Does Value Lead to Loyalty? Exploring the Important Role of the Tourist–Destination Relationship

Abstract

The perceived value of a tourist’s trip, representing a trade-off between costs and benefits of travelling to a destination, can exert a significant influence on tourists’ loyalty, which is a main concern for managers of tourist destinations. However, the mechanism between the destination value and tourist loyalty remains unexplored, especially in the new context of relationship marketing. To advance the understanding of the mechanism, we introduced 3 variables of “tourist–destination relationship”, namely place attachment (PA), destination trust (DT) and tourist satisfaction (TS), combined with perceived value (PV) and tourist loyalty (TL), and therefore constructed the conceptual model. Taking the Hangzhou City of China as an example, the conceptual model was fitted and tested using the structural equation model (SEM). The results show that: (1) PV can directly and positively affect TS and DT respectively, while there was no significant effect of PV on PA; (2) TS and DT can directly and positively influence TL, but the effect of PA on TL has not been supported empirically; (3) PV has a significant positive effect on TL; and (4) there are internal relationship among the 3 variables measuring the tourist–destination relationship, in other words, TS can significantly affects PA, DT respectively, and DT has a significant positive effect on PA. The findings of this study provide empirical references for understanding the important role of the tourist–destination relationship.

Sunda Kelapa Port: a Case Study on Tourist Loyalty Building Through Destination Image, Tourist Motivation, and Perceived Value of Tourism Satisfaction

“…The results of their research prove that satisfaction is positively affected by perceived value. These results align the research of Wang et al (2022); Chi et al (2020). The results of their research shows that satisfaction positively affected by perceived value.…”

Factors influencing halal tourism destinations revisit intentions among Muslim travelers of Bangladesh: the mediating role of emotional attachments

“…Interestingly, no prior study has tailored such findings, and thus, these findings uniquely contribute to halal tourism literatures and halal tourism growth in Bangladesh. Besides, the current study has revealed that emotional attachments significantly influence halal tourism destinations revisit intentions, which is partially consistent with Wang et al (2022).…”

How perceived crowding changes the interrelationships between perceived value, tourist satisfaction and destination loyalty: the empirical study at Hoi An

“…Concerning prior research on the perceived value of heritage sites, the following was discovered: In Hangzhou, Wang et al (2022) identified two components of perceived value: monetary value (price, value for money and good deal) and functional value (travel needs). Along the same line, at WHS Alhambra and Generalife, Valverde-Roda et al (2022) discovered three aspects of perceived value, including the practical value (service quality), the monetary value (offer, price) and the emotional value (learning, building style).…”

“…The penetration of WHS in the tourism market and associated tourism consumer behaviours, therefore, has grasped wide attention among scholars in the tourism area. Specifically, there is a substantial body of research which concentrates on exploring the tourist's perceived value of the destination (Moreno-Manzo, Gassiot-Melian, & Coromina, 2022;Valverde-Roda, Moral-Cuadra, Aguilar-Rivero, & Solano-S anchez, 2022;Wang, Yang, & He, 2022;Zhang et al, 2020), tourist satisfaction (Cvelbar & Dwyer, 2013;Haber & Reichel, 2005;Newbery, Sauer, Gorton, Phillipson, & Atterton, 2013), destination loyalty (Baloglu, 2001;Niininen, Szivas, & Riley, 2004;O'Malley, 1998) and even the interrelationship among them (Chen & Tsai, 2008;Chen & Chen, 2010;Reza Jalilvand, Khazaei Pool, Nasrolahi Vosta, & Shabani Nafchali, 2014). Recently, when the borders started to open after COVID-19, owing to the increasing demand for travel (Morrison, 2023), heavy promotion from tourism suppliers (OECD, 2020) and strong influence from key opinion leaders (Priyandhini, Mona, & Oktaviani, 2022), destinations including Sapa, Hue and especially Hoi An have been "turned into" iconic heritage sites or "must-see" attractions when visiting Vietnam.…”