This paper examines the adoption of mobile applications for restaurant searches and/or reservations (MARSR) by users, as part of their experiential quality. Following an extended and expanded version of UTAUT-2, this research proposes eight determinants of intentions to use: performance expectancy, effort expectancy, facilitating conditions, hedonic motivation, price-saving orientation, habit, social influence, and perceived credibility. The data were collected from Spanish users of MARSR applications (n = 1200), and analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM). The findings confirm the need to extend and expand UTAUT-2 by incorporating perceived credibility and the social norm approach. The results gathered from SEM indicate that the drivers of intentions to use MARSR are, in order of impact: habit, perceived credibility, hedonic motivation, price-saving orientation, effort expectancy, performance expectancy, social influence, and facilitating conditions. Habit, facilitating conditions, and intentions to use are significantly related to use. Additionally, the moderating effects of gender, age, and experience were tested by means of a multi-group analysis. The users’ experience was seen to exert a moderating effect in some of the relationships hypothesized in the model, while gender and age did not play a significant role. The findings have both research and practical implications.

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The study focuses on sources of user-generated content (UGC) in social media: strong-tie sources, weak-tie sources, and tourism-tie sources and their effects on tourist satisfaction with the destination. It is separated into the pre- and post- travel processes. First, it addresses the influences of sources of UGC on tourist expectations about core resources and supporting factors, and then analyzes tourist satisfaction by concentrating on tourist expectations and perceptions of core resources and supporting factors. Findings suggest that UGC sources have an indirect effect on tourist satisfaction since most UGC sources have an influence on tourist expectations, which will later be compared with the real tourist perception. Main conclusions and some recommendations and limitations are provided.

The aim of this paper is to analyse the causal relationships among three key variables in tourism marketing: image, satisfaction and loyalty. It analyses the specific case of a tourism destination, approaching it not only from a cognitive perspective but also from an emotional one. It thus attempts to incorporate the experiential view into a construct such as the image of the tourism destination. Some hypotheses are put forward and tested in an empirical study of 140 American tourists visiting Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo (Mexico). Four dimensions of the tourism destination image are identified: natural resources, service quality, entertainment and affective image. The study demonstrates that the affective image is the main antecedent of loyalty.