Abstract:The paper is dedicated to the issues of rural tourism with regard to the visitor's loyalty towards the destination in a sustainable development context. Particularly, the findings of the research focused on exploring mutual relations among quality dimensions of the rural destination, overall satisfaction of the visitor, and his or her loyalty towards the destination are presented. A structural model was used to explore the relations among quality dimensions, overall satisfaction, and loyalty in the specific environment of the Czech Republic (inland European country, EU member, until 1989 a socialist country, nearly 93% municipalities with fewer than 3000 inhabitants). The research results allow deeper understanding of the visitor's behavior and the factors influencing the loyalty towards the destination. The significance order of the dimensions according to their direct influence on the required loyalty towards the destination, i.e., coming back to the destination and spreading positive references to the destination, is as follows: 1. well-being, 2. image, 3. services. We conclude that overall satisfaction directly influences loyalty towards the destination.

The role of government in destination development is not a new topic; however, the way the government can impact tourism destination development is still under research. This study addresses such issues, specifically, striving to shed some light on the aspects of importance/performance as it relates to destination management. By understanding such relationships, government officials (at local and state levels) will be able to create specific policies/procedures that would facilitate tourism development. This study utilizes importance/performance methodology to analyze three types of regions (mountain, spa, and wine) in the Czech Republic. The results indicate that variations among the regions exist in terms of areas of importance and performance and point out opportunities for further improvements. Thorough discussions and implications for the industry are made along with suggestions for future research.

Tourist destinations are currently subjects of strong competition and their visitors are influenced by various factors, including the image of a destination. This paper deals with the topic of destination image and its influence on the tourist overall satisfaction and loyalty towards a destination. The study is aiming at domestic tourists in the Czech Republic. The data were obtained through a questionnaire survey with quota sampling. Sixteen destination image factors were researched. Nine of the factors have an influence on overall satisfaction (the most influential one being the attractiveness of a destination, the uniqueness of a destination and the friendly acceptance by the locals). Eight factors were statistically proved to have an influence on loyalty by means of oral or online recommendation, with the most influential factor being the sense of security. Finally, four factors have an influence on loyalty by means of the intention to revisit a destination (the uniqueness of a destination, food, the suitability of a destination for summer and all-year-round holiday). The research results enable deeper understanding of the loyalty towards a destination which is very important for destination managers and services providers in destination.

This paper concerns the topic of rural destination quality from the viewpoint of tourism development. The research exploring crucial quality factors from the viewpoint of demand is presented. Rural tourism participants attribute the highest significance to Destination cleanliness and Sense of security. The evaluation of the importance of most research quality factors is not dependent on gender and on the contrary, the importance of 16 quality factors depends on the visitor´s age. In the case of the factor of "Friendly acceptance by the locals", the most significant influence on the visitor´s return to the destination was confirmed. On the contrary, this impact was not proven for the factor of "Level of prices of services and goods in the destination". The research and the successive factor analysis revealed 6 dimensions representing the rural destination quality: Services, Image, Transportation, Well-being, Information/Communication and Attractions/ Experiences; Well-being was identified as the most important. This was consecutively confirmed by the analysis of the quality factors' impact on the visitor´s overall satisfaction and loyalty to the destination. The research findings provide the theory with topical destination quality dimensions as well as contribute to better understanding of visitor´s behavioural mechanisms in rural areas.Key words: visitor´s perception, quality of destination, rural destination, factors of quality, dimensions of quality, IPA analysis Abstrakt: Tento příspěvek je věnován tématu kvality venkovské destinace z pohledu rozvoje cestovního ruchu. Jsou zde prezentovány výsledky výzkumu zacíleného na identifikování a prozkoumání stěžejních faktorů kvality z pohledu poptávky. Nejvyšší význam účastníci cestovního ruchu na venkově přisuzují faktorům čistoty destinace a bezpečnosti v destinaci. Hodnocení důležitosti většiny zkoumaných faktorů kvality (68 %) není závislé na pohlaví, a naopak význam 16-ti faktorů kvality je závislý na věku respondenta. U faktoru kvality "přátelské přijetí místními obyvateli" byl prokázán nejvyšší vliv na znovu návrat návštěvníka do destinace, naopak tento vliv nebyl prokázán u faktoru "cenová úroveň zboží a služeb v destinaci". Provedený výzkum a následná faktorová analýza odhalila 6 dimenzí reprezentující kvalitu venkovské destinace: služby, image, doprava, pohodlí (well-being), informace/komunikace, atraktivity/zážitky. Při posuzování významu dimenzí pro návštěvníka byla jednoznačně jako nejvýznamnější identifikována dimenze well-being, což bylo následně potvrzeno analýzou vlivu faktorů kvality na celkovou spokojenost návštěvníka v destinaci a jeho loajalitu k destinaci. Výsledky výzkumu rozšiřují teoretická východiska o hlavní dimenze kvality destinace a prohlubují poznatky spotřebitelského chování návštěvníků/účastníků cestovního ruchu ve venkovských oblastech.

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