Sustainable Development and Consumer Behavior in Rural Tourism¿The Importance of Image and Loyalty for Host Communities
In recent years, rural tourism has experienced a major boom; it was once a secondary type of tourism but has now become a significant alternative option within the Spanish economy. This type of tourism facilitates the sustainable development of the host communities and their surroundingareas, becomi...
| Autores: | , , , |
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| Formato: | artículo |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2021 |
| País: | España |
| Recursos: | Universidad de Alcalá (UAH) |
| Repositorio: | e_Buah Biblioteca Digital Universidad de Alcalá |
| Idioma: | inglés |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:ebuah.uah.es:10017/50689 |
| Acesso em linha: | http://hdl.handle.net/10017/50689 https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su13094763 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palavra-chave: | Rural tourism Sustainability Sustainable development Destination image Loyalty Satisfaction Economía Economics |
| Resumo: | In recent years, rural tourism has experienced a major boom; it was once a secondary type of tourism but has now become a significant alternative option within the Spanish economy. This type of tourism facilitates the sustainable development of the host communities and their surroundingareas, becoming an extra source of income in some cases, and the principal business in others. It is therefore important to ascertain which variables influence the behavior of rural tourists. The objective of this study is to demonstrate the influence on rural tourist behavior of destination image, bothinitial and final, as well as tourist satisfaction and loyalty to the area. Loyalty, which translates into repeat visits to the area and recommendations to third parties, promotes the sustainable development of rural areas. After an exhaustive review of the literature on the relevant variables, an empiricalstudy was carried out using a questionnaire designed for tourists over 18 years old who visited the province of Soria (Spain) and stayed in a rural tourism establishment. This resulted in a total of 1658 valid completed questionnaires. A structural equation model was then drawn up to discover the relationships between all the variables. The results demonstrated the importance of destination image in the formation of the new image, and also showed that tourist satisfaction is the variable that most strongly influences loyalty to the tourist area. This study is a novel contribution to the study of sustainable development in rural areas since it focuses on tourist loyalty and its resulting benefits. |
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