Achieving tourist loyalty through destination personality, satisfaction, and identification

The general marketing literature suggests that brand personality, satisfaction, and customer identification with the brand are important drivers of consumer behavior in several contexts. Yet, the literature lacks studies on these constructs' role in tourist behavior. In an endeavor to overcome this research deficit, this study explores the interrelationships among destination personality, tourist satisfaction, and tourist-destination identification, and the extent to which they are important in influencing positive word-of-mouth and revisit intentions. The study employs structural equation modeling to analyze data from 490 Taiwanese consumers reporting on their most recently visited tourism destinations. Findings indicate that (1) destination personality promotes tourist satisfaction, tourist-destination identification, positive word-of-mouth, and revisit intentions; (2) satisfaction encourages identification and word-of-mouth; and (3) identification enhances word-of-mouth and revisit intentions. The paper provides theoretical and managerial implications.