Destination Loyalty and Communication—A Relationship-based Tourist Behavioral Model

Abstract

The present study proposes a tourist behavioral model by examining the causal linkages among tourists' destination experience, their attitudinal and behavioral loyalties, and their active and passive communicative actions. The study adopts the concept of relationship to frame the attitudinal loyalty construct. Associations among this and other constructs are tested using structural equation modeling with survey data. The study shows significant linkages among the constructs except for the effect that behavioral loyalty has on passive communicative action. The results imply the importance of relationship building, which leads to active supporting behaviors towards destinations.