AN EXTENDED APPLICATION OF THE THEORY OF REASONED ACTION (TRA) MODEL IN PREDICTING TOURIST LOYALTY: THE MEDIATING ROLE OF DESIRE IN HEALTH & SPA TOURISM

Abstract

This research sought to examine the predictive power of an extended version of the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) model that incorporates desire to understand tourists' loyalty intentions towards a health & spa center. The findings substantiate the model's high explanatory capacity and underline its relevance in the context of health tourism. It was found that positive attitudes towards health tourism services and the influence of subjective norms, which embody the opinions of tourists' social contacts, significantly influence loyalty intentions. Importantly, desire, which was included as an extension of the traditional TRA model, emerged as a crucial factor in this relationship, serving as a significant mediator between both attitudes and subjective norms and loyalty intentions. Our study highlights the central importance of understanding and considering desires when designing management strategies and recommends the implementation of targeted marketing campaigns, personalized offers and the continuous collection of customer feedback based on desire-based segmentation. This study contributes to the existing literature by extending the application of the TRA model to the health and wellness tourism sector and emphasizing the crucial role of desire as a mediator in promoting customer loyalty.