Abstract
This study is one of the few of its kind that explores the individual impact of each of the cognitive attributes of a tourist destination’s image on cruisers’ destination loyalty and overall satisfaction. It also analyzes the mediating role of satisfaction between each of the attributes and loyalty. Variance-based structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used for this analysis, based on a survey of 457 cruisers visiting the city of Malaga. The results confirm that three of the five attributes, the destination’s environment image, the perceived value image of services and the accessibility image have a direct influence on cruisers’ overall satisfaction, where environment image has the most significant impact. Moreover, the results support the mediating role of satisfaction in certain cases. There is total mediation between perceived value and loyalty, as well as between accessibility image and loyalty while there is only partial complementary mediation between environment image and loyalty. The confirmation that overall satisfaction influences loyalty enables management organizations to develop more efficient loyalty strategies for their respective destinations.
Highlights
Considering the lack of empirical research that can explain these relationships, this article analyzes the antecedents of cruisers’ loyalty to the tourist destination they are visiting and, the predictive power of the cognitive attributes of the tourist destination image on overall satisfaction and the influence of both on the behavioral intention of the cruisers visiting the city of Malaga (Spain)
This study presents a model that explains the influence of the cognitive attributes of tourist destination image on destination loyalty, as well as the mediating role of cruisers’
One of the most relevant elements of this research as compared to other prior studies is the consideration of the individual influence of each of the attributes of cognitive destination image on both cruisers’
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Recent studies have established that destination loyalty, or behavioral intention, is the cornerstone of a tourist destination’s brand equity and a determining factor in its competitiveness [11] Within this context, numerous studies have confirmed that satisfaction with the travel experience [12,13,14,15] and destination image [16,17,18] are antecedents of loyalty and, the desire to return to a destination and recommend it to others. Considering the lack of empirical research that can explain these relationships, this article analyzes the antecedents of cruisers’ loyalty to the tourist destination they are visiting and, the predictive power of the cognitive attributes of the tourist destination image on overall satisfaction and the influence of both on the behavioral intention of the cruisers visiting the city of Malaga (Spain). The fourth section presents the results and the fifth section includes a discussion about these results, in addition to conclusions, limitations and proposed future lines of research
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