Moderating Effects of Tourists' Novelty-Seeking Tendencies on Destination Image, Visitor Satisfaction, and Short- and Long-Term Revisit Intentions

This study investigates the moderating effects of tourist novelty-seeking tendencies on the relationships among destination image, satisfaction, and short- and long-term revisit intentions. Using survey data collected in 2009 from 450 European visitors to Mediterranean destinations, a theoretically derived structural path model was examined. Cluster analysis and discriminant analysis were used to identify three groups of tourists based on their novelty-seeking tendencies (high, medium, and low novelty seekers). The moderating effects of novelty-seeking tendencies on the structural path model were examined by means of multigroup invariance analysis. Tourists' novelty-seeking tendencies have a moderating effect on the causal relationships among destination image, satisfaction, and revisit intentions. The effect of destination image on visitor satisfaction, as well as satisfaction on short-term revisit intentions, is significantly weaker for high novelty seekers as compared to low novelty seekers. Thus, destination managers need to consider the novelty-seeking tendencies of their market segments as this affects revisit intentions.