Investigating Destination Loyalty through Tourist Attraction Personality and Loyalty

This study aims to validate the new concept of ‘tourist attraction personality’ and examine its effect on attraction and destination loyalty. Data were collected from 800 tourists in Macao using a quantitative survey method. The results show that tourist attraction personality has a significantly positive impact on attraction loyalty, in turn leading to destination loyalty. The tourist attraction personality was also found to act as a complementary partial mediator in the relationship between attraction and destination loyalty. Practically, when a destination seeks to become more distinctive in an increasingly competitive market, tourist attraction personality can be used as an essential marketing tool to assist in building the uniqueness of the destination and thus the destination loyalty through securing the tourists’ attraction loyalty. Overall, this study provides theoretical and practical insights into establishing competitive marketing strategies for tourism destinations.