A new proposed model for tourists' destination image formation: the moderate effect of tourists' experiences
ISSN: 0368-492X
Article publication date: 2 February 2023
Issue publication date: 13 March 2024
Abstract
Purpose
This study's goal is to look at how visitors' experiences affect the indirect links between the destination's extrinsic motivations (DEMs) and tourists' intrinsic motives (TIMs), on the one hand, and the perceived destination image (PDI), on the other.
Design/methodology/approach
Using structural equation modeling, 613 tourists from different nationalities were used to test the five hypotheses.
Findings
The research results revealed that second-order destinations' extrinsic motivations directly impact TIM and PDI. It also showed that tourists' experiences as moderators reduce the direct effect of DEM on PDI for first-time visitors compared to repeat visitors. Moreover, it increases the direct effect of TIM on PDI for repeated visitors.
Practical implications
Destination managers can fix the problems that hurt their reputations and images by hiring police officers in tourist areas and cleaning tourist places. In the same way, destination managers and travel agencies should use AI tools to create social media marketing campaigns focusing on natural and historical monuments. Also, the marketing plans should stress the value for money (for example, lodging, food and attractions’ cost). Finally, destination marketers can make programs for repeat visitors, focusing on DEM and TIM.
Originality/value
This article tries to fill a gap in the research on PDI formation in emerging markets as a modern technique in destination marketing by using the push-intrinsic and pull-extrinsic theories. It also looks at how the tourists' experiences moderate the direct link between DEM, TIM and PDI. Lastly, this study examines how TIM affects a destination's image in emerging markets.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors sincerely thank the editor, the associate editor and the anonymous reviewers of the Kybernetes for their constructive and valuable comments and suggestions. Also, the authors would like to thank the University of Science and Technology Beijing (USTB).
Citation
Hamdy, A., Zhang, J. and Eid, R. (2024), "A new proposed model for tourists' destination image formation: the moderate effect of tourists' experiences", Kybernetes, Vol. 53 No. 4, pp. 1545-1566. https://doi.org/10.1108/K-11-2022-1525
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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