Linking travel behavior and tourism literature: Investigating the impacts of travel satisfaction on destination satisfaction and revisit intention

Abstract

This study aims to link two closely related domains in literature – travel behavior and tourism. Travel behavior studies partly aim to improve travel satisfaction by exploring its relationships with overall and domain-specific life satisfaction. Tourism studies, on the other hand, focus on improving the attraction and sustainability of tourism destinations and often investigate the factors affecting destination satisfaction and revisit intention. The present study uncovers the interconnections between travel behavior and tourism by investigating the impacts of travel satisfaction on destination satisfaction and revisit intention. An online survey of 696 visitors to national parks in the US conducted in the Summer of 2022 was analyzed using a structural equation modeling approach. Analysis results show that travel satisfaction has a direct impact on destination satisfaction and both direct and indirect (through destination satisfaction) impacts on revisit intention. Also, interestingly, results reveal that travel satisfaction has a stronger impact on revisit intention than destination satisfaction. These results offer an important implication to the tourism destination managers that investing in destination attributes alone might not be sufficient to attain the desired level of tourism for the destination. Thus, an area to be focused on is improving the satisfaction and experiences of travelers on the way to their destination. This could be achieved by investing in transportation infrastructures, networks, facilities, and services connecting major tourism destinations and city centers.