FROM RURAL AUTHENTICITY TO TOURIST LOYALTY: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW OF MEMORABLE TOURISM EXPERIENCES

Abstract

Rural authenticity has become a central source of memorable tourism experiences in rural destinations, as tourists increasingly seek meaningful encounters with local culture, community life, natural landscapes, culinary heritage, and traditional practices. This study conducts a systematic review of 23 peer-reviewed articles published between 2015 and 2025 from Scopus and ScienceDirect to examine how rural authenticity contributes to the formation of memorable tourism experiences (MTE) and how these experiences influence tourist loyalty. Following the PRISMA protocol, the review combines bibliometric analysis and content analysis to identify dominant themes, antecedents, and outcomes of MTE in rural tourism and related experiential contexts. The findings show that rural authenticity is expressed through destination attributes, cultural heritage, community engagement, local gastronomy, agritourism activities, and emotionally meaningful encounters. These elements become influential when transformed into memorable experiences through novelty, learning, involvement, emotional engagement, and perceived meaningfulness. MTE subsequently strengthens tourist loyalty through satisfaction, destination image, place attachment, revisit intention, and positive word-of-mouth. This review contributes a conceptual pathway linking rural authenticity, MTE, and tourist loyalty, and offers practical implications for rural destination managers seeking to design authentic and loyalty-enhancing tourism experiences.