Investigating Destination Loyalty through Tourist Attraction Personality and Loyalty

ABSTRACT

This study aims to validate the new concept of ‘tourist attraction personality’ and examine its effect on attraction and destination loyalty. Data were collected from 800 tourists in Macao using a quantitative survey method. The results show that tourist attraction personality has a significantly positive impact on attraction loyalty, in turn leading to destination loyalty. The tourist attraction personality was also found to act as a complementary partial mediator in the relationship between attraction and destination loyalty. Practically, when a destination seeks to become more distinctive in an increasingly competitive market, tourist attraction personality can be used as an essential marketing tool to assist in building the uniqueness of the destination and thus the destination loyalty through securing the tourists’ attraction loyalty. Overall, this study provides theoretical and practical insights into establishing competitive marketing strategies for tourism destinations.

摘要

这项研究旨在验证‘旅游景点个性’这一新概念, 并了解其对景点和旅游目的地忠诚度的影响。使用定量调查方法从澳门八百名游客中收集数据。研究结果显示, 旅游景点个性对景点忠诚度具有显著的积极影响, 进而导致旅游目的地忠诚度。旅游景点个性也被发现在景点和旅游目的地忠诚度的关系中起着补充性的作用。另外, 在竞争日益激烈的市场环境中, 当旅游目的地试图变得更具特色时, 可以将旅游景点个性用作必不可少的营销工具, 以帮助建立旅游目的地的独特性, 从而通过游客对景点忠诚度来建立旅游目的地忠诚度。总体而言, 本研究为建立旅游目的地的竞争性营销策略提供了理论和实践见解。

关键词:

• 旅游景点个性
• 景点忠诚度
• 旅游目的地忠诚度
• 旅游目的地管理
• 旅游目的地市场营销

KEYWORDS:

• Tourist attraction personality
• attraction loyalty
• destination loyalty
• destination management
• destination marketing

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This has been partially funded by the research grant of Macao Institute for Tourism Studies, under the project titled ‘Flagship attraction, iconic attraction and destination loyalty’.

Notes on contributors

Weng Hang Kong

Weng Hang Kong is Assistant Professor in School of Tourism Management at Macao Institute for Tourism Studies, Macao SAR, China. Her research interests include cultural tourism, tourism planning and development (E-mail: [email protected]).

Kim Ieng Loi

Kim Ieng Loi is Vice President at Macao Institute for Tourism Studies, Macao SAR, China. Her research interests include hotel guest satisfaction, destination marketing, tourist behaviour and tourism product management (E-mail: [email protected]).

Jing (Bill) Xu

Jing (Bill) Xu is Senior Lecturer in College of Professional and Continuing Education at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong SAR, China. His research interests focus on consumption experience, destination marketing and branding, sports tourism, attraction management, etc (E-mail: [email protected]).