Title: Satisfaction and loyalty of tourists in a cross-border area

Authors: Judit Díaz; Ramon Palau-Saumell; Santiago Forgas-Coll; Lluís Prats

Addresses: Business Organization Management and Product Design Department, Facultat de Turisme, Universitat de Girona, Ferrater i Mora, 1, 17001 – Girona, Spain ' IQS School of Management, IQS-Ramon Llull University, Via Augusta, 390, 08017, Barcelona, Spain ' Department of Economics and Business Organization, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Barcelona, Diagonal 690, 08034 Barcelona, Spain ' Business Organization Management and Product Design Department, Facultat de Turisme, Universitat de Girona, Ferrater i Mora, 1, 17001 – Girona, Spain

Abstract: When tourism and border concepts are combined, many interests and unique relationships become evident, although the intersection has many facets: borders as barriers, as destinations, as modifiers of the tourism landscape, as attractions, impediments to travel, motivation for travel. In fact, research in cross-border areas has placed a greater emphasis on aspects such as governance, cooperation, perception of the border and the products purchased by day-trippers and tourists. Although several authors had researched on consumer behaviour, and more specifically in the loyalty regarding tourism destinations little evidence in studies of loyalty in cross-border destinations has been found. In this study, we propose a conceptual model to measure the perceived value, satisfaction and loyalty of tourists that are visiting a cross-border area in order to measure their willingness to recommend and their intention to revisit the cross-border area. Results will provide tools for managers in both sides of the border in order to improve satisfaction and behavioural intentions of those tourists that are visiting the cross-border destination.

Keywords: cross-border areas; perceived value; customer satisfaction; customer loyalty; tourists; cross-border tourism; tourism destinations; cross-border destinations; conceptual modelling; willingness to recommend; intention to revisit.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBG.2014.058027

International Journal of Business and Globalisation, 2014 Vol.12 No.1, pp.3 - 19

Published online: 16 Jun 2014 *

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