Lealtad del turista¿Imagen o emociones?

Resumen

Today, urban and cultural tourist destinations find themselves confronting each other in ever increasing competition, generated by improved transport facilities, arising not only from a rise in the number of routes but also from the prices on offer, which enables the tourist to choose from a much wider range of possibilities. For this reason it is critical to know the processes that generate the satisfaction and loyalty associated with visits to tourist destinations, as a loyal tourist may return to a particular destination or speak favourably of it. While numerous studies do exist concerning the components of overall image and its impact on tourist loyalty and satisfaction, there are very few that relate these variables to disconfirmation and emotions, variables which have a determining effect on consumer behavior. This study analyzes, for the case of the city of Seville, the influence exerted by the image of the destination on the loyalty of the tourist, taking into consideration the mediating role played by emotions (distinguishing the components of activation and pleasure) between disconfirmation and satisfaction and studies the possible differences that may arise in terms of certain of the variables of the tourist: sex, a previous visit to the city, tourist�s origin. With regard to the verification of the global model, and in line with existing studies, all of the hypotheses are proved. Regarding the incorporation of tourist characteristics which can act as moderators of the relationships analyzed, we should highlight the following results: the weakness in the relationship between activation and satisfaction, as it is seen to be insignificant in three of the six cases analyzed; the existence of significant differences in the relationship between expectations and disconfirmation when the model is analyzed in terms of previous visits made; and the existence of significant differences in the relationship between image and expectations, and both of these and disconfirmation when the model is analyzed in terms of the tourist�s origin. Lastly, we should highlight that in most of the cases tourist satisfaction can primarily be put down to emotions rather than to the image of the destination.