Pearce, Philip L., and Kang, Mi-hee (2008) Exploring traveller loyalty to types of tourist settings. In: Proceedings of 14th Asia Pacific Tourism Association Annual Conference. pp. 120-128. From: Tourism & Hospitality in Asia Pacific, 9-12 July 2008, Bangkok, Thailand.

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Abstract

Unlike other studies of loyalty and continuing interest in consumer products this study proposes that much repeat visitor behaviour in tourism can be understood not by a desire to return to a single place, use a specific product or re-purchase a brand but instead can be better appreciated by suggesting that tourists might increase their interest in a category of tourist setting. This study concentrates attention on tourists' prior and recent experience of tourist settings and explores the effects of this experience on continuing loyalty to a range of settings. It was hypothesised that overall there would be positive relationships among both the prior and immediate experience factors and increasing levels of visitors' continuing interest. An international tourism sample was used to test the way these variables work in a cross national context as well as enabling the researchers to study the formative stages of the experience-continuing interest connection. The sample consisted of South Korean visitors who were completing their visit to Australia. Consumer involvement theory and aspects of loyalty analysis constitute the conceptual framework for the study. The hypothesised relationships were statistically supported for over half of the settings studied and for all settings studied there were trends in the hypothesised directions. The findings were further influenced by the initial level of visitor interest and overall visitor satisfaction levels but not appreciably by demographic factors. The value of consumer involvement theory as a way of explaining increasing interest in tourist setting participation was consistently supported.

Item ID:	7508
Item Type:	Conference Item (Research - E1)
ISBN:	978-89-957851-5-7
Keywords:	repeat visitors; prior and immediate experience; setting loyalty; tourist interest and participation; consumer involvement theory
Related URLs:	Publisher
Date Deposited:	01 Feb 2010 00:02
FoR Codes:	15 COMMERCE, MANAGEMENT, TOURISM AND SERVICES > 1506 Tourism > 150606 Tourist Behaviour and Visitor Experience @ 100%
SEO Codes:	90 COMMERCIAL SERVICES AND TOURISM > 9003 Tourism > 900302 Socio-Cultural Issues in Tourism @ 100%
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