Beyond symbolic: the role of tourism ethnocentrism in domestic travel

Strengthening tourism ethnocentrism in emerging tourism destinations

“…Although its relationship with other tourism concepts is still being explored in the nascent literature (Lever et al, 2022), preliminary findings suggest that tourism ethnocentrism can lead to positive recommendations and advocacy behavior from both tourists and local residents (Boukamba et al, 2021;Rybina, 2021). Ethnocentric tourists are motivated to establish a close connection with the tourism destination and domestic tourism economy, encouraging other in-group members to support their country's tourism industry (Bremser and Abraham, 2022;Cardador et al, 2023;Stepchenkova, 2023;Todorovi c et al, 2023;Xiaolong et al, 2023). Thus, tourism ethnocentrism acts as a symbolic motive for travel, motivating tourists to decide to support tourism destinations and the domestic tourism economy (Rybina, 2021;Todorovi c et al, 2023).…”

“…Ethnocentric tourists are motivated to establish a close connection with the tourism destination and domestic tourism economy, encouraging other in-group members to support their country's tourism industry (Bremser and Abraham, 2022;Cardador et al, 2023;Stepchenkova, 2023;Todorovi c et al, 2023;Xiaolong et al, 2023). Thus, tourism ethnocentrism acts as a symbolic motive for travel, motivating tourists to decide to support tourism destinations and the domestic tourism economy (Rybina, 2021;Todorovi c et al, 2023). This understanding leads to the development of the following hypotheses:…”

“…The growing competition in the global tourism market emphasizes the importance for DMOs to take deliberate measures to promote tourism ethnocentrism, facilitating equitable distribution of ownership, power, control, and tourism knowledge among local residents (Amani, 2023a). As a result, local residents become potential buyers of various tourism products and services for the development of tourism in their specific tourism destination (Amani, 2023a;Todorovi c et al, 2023). Existing literature suggests that this model of tourism development is less known, resulting in a low level of tourism ethnocentrism in emerging tourism destinations (Amani and Chao, 2023).…”