Battlefield tourism is a major component of national and international tourism. Battlefields around the world that are significant tourist resources include the Western Front in France and Belgium, Waterloo in Belgium, Culloden in Scotland, Pearl Harbour and Gettysburg in the U.S. This study comprehensively examines the influence on event attendance of personal values, motives and emotions, in tandem with various event attributes, and the outcome effects on visitor satisfaction and recommending behaviour. The Anzac Day commemoration at Gallipoli, Turkey, provides the contextual anchor for this study. Anzac Day, 25 April, is a national day of commemoration in Australia. Australians at home and abroad, come together to remember the sacrifices made by the fallen soldiers and Gallipoli veterans during a battlefield campaign that has become indelibly linked to the forging of the modern Australian nation. The event also has the unique nature of being hosted on “enemy territory” on the other side of the world, requiring significant effort, time and money on the part of participants.

This study employs tourism constructs associated with battlefields, pilgrimages and thanatourism in combination with event management and consumer behaviour concepts to develop an empirical model that contributes to current understanding of the experiential components of commemorative events and the antecedents associated with attendance, satisfaction and recommending behaviour.

The significance of the research lies in its implications for an improved understanding of how visitor satisfaction in the context of events, particularly commemorative events of a non-commercial nature, can be conceptualised and best managed to promote outcomes such as positive word-of-mouth recommendations, thereby maximising the economic, political, social and tourism benefits that the events can generate (Allen, O’Toole, Harris & McDonnell, 2011; Getz, 2008). By incorporating both antecedent and outcome factors, this study extends an earlier contribution by Hall et al. (2010).