Insights into the repeat vacation phenomenon

The study focused upon the repeat visitor. Data were collected with a structured questionnaire at two Texas Highway Visitor Centers and through indepth personal interviews with a small sample. A majority of the sample were returning to a destination that had been visited before. Compared to those visiting a destination for the first time, repeat visitors were more likely to be older individuals seeking relaxation and visiting a friend and/or relatives on their vacation. The qualitative component of the study uncovered five factors which contributed to people returning to a familiar destination. They were a reduced risk that an unsatisfactory experience would be forthcoming; an assurance that they would find “their kind of people” there; emotional childhood attachment; to experience some aspects of the destination which had been omitted on a previous occasion; and to expose others to an experience which had previously been satisfying to respondents.