The Role of the Experience Economy in the Development of Senior Tourism Behavior (Case Study: Mashhad City)

In today’s world, more people experience elderly, due to the increase in life expectancy and longevity of people in different societies compared to the past. Leisure time significantly, contributes to the lives of the elderly. So, the development of the tourism industry is very important. As a religious site in Iran, Mashhad is considered a tourist and pilgrimage city. This study was conducted to analyze and investigate the significant relationship between the experience economy, the formation of the mental image of the destination and senior tourism behavior to develop senior tourism. The samples include senior tourists who visited Mashhad. A total of 384 questionnaires were distributed and the results were studied considering the COVID-19 pandemic. The reliability and validity of the questionnaires were confirmed. The questionnaires were analyzed through SmartPls and examined to determine the relationship between the variables in the modeling. The results showed that the most important component of the experience economy is aesthetics with a coefficient of 4.08 and the least important component is education with a coefficient of 3.59. The most important component of tourism behavior is the emotional component, with a coefficient of 4.32 and the least important is the cognitive component, with a coefficient of 3.85. The results also show that there is a significant positive relationship between tourism behavior and the components of the experience economy (emotional dimension, cognitive dimension, loyalty, memories and mental image). This relationship is confirmed statistically because the significance level of all the components is less than 0.05.