Abstract

 
 
 
 Although the theme of push and pull motivations has received increasing attention in tourist behavior literature, little attention has been devoted to the investigation of the interaction between single push motivations and visitor loyalty and other relevant variables influencing tourist behavior. Given its undoubtable relevance in motivating human behavior, we propose curiosity as a single push motive by examining its causal relationships with destination attributes (evaluated in holistic way), attitude toward destination, and loyalty. In particular, we tested a new research model on a sample of 273 potential Brazilian travelers to Europe by using a structural equation modeling approach. Sample size is in line with the state-of-the-art in literature (Ciasullo et al., 2017). The data moderately well fitted the “curiosity model” and the findings highlighted that curiosity plays a crucial role in shaping attitude and pull motivation, and in influencing tourist loyalty. Consequently, destination managers or European Union institutions should magnify the role of curiosity, attitude towards destination, and pull motivations in terms of marketing policies.
 
 
 
Highlights
The World Travel & Tourism Council’s (WTTC) annual report indicates that the growth of the travel and tourism sector in 2015 (2.8%) overtook that one of the global economies (2.3%) for the fifth successive year, generating 9.8% of global GDP and supporting 284 million jobs
Despite many challenges faced by travel and tourism in Europe starting from the end of 2015, the sector is still expected to grow by 3.1%, confirming tourism as one of the services industries remarkably resilient in times of economic recession (WTTC, 2016)
To address the aforementioned gaps, the goal of this study is to investigate the causal relationships among curiosity, destination attributes, attitude toward destination and loyalty
Summary
The World Travel & Tourism Council’s (WTTC) annual report indicates that the growth of the travel and tourism sector in 2015 (2.8%) overtook that one of the global economies (2.3%) for the fifth successive year, generating 9.8% of global GDP and supporting 284 million jobs. Despite many challenges faced by travel and tourism in Europe starting from the end of 2015 (e.g., terrorist attacks, the economic crisis, Brexit, etc.), the sector is still expected to grow by 3.1%, confirming tourism as one of the services industries remarkably resilient in times of economic recession (WTTC, 2016). Among various foreign destinations, Europe is the continent with the highest tourism demand (Sheth, 2011), especially regarding emerging countries and, South America. Research on tourist’s decision examining the behavior of emerging markets travelers attending Europe (such as Brazilians) could represent an interesting marketing challenge, since it can contribute to increase loyalty, intercept new tourism segment, and design adequate tourism policies in line with a sustainable vision
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