Search Results (496)

This study examines the intention of Greek tourists who visit national touristic destinations to adopt Artificial Intelligence (AI) chatbots in the tourism sector. Using the UTAUT2 model as a framework, data were collected through a closed-ended questionnaire and analyzed with correlation and regression methods to identify the main drivers and barriers to this adoption. Results show that specific factors such as performance expectancy, hedonic motivation, and perceived innovativeness significantly and positively influence chatbot usage, emphasizing the role of usefulness, enjoyment, and innovation in shaping user acceptance. Conversely, factors such as inconvenience, habit, and difficulty of use negatively affect adoption, indicating the importance of overcoming usability challenges and resistance to change. These findings highlight the need for the development of accessible and engaging chatbot systems and underscore the value of continuous technological improvements. The study concludes that adopting AI-driven solutions can help tourism providers personalize services, improve operational efficiency, and enhance customer satisfaction, fostering sustainable competitiveness in the sector. Full article

Museums play a significant role in a destination’s cultural and tourist offer, influencing the overall tourist experience. Based on survey conducted among visitors to the Museum of Apoxyomenos of the town of Mali Lošinj and the Cres Museum of the City of Cres, located on the islands of Cres and Lošinj in Croatia, the views of visitors on the museum experience, its role in shaping the overall tourist experience and its connection with the level of consumption, satisfaction with the destination and intention of re-visiting were analysed. The findings of this research suggest that satisfaction with the museum experience can significantly contribute to a positive perception of the destination, encouraging recommendations and increasing the intention to revisit. The results confirm that satisfaction with museum experience strongly contributes to the positive assessment of the destination, encourages recommendations, and increases the intention to return. Although only a weak positive correlation has been established between total visitor consumption and consumption within museums, museums are recognised as important revenue generators and economic factors in the destination. Socio-demographic factors had no significant impact on satisfaction, indicating the universality of the museum’s offer. The findings of this research point to the importance of museum content, promotion, and integration of museums into tourism strategies as potential key elements in the development of tourist destinations. Based on the results obtained, the importance of museum contents, promotion, and integration of museums in tourist strategies is confirmed as key elements of the development of destinations. This research contributes to understanding museums as active participants in the cultural and economic development of tourist destinations. Full article

Tourist loyalty is vital for destination success, fostering repeat visits and positive word-of-mouth. This study explores the psychological and safety-related factors driving tourist loyalty to natural attractions in Oman, a rising destination known for its stability and safety. Using Social Cognitive Theory as a foundation, the research incorporates perceived risk and novelty seeking as key moderating variables. Data were collected via an online survey of 165 international tourists and analyzed through Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). Findings show that attachment, satisfaction, and novelty seeking significantly affect both attitudinal and behavioral loyalty. While perceived value strongly influences behavioral loyalty, its impact on attitudinal loyalty appears more complex, suggesting possible unobserved mediators. Additionally, risk perception and novelty seeking moderate the link between destination familiarity and loyalty, underscoring the role of tourists’ internal evaluations of safety and desire for new experiences. This study advances the limited literature on tourist loyalty in developing countries by integrating psychological and risk-related dimensions. It offers actionable insights for tourism planners and marketers in Oman: emphasizing the country’s safety reputation, improving satisfaction levels, and crafting experiences that blend familiarity with novelty can enhance tourist loyalty and ensure sustained competitiveness in the global tourism market. Full article

Cultural heritage sites play a crucial role in safeguarding identity, fostering cultural exchange, and generating sustainable tourism. Within this context, the Palace Museum in Beijing, which attracts 19 million annual visitors, offers a compelling case for examining the dynamics that shape revisit intention. This study explores the relationships among perceived authenticity, place attachment, destination satisfaction, visitor engagement, and revisit intention within the context of heritage tourism. Using Partial Least Squares–Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM), data were collected from local visitors to the Palace Museum to analyze both the direct and mediating effects of these constructs. Findings indicate that perceived authenticity significantly enhances both destination satisfaction and visitor engagement, while place attachment makes a strong contribution to visitor engagement. Moreover, visitor engagement emerged as a more influential mediator than destination satisfaction in linking perceived authenticity to revisit intention, showing the importance of immersive and meaningful participation in shaping tourists’ behavioral intentions. These results suggest that while satisfaction remains a relevant concept, strategies that emphasize authenticity-driven experiences and fostering of deeper emotional and participatory bonds are more effective in sustaining revisits. This study advances the understanding of heritage tourism and provides practical insights for managing iconic heritage sites such as the Palace Museum. Full article

Cultural heritage tourism is a vital part of Malaysia’s tourism sector, attracting visitors to iconic UNESCO sites like George Town and Melaka. However, these heritage sites face growing challenges from overcrowding and environmental degradation, which accelerate the deterioration of historic architecture and cultural artifacts. Preservation efforts often require site closures, which negatively impact tourist experiences and satisfaction. Thus, augmented reality (AR) offers a solution by supporting heritage management and preservation, allowing visitors to engage with virtual representations via mobile AR apps, thereby enhancing visitor engagement and travel experience. Despite global adoption, mobile AR apps often suffer from low user retention, with many users abandoning them shortly after downloading them. Understanding what drives continued usage is crucial for successful AR implementation. This study integrates the expectation confirmation model (ECM) and the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology 2 (UTAUT2) to examine the determinants affecting user’s experiential satisfaction and continued usage intention of mobile AR apps. An online survey of 450 domestic tourists in George Town and Melaka was conducted. Data analysis using structural equation modeling with SmartPLS 4.0 revealed that the integrated model offers a stronger predictive power and significantly outperforms ECM and UTAUT2 individually. The findings contribute valuable insights for researchers, app developers, tourism stakeholders, and policymakers. Full article

As sustainable tourism practices gain traction globally, immersive technologies such as augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) have emerged as effective tools to enrich visitor experiences while supporting heritage site preservation. Particularly within built cultural environments, these technologies facilitate non-invasive interpretation of architectural spaces, enabling sustainable interaction with fragile historical structures. Despite growing scholarly attention, existing research has primarily focused on the pre-adoption phase or the technical affordances of AR/VR, with limited understanding of user behavior in the post-adoption phase. To address this gap, this study integrates the Expectation Confirmation Model (ECM) with the experiential attributes of AR/VR-enabled heritage applications, proposing an integrated theoretical model to identify key determinants of tourists’ continuance intention. Based on 434 valid survey responses collected at the Terracotta Warriors Museum, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM), the results reveal that perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, satisfaction, and confirmation directly influence continuance intention, while visual appeal, entertainment, enjoyment, interactivity and confirmation exert indirect effects through mediating mechanisms. The findings contribute theoretically by extending ECM to the heritage tourism domain and empirically by providing robust evidence from a high-profile non-Western site. Practically, this study offers actionable implications for designing immersive experiences that enhance post-visit continuance intention and align with broader sustainability objectives. Full article

The growth of tourism in coastal destinations has attracted academic attention due to the link between tourists’ motivations and their likelihood of recommending the destination. This study explores changes in tourist motivations, satisfaction, and recommendation behaviours in a coastal destination during the summers of 2019 (pre-COVID-19) and 2020 (during the pandemic). Employing quantitative analysis with Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Structural Equation Modelling, data from 394 pre-pandemic and 468 pandemic-period visitors were analysed. The findings reveal a shift in the tourist profile during the pandemic, with a predominance of younger visitors from nearby regions. Despite heightened uncertainty, satisfaction and the intention to recommend remained relatively high, albeit lower than pre-pandemic levels. The study underscores the importance of adapting marketing and management strategies to evolving tourist preferences, emphasising safety and sustainability in response to global crises. These results highlight the need for resilient policies to ensure positive visitor experiences and long-term growth in coastal tourism, contributing to the broader understanding of how external disruptions impact destination dynamics and tourist behaviour. Full article

With the ongoing advancement of urban renewal and cultural tourism, public spaces within historic cultural districts face dual challenges of structural complexity and diverse user demands. There is an urgent need to establish a scientific, user-oriented evaluation system to enhance spatial quality and user satisfaction. This study takes the Nanhesha Historic and Cultural Quarter in Yangzhou as a case study, focusing on two primary user groups: tourists and local residents. Employing semi-structured interviews and grounded theory, it distils a demand evaluation framework comprising four dimensions—spatial structure, environmental perception, socio-cultural aspects, and facility systems—with a total of 21 indicators. Subsequently, employing the Delphi method, experts were invited to refine the indicators through two rounds of deliberation. The Kano model was then applied to classify the demand attributes of different groups, identifying five common demands and sixteen differentiated demands. These were categorised into three sensitivity levels. Further integrating the Satisfaction Increment Index (SII), Dissatisfaction Decrement Index (DDI), and sensitivity values, a two-dimensional prioritisation model was constructed. This yielded a unified three-tier priority system alongside independent ranking frameworks for each user group. Findings reveal that visitors prioritise immediate experiential attributes such as spatial accessibility, appropriate scale, and environmental cleanliness, whereas residents favour long-term usage-oriented aspects including cultural expression, convenient facilities, and climate adaptability. This research not only enriches the theoretical framework for studying public space perception in historic cultural districts but also provides actionable evaluation criteria and practical pathways for multi-stakeholder spatial optimisation design. It offers guidance for the high-quality, refined development of public spaces within historic quarters. Full article

The present study explores the determinants of tourist satisfaction within the context of wellness tourism in Greece, an emerging segment of the tourism industry that emphasizes holistic well-being. The aim was to assess the overall satisfaction of wellness tourists, identify the relative importance and performance of satisfaction dimensions, and offer insights for service improvement. A structured questionnaire was administered to 487 wellness tourists during the summer of 2024, and the data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and the Multicriteria Satisfaction Analysis (MUSA) method. The results revealed a high overall satisfaction level (90.4%), with physical and spiritual well-being activities contributing most significantly to the satisfaction structure. In contrast, mind well-being activities scored the lowest in satisfaction, despite being rated highly in importance, suggesting a service gap. Improvement analysis indicated that mental and spiritual well-being activities are high-impact, low-effort areas for enhancement. Demographic data further highlighted that wellness tourists are typically young, educated and economically active women. The findings suggest the need for more personalized, holistic offerings and point to the potential integration of wellness and medical tourism services. The study offers practical implications for wellness providers and destination managers and identifies future research directions related to satisfaction dynamics and health-oriented tourism strategies. Full article

The promise of sustainability of ecotourism relies on comprehending the psychological mechanism that converts experience into post-visit environmental concern. This research formulates and examines a model that connects three antecedents—Perceived Trip Quality (PTQ), Aesthetic/Spiritual Experience (ASE), and Environmental Concern (EC)—with Responsible Post-Visit Behavior (RPB) through two mediators: Tourist Satisfaction (SAT) and Personal Norms (PN). Structural equation modeling based on a quantitative, cross-sectional design examined survey responses from 585 Greek ecotourists. All three precursors meaningfully predicted RPB, directly and indirectly through SAT and PN, with partial mediation on all but the direct pathway. Mediation effects also named PN a stronger channel than SAT, particularly in converting affective and moral involvement into stable intentions. Multi-group tests for gender, age, education, environmental orientation, and previous ecotourism experience revealed significant differences; younger, inexperienced, and high-orientation tourists were more sensitive to normative and affective mechanisms. The research develops environmental and tourism psychology by combining value-based and experience-based routes to post-visit action. Practical recommendations are made to policymakers, educators, and operators to develop transformational, norm-activating experiences. Full article

This paper explores the role of personalisation and predictive marketing in Croatian tourism and analyses how behavioural strategies can enhance the tourist experience and increase visitor loyalty. In today’s competitive tourism market, personalised marketing strategies have become a key factor in attracting and retaining tourists. Based on the theoretical framework and previous research, hypotheses were formulated on various aspects of behavioural marketing, such as the impact of personalisation on destination choice, the perception of marketing effectiveness by different demographic groups and the correlation between tourists’ satisfaction and their willingness to revisit a destination. The aim of this study was to test six hypotheses relating to the personalisation of marketing messages, demographic factors and their correlation with tourists’ willingness to revisit the destination. Using a quantitative methodology, a survey was conducted among 415 tourists who had visited the Croatian city of Vodice. A total of 257 questionnaires were completed. The data was analysed using descriptive statistics, correlation analysis and regression models to identify the most important factors influencing tourists’ behaviour and preferences. The results show that personalised marketing messages have a positive impact on tourists’ decision to visit the destination. In addition, this study shows that demographic factors such as gender, age and education significantly influence the perception of marketing effectiveness. Tourists who received predictive marketing messages expressed higher satisfaction with their stay and showed a greater willingness to visit the destination again than those who did not receive personalised offers. These results underline the importance of integrating behavioural strategies into marketing activities to build tourist loyalty and improve the overall tourism experience. Based on the research findings, further application of these marketing approaches is recommended to increase competitiveness and attract more loyal tourists. Full article

Tourism gentrification refers to the urban transformation process whereby middle-class neighborhoods evolve into affluent enclaves through leisure and tourism development, significantly impacting urban regeneration and spatial planning. This empirical study adopted Hefei’s Lei Street as an exploratory case to construct a hypothetical model involving tourists’ perception of tourism gentrification, tourist satisfaction, and tourists’ value co-creation behavior. A model was designed to examine the impact of urban tourism gentrification on tourists’ value co-creation behaviors, with its validity subsequently verified through SPSS 20.0 and Amos 23.0 software. The findings revealed that tourists’ perception of tourism gentrification positively affected tourist satisfaction and tourists’ value co-creation behavior and tourist satisfaction positively affected tourist participation behavior. From a practical perspective, this study endeavored to provide urban planners and destination managers with actionable insights to enhance visitor experiences while addressing the challenges posed by gentrification. It further sought to facilitate advancements in urban tourism, urban renewal, and land-use planning, thereby contributing to the sustainable development of Hefei. Methodologically, it also advances the application of structural equation modeling in tourism geography studies and provides replicable protocols for similar urban transformation research. Full article

This study examines how hotel characteristics and urban spatial context influence tourist satisfaction in Seoul, South Korea, by integrating sentiment analysis of online reviews with regression modeling. Drawing on 4500 TripAdvisor reviews from 75 hotels, sentiment scores were extracted using aspect-based sentiment analysis, and two regression approaches, ordinary least squares (OLS) and spatial autoregressive combined models, were applied to evaluate how hotel specific features, such as the age and scale of the hotels and room rates, and their geographic characteristics, such as the proximity to airports and cultural landmarks, affect both emotional sentiment and formal hotel ratings. The OLS model for sentiment scores identified the scale and rating of the hotels as well as the proximity to the airports as key predictors. Additionally, the spatial autoregressive combined model was also statistically significant, suggesting spatial spillover effects. A separate model for the traditional rating revealed weaker associations, with only the hotel’s opening year reaching significance. These findings highlight a divergence between emotional responses and structured ratings, with sentiment scores more sensitive to spatial context. This study offers practical implications for hotel managers and urban planners, emphasizing the value of incorporating spatial factors into hospitality research to better understand the tourist experience. Full article

Heritage tourism has attracted increasing attention. Unique symbols of cultural identity, World Heritage Sites (WHSs) have steadily become one of the key global tourism resources, attracting large numbers of tourists. This study investigated how exhibition interactivity features shape satisfaction and loyalty among tourists in the context of WHSs. Moreover, it examined the enhancement of tourists’ satisfaction through interactive exhibitions, increasing loyalty to cultural heritage tourism destinations. The research methodology involved the application of a structural equation model (SEM) and importance–performance analysis (IPA). In addition, the differential effects of exhibition experiences across various tourist subgroups remain underexplored. In light of this research gap, 227 surveys of visitors to WHSs were utilized. The results showed that active control and synchronicity had positive effects on tourist satisfaction and loyalty, but two-way communication had a negative effect on satisfaction. The results demonstrated that exhibition interactivity influenced loyalty indirectly through satisfaction. Furthermore, this study identified cognitive gaps in different tourist groups in the exhibition interactivity dimension using IPA. By employing a multifaceted methodological approach, this study explored how interactive technology influences tourist experiences at WHSs. Finally, it offers empirical evidence, theoretical contributions, and practical suggestions. Full article

Community-based ecotourism in community forests, such as Suan Pa Ket Nom Klao, Thailand, offers a promising avenue for promoting sustainable development through meaningful tourist experiences. This study develops and validates the Community Forest Intention Model (CFIM) to examine the relationships among Tourist Experience (TE), Tourist Satisfaction (SAT), and Sustainable Intention (SI) using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). Data were collected from 128 participants who engaged in six structured activities at Suan Pa Ket Nom Klao, with responses measured via a 5-point Likert scale questionnaire. The results indicate that TE, comprising Service Quality, Accessibility, and Learning Engagement, significantly influences SAT (R² = 0.562), with Learning Engagement exerting the strongest effect (β = 0.413; p < 0.001). SAT, in turn, positively predicts SI (β = 0.502; p < 0.001; R² = 0.252). All hypothesized paths were statistically significant, confirming the model’s validity. These findings highlight the critical role of educational and service-related experiences in fostering tourist satisfaction and sustainable behaviors. This study provides actionable insights for enhancing ecotourism programs to support conservation and community engagement. Full article