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Destination loyalty explained through place attachment, destination familiarity and destination image
Author(s) -
Stylidis Dimitrios,
Woosnam Kyle M.,
Ivkov Milan,
Kim Seongseop S.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
international journal of tourism research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.155
H-Index - 58
eISSN - 1522-1970
pISSN - 1099-2340
DOI - 10.1002/jtr.2359
Subject(s) - destination image , loyalty , psychology , destinations , tourism , cognition , place attachment , population , social psychology , sample (material) , advertising , marketing , sociology , geography , demography , business , chromatography , chemistry , archaeology , neuroscience
This study explores how familiarity and attachment, along with cognitive and affective image explain destination loyalty across visitors with divergent degrees of frequency of visitation (low vs. high). Serbians ( n = 401) who have previously visited Greece comprised the sample population for this study and were surveyed using a self‐administered questionnaire. Findings reveal that overall familiarity shapes cognitive and affective destination image, while each image component uniquely explains destination loyalty ( R 2 = 0.51). Differences also exist in the magnitude of the relationships tested among the two groups. Implications for theory and practice, along with limitations and research directions, are discussed.