Memory formation in gastronomic tourism experiences through affective and intellectual mechanisms. The case of gastronomic festivals

This paper aims to deepen into the understanding of the tourists' assessment process of gastronomic tourism experiences and its impact on memories' creation. The research tests how senses trigger memories and how the affective-cognitive consumers' response may explain the remembering process. In addition, the study explores how the intellectual dimension of the experiences moderates the affective process. Through an empirical approach, 180 tourists were personally surveyed during a cheese-gastronomic tourism event using a structured questionnaire. Data analysis is performed applying structural equation models with the Partial Least Squares technique and PROCESS macro. The results confirm the relevance of sensorial elements in memories' determination. It is confirmed that remembering processes are based on emotional arousal. In gastronomic events, the intellectual facet of the experience affects inversely in memory creation, being the most intellectually involved tourists those assessing the memory variable with a lower score. This study is among the first to highlight and explore the memories' acquisition process through sensorial, emotional and intellectual information in specific gastronomic experience context, developing a series of mediation and moderation analysis for understanding this process better.