Exploring the Relationship of Image Formation on Tourist Satisfaction and Loyalty: Evidence From China

Abstract

Cultural heritage tourist destinations have emerged as a hot topic in tourism literature, but there have been relatively few studies that determine the role of the involvement of local participation in either tourism planning or the decision-making processes of tourists. The connection between local community participation (LCP), authenticity, access to local products, destination visit image, tourist satisfaction, and tourist loyalty is thus relatively unexplored in the literature. This study used a quantitative approach based on a survey with 406 respondents visiting the city of Kaiping in Guangdong, China. The proposed hypotheses were empirically tested with SPSS and Analysis of Moment Structures. The resulting outcomes indicated a positive correlation between LCP, authenticity, and access to local and destination visit image, which led to tourist satisfaction and ultimately resulted in tourist loyalty. Additional theoretical contributions, practical implications, and limitations were also discussed.

Impact of Familiarity and Green Image on Satisfaction and Loyalty Among Young Green Hotels’ Guests – A Developing Country’s Perspective

“…However, very few studies have investigated the extent to which familiarity affects travelers’ perceptions and behavior with regard to a tourist destination ( Kim et al, 2019 ). Destination familiarity has frequently been described as a single-dimension construct that is measured via past experience in the destination ( Jebbouri et al, 2021 ). Past studies have often used destination familiarity to compare the first visit and revisit experiences ( Prentice, 2006 ).…”

“…Past studies have often used destination familiarity to compare the first visit and revisit experiences ( Prentice, 2006 ). Familiarity is often used to explain the differences in travel behavior between visitors and non-visitors in a given destination ( Jebbouri et al, 2021 ). In other words, destination familiarity is increased by actual purchase and usage ( Alcocer and Ruiz, 2019 ), and thus, direct experience can influence the development of a positive destination image ( Stylidis et al, 2020 ).…”

“…However, many researchers have expressed their concern about using the single-dimension construct measurement of familiarity which they feel is not appropriate in the temporal tourism environment ( Jebbouri et al, 2021 ; Ju et al, 2021 ). Kim et al (2019) argued that destination familiarity can be enhanced not only by direct experience, but also by indirect experience without actual travel experience.…”

“…On the other hand, potential travelers with low familiarity tend to rely more on external information sources to assist them in their destination selection ( Murphy et al, 2007 ). Therefore, destination familiarity can be categorized under experiential familiarity and informational familiarity ( Kim et al, 2019 ; Jebbouri et al, 2021 ).…”

“…However, there is a dearth of research on the relationship between the green image and loyalty in developing nations ( Wu et al, 2016 , 2019 ; Çavusoglu et al, 2020 ) and how this relationship is mediated by satisfaction ( Wang et al, 2018 ; Merli et al, 2019 ; Çavusoglu et al, 2020 ). Familiarity has been shown to affect the destination image in previous studies ( Casali et al, 2020 ), but researchers have begun to criticize the measurement of the single-dimension construct of destination familiarity which is deemed to be inappropriate in the temporal tourism literature ( Jebbouri et al, 2021 ), as destination familiarity can be increased by both direct experience and indirect experience ( Kim et al, 2019 ; Stylidis et al, 2020 ). Very few studies have investigated the relationship between familiarity and green image in green hotel selection in developing countries.…”