The influence of tourists' experience on destination loyalty: A case study of Hue City, Vietnam

Abstract

This research focuses on the impact of the tourist experience on the relationship among destination image, tourist motivation, and tourist satisfaction on destination loyalty by examining the theoretical and empirical evidence on the causal relationship between constructs. A research model was proposed, in which nine hypotheses were developed, and the empirical data were collected from Hue city, which is a major tourist destination in Vietnam. A total of 204 questionnaires were returned, and the data were analyzed using PLS-SEM. The moderating effect of the tourist experience on the impact of the destination image, tourist motivation, and tourist satisfaction on destination loyalty is analyzed in this article. The proposed conceptual model was tested, and the results reveal a significant relationship between the two constructs to destination loyalty (destination image and tourist satisfaction). Furthermore, the findings support the proposed destination loyalty model: destination image, tourist satisfaction directly influenced destination loyalty, and tourist experience play an important role as a moderator in the relationship between tourist motivation and tourist loyalty. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.