The dark side of travel: the effect of tourist harassment on destination image and destination revisit intent: a moderated mediation approach

Abstract

Purpose

The authors’ examination aims to offer a quantitative perspective on the interrelationships between tourist harassment, the destination image, emotions and destination revisit intent. Furthermore, it explores the moderating role of travelers' experiences and tolerance in the link between tourist harassment, the destination image and revisit intentions.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors’ examination seeks to fill this research gap by utilizing a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods to test eight hypotheses using AMOS 23 and PROCESS MARCO.

Findings

The findings showed that tourist harassment negatively impacts the destination image and revisit intentions. Moreover, it indicated that tourists' experiences and tolerance moderate the link between harassment, the destination image and revisit intentions for travelers with high levels of experience and tolerance compared to those with low levels.

Originality/value

This article contributes to travel research and service failure recovery research on tourist harassment and its consequences. To this end, it developed and validated a new tourist harassment scale. Moreover, it is the first study that examines the moderating role of visitors' experiences and tolerance on the link between tourist harassment, the destination image and revisit intentions. Finally, this article is the first to empirically offer destination harassment reduction techniques.

Citation

Hamdy, A., Zhang, J. and Eid, R. (2024), "The dark side of travel: the effect of tourist harassment on destination image and destination revisit intent: a moderated mediation approach", Kybernetes, Vol. 53 No. 12, pp. 5860-5882. https://doi.org/10.1108/K-04-2023-0706