Modelling tourist loyalty via statistical techniques

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to determine the relationship between the atmospheric factors in the hotel managements and the customer loyalty. Also, this study shows the effective demo¬graphic factors on tourist loyalty. To model these effective factors; Optimal Scaling, CHAID Analysis, Explanatory Factor Analysis and Structural Equation Modelling techniques are applied. The data set is obtained from 468 Russian tourists in Antalya-Turkey between the dates June-August 2013 through questionnaire forms. As well as demographic variables, a five-point Likert scale is used to measure the loyalty levels of these tourists. The results of the Opti¬mal Scaling analysis indicate that among the consumers whose loyalty is high are those more than 35 years old and those who have visited Antalya at least 2 times and those with MS or Ph.D. degrees. Loyalty levels of female consumers have been found higher than male consum¬ers'. Numbers of visit, gender and marital status are also important factors on consumer loy¬alty according to the results of the CHAID analysis. Structural Equation Modelling reached to a conclusion that internal factors of hotel atmosphere are more effective on customer loyalty than external factors. Detailed results are given in related tables and figures.