Examining Antecedents and Consequences of Tourist Satisfaction: A Structural Modeling Approach

While the importance of tourist satisfaction has been recognized by academic researchers for at least four decades, adequate tourist satisfaction models have not been developed or validated. This study presents a tourist satisfaction model for a destination and explores the antecedents (tourist expectations, destination image, perceived quality, and perceived value) and the consequences (tourist complaints and tourist loyalty) of tourist satisfaction using Guilin for the case study. Structural equation modeling results support the tourist satisfaction model of tourist expectations, destination image, perceived quality, and perceived value as four key antecedents of tourist satisfaction, with tourist satisfaction having a negative effect on tourist complaints and a positive effect on tourist loyalty. Managerial implications are drawn from the study findings and suggestions are given for future work.