Title: Revisiting drivers of tourist satisfaction and loyalty: role of key moderators

Authors: Mahshid Omid; Frank Pons; Michel Zins

Addresses: Department of Marketing, Faculty of Business Administration, Université Laval, Québec, G1V0A6, QC, Canada ' Department of Marketing, Faculty of Business Administration, Université Laval, Québec, G1V0A6, QC, Canada ' Department of Marketing, Faculty of Business Administration, Université Laval, Québec, G1V0A6, QC, Canada

Abstract: This paper posits that using tourist characteristics as moderating variables has the potential to resolve conflicting results of previous tourism studies. To verify this hypothesis, the influence of tourist situational and demographic characteristics on overall satisfaction, intention to revisit and to recommend the destination and the associations between these constructs are examined. The statistical analysis of a sample of 951 tourists in the island of Montreal supports the proposed model. Among other results, it is found that the overall satisfaction level differs among different tourists, with female, older, less-educated, and less-experienced ones expressing higher satisfaction. Moreover, it is shown that the composition of overall satisfaction is significantly different among tourists with different gender, age, education, and experience. The results also indicate that older, less-educated, and less-experienced tourists are more likely to recommend the destination to their family and friends. Theoretical and managerial implications are provided.

Keywords: tourism; satisfaction; loyalty; revisit; recommendation; tourist situational and demographic characteristics.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSTM.2017.085472

International Journal of Services Technology and Management, 2017 Vol.23 No.3, pp.165 - 188

Received: 06 Jul 2015
Accepted: 31 Jan 2016
Published online: 28 Jul 2017 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article