Exploring the impacts of national image, service quality, and perceived value on international tourist behaviors: A Nepali case

The dominant paradigm on tourist behaviors depicts a sequential relationship among image, quality, satisfaction, and post-purchase behavior while the alternative view argues that consumer behaviors are better understood through perceived value. Using Nepal as a case, we tested a synthetic model of tourist behaviors and applied the Fombrun-RI Country Reputation Index (CRI) that was developed in the field of nation branding to measure destination image, an elusive concept in tourism literature since long. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) shows that the data largely supported the model, and national image has impacts on tourist behaviors. However, service quality is not a significant predictor of tourist behaviors. This corroborates the argument that perceived value is a better way to analyze tourist behaviors. The research has practical implications for nation branding programs in the less-developed nations.