The mediating effect of place attachment on the relationship between golf tourism destination image and revisit intention

Focusing on golf tourism in Hainan Province, this study examined the relationship between place attachment, golf tourism destination image, and revisit intention of golf tourists. Data were obtained using questionnaires distributed to golf tourists in Hainan Province, China in 2016. Survey data from 218 tourists indicated that destination image was positively related to place attachment. Moreover, place attachment mediated the relationship between destination image and revisit intention. Implications of these findings for golf tourism marketing strategies as well as future research directions are discussed.     

The Relationships Between Positive Emotions,Place Attachment,and Place Satisfaction in Casino Hotels

Tourists’ emotions are seldom studied with respect to their place attachment, particularly in the context of casino hotels. To understand the role played by positive emotions in place attachment and satisfaction, this study attempts to identify the dimensions of positive emotions of casino-hotel visitors, followed by the examination of relationships between positive emotions, place attachment, and satisfaction. The survey results revealed the significant and positive impacts of positive emotions on place attachment, satisfaction, and revisit intention. Particularly, the “light pleasure” emotions were found to have a stronger impact on casino-hotel visitors’ satisfaction than other constructs in the model. The findings also lead to managerial implications and suggestions for future research.     

Key impact factors of visitors’ environmentally responsible behaviour: personality traits or interpretive services? A case study of Beijing’s Yuyuantan Urban Park,China

The environmentally responsible behaviour (ERB) facilitates the sustainability of tourism destinations. This study aims to identify the key impact factors to promote visitors’ ERB in urban park and examine the impact mechanism. A total of 567 visitors were surveyed in Beijing’s Yuyuantan Urban Park. Structural equation modelling results indicate that personality traits are the most important factors that affect visitors’ ERB, while the effect of how satisfaction with interpretive services plays upon visitors’ ERB using place attachment as a mediator. Openness traits positively affect satisfaction with experiential services and general behaviour. Additionally, implications in urban park management are provided.     

The “People” Aspect of Destination Attachment in International Tourism

The majority of research on place attachment has been conducted within a domestic context where local culture is fairly familiar to the visitor. International tourism research has begun to address destination attachment, but has not yet fully explored the concept where the people and the culture are substantially different. This research used in-depth qualitative interviews with international visitors to Thailand to examine the role of local people in destination attachment. Results show that one of the main attributes of international visitors’ attachment is the Thai people. A follow-on survey confirmed that “people attachment” is an integral part of the measurement of destination attachment.     

Factors affecting international event visitors’ behavioral intentions: the moderating role of attachment avoidance

ABSTRACT

This study developed and tested a theoretical framework of event quality, motivation, value, and destination image in order to investigate visitors’ behavioral intentions to revisit an international event, along with the moderating role of attachment avoidance. Results revealed that the relationships among event quality, motivation, value, image, and behavioral intentions were highly significant. Attachment avoidance was additionally found to moderate the relationships between quality and value, motivation and value, value and destination image, and value and behavioral intentions. Findings further provide specific implications for both theoretical insight and marketing practice in the context of annual and international events.     

Authenticity and place attachment of major visitor attractions

This paper aims to explore the relationships between place attachment and perceived authenticity of major visitor attractions. The empirical study was conducted with a sample of international tourists to major visitor attractions in two capital cities, Helsinki, Finland and Jerusalem, Israel. The results indicate a positive correlation between place attachment and authenticity. Major visitor attractions located in places with considerable heritage experience value are considered more authentic, and that authenticity of visitor attractions is influenced by place attachment moderated by iconicity and heritage value of the destination region. These findings provide insight to the ways tourists perceive authenticity of visitor attractions and highlight the importance of the heritage value of tourism destinations for strategic planning and marketing purposes.     

Exploring the influence of tourists’ happiness on revisit intention in the context of Traditional Chinese Medicine cultural tourism

Based on how tourists interpret the destination experience and on attachment theory, this study investigates the influencing mechanism of tourists' happiness on revisit intention for traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) cultural tourism destinations. Three tourist samples confirm the three dimensions of tourists' happiness: positive emotions, engagement, and meaning. Two surveys were conducted to test the direct and indirect influence of tourists' happiness on revisit intention and the moderating role of tourists' health consciousness. The results show that tourists' happiness promotes memorable tourism experience and place attachment, in turn stimulating revisit intention. The results also support health consciousness as a significant moderator between happiness, place attachment, and revisit intention. The findings enrich theoretical understanding of tourists’ happiness and provide marketing and management advice for TCM cultural tourism destinations.     

The self-concept and psychological antecedents of intention to recommend a heritage site: The moderating effects of visitor type

Using the developmental theory of place attachment, this study evaluates several psychological antecedents of tourist intention to recommend a heritage site. Specifically, self-concept, motivation, positive, and negative emotions are evaluated as determinants of place attachment, tourist satisfaction and intention to recommend. We test a proposed theoretical model on a sample of 500 visitors (250 international and 250 domestic) to Su Nuraxi, a UNESCO World Heritage site in Sardinia, Italy. The results supported 11 of the 14 hypothesized relationships. Self-concept had a significant and positive relationship with tourist motivation, satisfaction and place attachment, highlighting its conceptual importance in the heritage tourism context. Tourist motivation had a significant and positive effect on positive emotions, and also exerted a positive effect on negative emotions. Visitor type moderated only the relationship between tourist motivation and negative emotions. The findings have both theoretical and managerial implications, particularly for heritage site management, marketing and destination management.     

Perceived Restorativeness of Visits to Cultural Heritage Sites

This study aimed to examine whether a causal relationship exists between perceived restorativeness and emotional healing, visitor satisfaction, and intention to revisit with respect to a visit to the Seooreung Shrine in South Korea. Attention restorativeness theory claims that four factors (being away, fascination, extent, and compatibility) induce a restorative environment. The results of the conducted survey support the four factors of attention restorativeness theory. Two distinct groups were identified and differences were discovered between the groups with respect to satisfaction and perceived restorativeness. Emotional healing exerted more influence on intention to revisit than visitor satisfaction. This study delivers a significant outcome as pioneer research on healing tourism by discovering emotional healing as a precedent variable to visitor satisfaction and intention to revisit in the area of cultural heritage tourism.     

Why Do First-Time and Repeat Visitors Patronize a Destination?

Most studies of tourists' destination choices have either focused on how to attract more tourists or on developing stable relationships with existing ones. Therefore, the fit of a conceptual model incorporating relational (destination attachment) and transactional (destination image) antecedents to patronizing intentions (revisit, recommend, and resist change) was tested on a sample of first-time visitors and on a sample of repeat visitors to a hot spring destination in Taiwan. The findings indicated that first-time visitors' intentions to patronize the destination were mainly affected by destination image and that repeat visitors' intentions to patronize the destination were primarily affected by destination attachment. These findings highlight the importance of destination attachment and destination image in predicting tourists' patronizing intentions and future behavior, and reveal that researchers have overlooked that the antecedents of tourists' patronizing intentions differ depending on the type of relationship they have with the destination. As a result, this study provides compelling evidence for the need to clearly situate studies of destination choice in the transactional-relational continuum and questions the generalizability of previously published work that neglects to do so.     

The impact of CSR satisfaction on destination loyalty: a study of MICE travelers in Thailand

The objectives of this research are firstly, to study the characteristics of CSR activities conducted for international business groups. Secondly, to analyze the factors that impact business travelers’ satisfaction with CSR activities, and thirdly, to analyze the influence of satisfaction with CSR activities on destination attachment and destination loyalty. A questionnaire survey was conducted with 127 business participants from three corporate meetings and one convention group. The results reveal the characteristics of CSR activities of corporate meetings and conventions in Thailand. Business travelers’ satisfaction with CSR activities is influenced by their personal altruistic attitudes and the efficacy of local service providers. Satisfaction with CSR activities has a direct impact on destination attachment and an indirect impact on destination loyalty. CSR activities could be used as tools to influence the revisit intention of corporate meeting and convention participants. A CSR activity during a business trip is a novel concept that can be utilized by destination management companies as well as national tourism organizations to develop satisfying tourism products.     

山地旅游者人格特质如何影响环境负责任行为——以地方依恋与解说满意度为中介变量

旅游者环境负责任行为是可持续旅游目的地管理的重要议题。本文以武夷山国家公园为案例地,尝试将地方依恋和解说满意度作为中介变量,通过对旅游者的问卷调查,分析山地旅游者人格特质对环境负责任行为的影响机制。结果表明：（1）人格特质对环境负责任行为的影响存在3条路径,分别是直接影响、通过地方依恋间接影响和通过地方依恋和解说满意度的链式中介作用影响;（2）旅游体验具身理论视角下,人格特质、地方依恋、解说满意度分别通过身心主体性、情境连接性和感知深度性作用于旅游者环境负责任行为。本研究揭示了山地旅游者人格特质对环境负责任行为的驱动机制,丰富了旅游体验具身理论在环境负责任行为生成机制方面的应用,对山地旅游可持续发展具有一定的启示意义。     

Exploring Cruise Experiences,Satisfaction, and Loyalty: The Case of Aruba as a Small-Island Tourism Economy

In light of increasing global competition amongst international cruise destinations; growing demand for cruise tourism; and the lack of empirical studies on the “real” destination experience, satisfaction, and intentions to return and recommend (i.e., cruise destination loyalty), the current study investigates cruise visitor satisfaction, cruise destination experience, and the resulting behavioral intention as it relates to the cruise destination of Aruba, Dutch Caribbean. Because of increased reliance of small island economies on cruise tourism receipts and visitor expenditures, cruise ports throughout the Caribbean are seeking ways to improve the quality of destination services and experiences. Results indicate that cruise visitors are satisfied with their visit to Aruba and that overall destination experience in addition to satisfaction, were found to be significant predictors of cruise visitor loyalty.     

Image effect on customer-centric measures of performance

This study analyzes the effect of the difference between the pre-trip image of a destination and the post-trip image on, for the first time, two key elements of traveler behavior, which in turn are two customer-centric measures of destination performance: travel satisfaction and intention to revisit a destination. While the literature on the analysis of destination image has been prolific, the intricacies of the effects of changes in destination image on traveler behaviors remain unexplored, behaviors whose relevance is still greater when they show destination performance indicators. Based on the concepts of the zone of tolerance (derived from the service quality model) and loss aversion (from prospect theory), we explain the differential asymmetric effects of variation in destination image on intention to revisit and satisfaction, based on a sample of 12,024 individuals. Critical implications for destination marketing organizations are provided.     

Exploring the effects of a ‘new’ listing of a UNESCO World Heritage Site: the case of Singapore Botanic Gardens

This study examines how the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization World Heritage Site (WHS) listing impacts on push-pull factors, satisfaction and revisit intention. Data were collected on visitors to the Singapore Botanic Gardens before and after the WHS listing was awarded. The pre-listing and post-listing samples were compared and results revealed significant differences between the samples. Differences were observed for the importance of various push and pull factors as well as satisfaction and revisit intention. This study provides researchers and practitioners with greater insight into the effects of the WHS listing and recommends potential strategies for future marketing communications.     

Mainland Chinese Tourists to Hawaii: Their Characteristics and Preferences

Tourism is the most economically important industry to the United States' only island state, Hawaii. With Hawaii's highest spending and largest international tourist segment, Japanese, decreasing significantly (a loss from over 2,000,000 in 1997 to just over 1,000,000 Japanese visitors in 2009), Hawaii needs to prepare to replace the significant decrease of Japanese visitors with a new visitor market. The logical new international visitor target market would be tourists from the fastest growing economy in the world, that being China. The purpose of this study is to explore the differences in attitudinal and behavioral characteristics, and preferences of Chinese tourists in Hawaii according to key sociodemographic variables. The results of this study conclude that sociodemographic variables show significant differences in attitudinal and behavioral characteristics. For example, when comparing the number of times a respondent had visited Hawaii, first-time visitors showed the highest level of preference for a deluxe hotel while second-time visitors showed the highest level of preference for a budget hotel. Those who had visited Hawaii three or more times indicated the highest preference for a first class hotel and also to be more interested in high-end shopping. First-time visitors showed the highest percentage in the lowest category of estimated cost of gifts (US$0–US$300). This indicates that Hawaii tour operators should focus on introducing more discounted shopping to first-time visitors.

The results of this study are likely to be beneficial for understanding Chinese tourists and establishing marketing policies to enhance their satisfaction and raise their intention to revisit Hawaii. The findings of this study could be helpful for all stakeholders including local tour operators, the hotels, and Hawaii's tourism officials.     

Customer Satisfaction and Behavioural Intentions in a Rural Community Museum Environment

Abstract

This paper examines a cornerstone concept of mainstream marketing theory relating to the importance of customer satisfaction as an influence on future behavioural intentions. The underlying premise is that visitors to a tourist attraction whose expectations are met or exceeded will be satisfied with their experience, and that the degree of perceived satisfaction will positively correlate with their stated intention to repeat purchase and to recommend the experience to others. This paper reports an exploratory project to test the above proposition within a tourism industry context, specifically with reference to the museum sector. The study measures visitor satisfaction levels and future intentions to revisit or recommend the Matakohe Kauri museum in Northland, New Zealand-a rurally isolated tourist attraction which is heavily dependent on referrals to support its continued existence. Research was undertaken by means of a two part structured interview technique, conducted on site with 141 respondents on six separate days in September and October 1996. Visitor expectations were established by questioning prior to entry, whilst a subsequent exit interview captured respondents' perceived degree of satisfaction with their visit. The second interview included a measure of stated intention to return and to recommend the museum to others. Provisional indications are that perceived levels of satisfaction have little bearing on the visitor's stated intention to return to the attraction; however, a significant relationship exists between perceived satisfaction and intention to recommend to others. The results of this research will prove valuable as a foundation for a recommended programme of further research to more rigorously assess the performance of customer satisfaction theory within a rural folk museum environment.     

This must be the place: A destination-loyalty model for extreme sporting events

This paper tests a moderated sequential mediation model based on hypothesized relationships in extreme sporting events, addressing what drives participants’ destination loyalty. Drawing from edgework theory and sensation-seeking theory, the model accounts for sensation-seeking, event authenticity, self-enhancement, place attachment, and revisit intention. Two opposite paths emerge: a direct, negative relationship between sensation-seeking and destination loyalty, and a positive indirect path mediated by self-enhancement and place attachment. The relationships are explored in two studies: first, Study 1 on 300 individuals attending FISE, the largest freestyle sports event in the world. Then, Study 2, meant to extend the ecological validity of Study 1, based on a panel of 300 attendees of various extreme sporting events in several disciplines. Implications for theory and practice are addressed.     

Tourist motivation and place attachment: the mediating effects of service interactions with hotel employees

Using social facilitation theory, this study evaluates the mediating effects of service interactions with hotel employees on the relationship between tourist motivation and place attachment. The moderating effects of nationality and hotel star-rating on these relationships are also examined. The overall model tested on a sample of 545 international visitors to the island of Mauritius showed that service interactions mediated the relationship between tourist motivation and place attachment. Partial least squares-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) multi-group analysis found that the relationships among the constructs differed according to tourists’ nationality and the hotels’ star rating. The findings have important implications for hotel managers and destination marketing and management.     

Social involvement and park citizenship as moderators for quality-of-life in a national park

This paper contributes to the advancement of quality-of-life research in tourism by examining complex relationships involving direct, mediated, moderated and moderated mediation relationships among the antecedents to quality-of-life. Using a sample of 222 repeat visitors in an Australian national park, the findings indicate positive significant effects of (1) place satisfaction on quality-of-life; (2) place satisfaction on place attachment; (3) place attachment on quality-of-life; (4) park citizenship on place attachment. The findings further support that (5) place attachment mediates the relationship between place satisfaction and quality-of-life; (6) social involvement moderates the relationship between place satisfaction and place attachment; (7) park citizenship moderates the relationship between place satisfaction and place attachment; (8) social involvement moderates the relationship between place attachment and quality-of-life; (9) social involvement moderates the indirect effect of place satisfaction on quality-of-life. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. Park managers, for example, need to promote on-site marketing and post-visit communication/interpretation, encouraging repeat visits and behavioural change. Message delivery needs to promote a sense of belonging to the park with personal meaning, creating place distinctiveness. Personal actions to promote include signing petitions supporting the park's biodiversity, and other resources, and volunteering to participate in meetings and other direct actions.