The aim of the research was to investigate the effect of autobiographical memory on tourists' travel intentions, the role of matching the destination with desires, satisfaction and attachment to destination. This research, in terms of practical purpose and in terms of data collection, is descriptive-survey and causal. The statistical population of the research includes tourists who have traveled to Mashhad city more than once, according to the statistical population, 384 people were randomly selected as a statistical sample according to Morgan's table. The required data were collected using a standard questionnaire and Cronbach's alpha coefficient was used to measure the validity of the instrument from face validity and construct validity and to measure the reliability of the instrument, the value of which was estimated at 0.905. SPSS and Smart PLS software were used for data analysis.Based on the results, it is suggested to the tourism planners to consider the autobiographical memory in order to increase the travel intention of the tourists and according to its dimensions, try to create more attachment in the tourists in order to increase the possibility of the travel intention from the tourist destination.
Extended Abstract
Introduction
Tourism is one of the most important economic sectors that play an important role in the development of a country (Khuong & Phuong, 2017). In the current period, due to the increasing needs of communities in order to develop a sustainable industry, the field of tourism is trying to find ways to create trips based on green experience in the face of the mass tourism method with negative effects (Pouring et al, 2022; Gunter et al., 2016). Achieving a worthy position among the world's tourism destinations and realizing Iran's power in the field of tourism industry requires the use of new ways to acquire and retain current customers, and in the next step, attract new market segments and develop their number in order to develop tourism in our country. (Mohammadi et al, 2022). Therefore, it is necessary to have a special opinion on the tourism industry and recognize and strengthen the indicators that affect its success. Creating and strengthening the brand for tourism destinations is essential for long-term success. Therefore, the thinkers and marketing managers of tourism areas should try to improve their share of the profits and other advantages of this growing global industry by creating a brand for tourism and strengthening it (Philips, 2013). Travel intention can be defined as a mental possibility if the customer during which will take certain actions in order to receive tourism services or not. These travel intentions by potential customers are their perceived likelihood to visit the destination in a specific time period (Hennessey et al, 2016). In general, studies show that autobiographical memory can play a role in shaping consumer behavior and decisions. By evoking memories or targeting specific product categories, marketers may be able to influence consumers' judgment processes and increase purchase intentions (Yin et al, 2017: Stocchi et al, 2021). Since marketers in the field of tourism seek to identify the factors that increase the probability of travel intention for tourism destinations as one of the most important positive outcomes of improving the brand value of the tourism destination, it is necessary to address the factors that increase the intention to travel from the tourism destination.
Based on this, the upcoming research seeks to find the answer to the question that: does the autobiographical memory have an effect on the intention of tourists to travel to Mashhad? Does attachment to the destination play a mediating role? What is the role of matching the destination with the tourist's desires and his satisfaction?
Literature:
Zhao et al., (2022) have conducted a research titled Reviving the Old Dream: Autobiographical Memory of Rural Tourism in Behavioral Intention. This research was carried out by available sampling method and by distributing 301 questionnaires among Chinese tourists. The results showed that two dimensions of tourists' autobiographical memory (memory practice and memory effect) influence tourists' intention to revisit and recommend. Attachment to a place plays a mediating role in the autobiographical memory of tourists, the intention to revisit and the intention to recommend.
 Stocchi et al., (2021) have conducted a study titled the effect of autobiographical memory on brand recovery and purchase intention. This research was conducted by systematic random sampling method and by distributing 384 questionnaires among consumers of memorable brands. Experimental results obtained in three online experiments show that product category knowledge accessible in the consumer's memory has a greater impact on brand recall and purchase intention than direct recall of specific autobiographical memories represented by the product category. Perceived importance of choice moderates this effect, which is primarily related to purchase intention. Specifically, consistent with previous research on confusion, product category knowledge reduces purchase intention, especially for highly familiar (or prototype) brands.
Research Methodology
The current research is applicable in terms of purpose, and survey-analytical and causal type in terms of implementation method. The statistical population of this research is tourists who have traveled to Mashhad and their trip has been at least more than once. According to the statistical population of the study, the size of the population is assumed to be unlimited, and according to Morgan's table, 384 people were randomly selected as a statistical sample. Autobiographical memory questionnaire (Grayson & Shulman, 2000; Ely & Mercurio, 2011), destination brand attachment questionnaire (Yuksel et al, 2010), travel intention questionnaire (Jun et al, 2014), the questionnaire of matching the destination with the desires and satisfaction of tourists (Yin et al, 2017): containing 17 questions, was used to collect research data. To check the validity, content validity and the approval of professors and experts and construct validity was checked using factor loadings, and the reliability of the present questionnaire was used using the alpha coefficient and composite reliability, the results of which are reported in Table 1. Descriptive and inferential statistics and SPSS and Smart PLS3 software have been used to analyze research data and test hypotheses.
Research Findings
In order to investigate the hypothesis of the research, the modeling of structural equations, the method of structural equation modeling with the help of spss software was used to test the hypotheses from inferential statistics. Then pls software was used to test the hypotheses or conceptual model of the research. According to the first hypothesis, autobiographical memory has a significant effect on travel intention. The results of the analysis show a positive path coefficient (0.359) and a t-statistic or significance (4.677). The findings of the second hypothesis showed that, in general, the matching of the destination with the tourists' desires has a positive and significant effect on the travel intention. The results of the analysis show a positive path coefficient (0.326) and a t-statistic or significance (3.181). According to the second hypothesis, it can be said that the tourists who found more concordance between the personality of the tourist destination and their desires, showed more desire to remember the memories of the tourist destination. Based on the third hypothesis, the research findings showed that autobiographical memory has a significant effect on his attachment to the destination. The analysis results show a positive path coefficient (0.677) and a t-statistic or significance (25.311). According to the fourth hypothesis, attachment to the tourist destination has a significant effect on the intention to travel. The results of the analysis show a positive path coefficient (0.230) and a t-statistic or significance (2.477). According to the fifth hypothesis, tourists' satisfaction with the tourist destination has a positive and significant effect on the autobiographical memory. The results of the analysis show a positive path coefficient (0.684) and a t-statistic or significance (26.872). According to the sixth hypothesis, the tourist's satisfaction with the destination has a significant effect on his intention to travel to the tourist destination. The results of the analysis show a positive path coefficient (0.649) and a t-statistic or significance (8.859). According to the seventh hypothesis, autobiographical memory has a positive and significant effect on travel intention through the mediating role of attachment to the tourist destination. The results of the analysis show a positive path coefficient (0.155) and a t-statistic or significance (3.50).
Conclusion
The present study was conducted with the aim of investigating and analyzing the effect of autobiographical memory on travel intention, as well as investigating the role of attachment to the destination, compatibility of the destination with the tourist's desires and satisfaction. The results of this research are consistent with the findings of Veansa et al, (2013), Yin et al, (2017), Prayag & Ryan (2011), Yuksel et al, (2010), Vlachos & Vrechopoulos (2012), Zhang et al, (2018), Kim et al, (2013), Mendes et al, (2010), Jang & Feng (2007), Ekinci & Hosany (2006), and Murphy (2007). Studies from theoretical bases and backgrounds have shown the effect of this type of memory on purchase intention, as well as repurchase intention and customer loyalty; therefore, in this research, the travel intention of tourists was based on whether this memory can have an effect on the travel intention of tourists. Also, the effect of matching the destination with the tourist's desires and his motivation to travel was investigated and analyzed that the more a tourist travels with an inner motivation consistent with the tourist destination, the more his travel intention is affected. Finally, the effect of attachment to the tourist destination and tourist satisfaction on his travel intention was analyzed, which ultimately had a positive effect.