How does familiarity shape destination image and loyalty for visitors and residents?

Abstract

Destination familiarity is thought to critically influence tourists’ decision-making processes. Yet the role of familiarity in shaping tourists’ and residents’ image of, and loyalty to, a destination remains uncertain. This research tests a complex and holistic model of familiarity, affective, cognitive and overall images, and the conative behavioural intentions of visiting and recommending the destination for both residents and visitors in the context of the emerging tourism destination of Molise, Italy. The results reveal that residents and visitors differ in terms of their familiarity and intention to visit a place, with familiarity being less likely to influence residents’ intentions. There is heterogeneity between residents and visitors’ affective image and intention to visit, as well as between their overall image and intention to recommend Molise. Hence, unlike visitors, residents are more likely to respond to factual cognitive imaging, rather than emotional messaging, suggesting that shifting residents’ perceptions of place image requires a different approach to that of visitors. Future research should seek to confirm the relationships in a multi-destination study.

Impact of Familiarity and Green Image on Satisfaction and Loyalty Among Young Green Hotels’ Guests – A Developing Country’s Perspective

“…Familiarity is a crucial factor that influences a traveler’s destination image, perceptions, destination selection, and behavior in the future ( Bianchi et al, 2017 ; Casali et al, 2020 ). However, very few studies have investigated the extent to which familiarity affects travelers’ perceptions and behavior with regard to a tourist destination ( Kim et al, 2019 ).…”

“… Kim et al (2019) described experiential familiarity as the level of awareness or knowledge of past travel experiences, and familiarity can reduce risk perceptions among travelers and increase confidence in their destination choice ( Lepp and Gibson, 2003 ). Hence, experiential familiarity is a key determinant of the cognitive and affective components of a destination’s image ( Casali et al, 2020 ; Stylidis et al, 2020 ).…”

“…According to Ragab et al (2019) , destination image can be defined as “a set of feelings, emotions, and attitudes that tourists hold regarding the destination, or a traveler’s overall perception about a destination, and it is claimed that it considerably influences his/her travel decision” ( Baloglu and McCleary, 1999 ). Thus, destination image can be considered a multidimensional construct which is the sum of perceptions, impressions, and beliefs travelers have of the various attributes, aspects, and activities of a destination ( Casali et al, 2020 ). Most previous researchers measure the overall destination image by using the cognitive image, affective image, and conative image components ( Králiková et al, 2020 ; Jebbouri et al, 2021 ).…”

“…A destination’s image is often formed by a traveler’s exposure to various information sources and their prior knowledge and experience of the destination ( Casali et al, 2020 ). Studies have shown that the green image of a hotel may lead to stronger customer loyalty and will likely result in positive word-of-mouth about the green hotel ( Wang et al, 2018 ).…”

“…However, there is a dearth of research on the relationship between the green image and loyalty in developing nations ( Wu et al, 2016 , 2019 ; Çavusoglu et al, 2020 ) and how this relationship is mediated by satisfaction ( Wang et al, 2018 ; Merli et al, 2019 ; Çavusoglu et al, 2020 ). Familiarity has been shown to affect the destination image in previous studies ( Casali et al, 2020 ), but researchers have begun to criticize the measurement of the single-dimension construct of destination familiarity which is deemed to be inappropriate in the temporal tourism literature ( Jebbouri et al, 2021 ), as destination familiarity can be increased by both direct experience and indirect experience ( Kim et al, 2019 ; Stylidis et al, 2020 ). Very few studies have investigated the relationship between familiarity and green image in green hotel selection in developing countries.…”