop-based experiences, but also conceptualizes creative tourism through adventure activities involving high involvement and high arousal, and empirically demonstrates the importance of creative-experience quality in explaining behavioral intentions through “memorability” and “satisfaction”.