Introduction: Islands are tourist destinations sought after for their authenticity and distinctive characteristics, and understanding visitors' memorable experiences is essential for developing marketing strategies and territorial management. Objective: To present a reduced and adapted version of the Memorable Tourism Experience Scale (MTE) for tourists visiting islands, validating it in a sample of senior tourists. Methods: A total of 912 senior tourists (mean age 64 years) who visited São Miguel Island in the Azores participated in the study. The adapted version of the MTE, initially composed of 21 items, was subjected to exploratory factor analysis (Sample A, n=485) and confirmatory factor analysis (Sample B, n=457). Internal consistency, composite reliability, and factorial invariance across gender and age groups were assessed. Results: The final version of the scale comprises 16 items distributed across three dimensions: Serendipity (α=0.89), Involvement (α=0.83), and Hospitality (α=0.78). The adjusted three-dimensional model demonstrated good fit indices (CFI=0.92; TLI=0.90; RMSEA=0.084). Factorial invariance was confirmed for gender but not for age groups. Conclusion: The validated scale constitutes a robust instrument for assessing memorable tourism experiences in island contexts, proving useful for destination managers and for developing more authentic and emotionally significant tourism offerings.
Mendes et al. (2026) studied this question.