Investigating the effect of experience quality on behavioral intentions of tourists in visiting from dark tourism destinations

Studying tourist's experience quality, especially in relation to behavioral intentions, is considered an important research area in the tourism industry. However, while there are a large number of studies about the quality of experience in mass tourism, the empirical study of experience quality in dark tourism has been less studied. Therefore, the aim of the present study is to investigate experience quality on tourists' behavioral intentions by mediating the destination image, perceived value and tourist satisfaction in dark tourism destinations. This research is descriptive and of the correlational type. In order to achieve the purpose of this research, data were collected from 330 tourists who visited two dark tourism destinations. The results of testing hypotheses using SPSS and SmartPLS software indicate that the quality of tourist experience does not directly affect their behavioral intentions. But through the mediating variables of destination image, perceived value and satisfaction have a positive effect on tourists' behavioral intentions. Meanwhile, the destination image plays the most mediating role in the relationship between experience quality and behavioral intentions; and tourist satisfaction is the most important antecedent of tourist behavioral intentions.