Whether educational tourism can help destination marketing? An investigation of college students’ study tour experiences, destination associations and revisit intentions

Previous studies have shown that experiential learning can effectively advance students’ education goals, but they have not attached importance to the perspective of destination marketing. This study fills a gap in the research on this topic. The study examined college students’ study tours as a typical form of educational tourism by surveying 208 Chinese college students and graduates who had experienced such programmes. The results showed that study tour experiences resulted in destination associations among the students, which commonly led to revisit intentions. The findings demonstrated that destination associations combine destination memory, destination image and affective attachment. These components played mediating roles in the relationship between study tour experiences and destination revisit intention. This study informs destination marketers concerning the need to strategically develop their marketing strategies by capitalising on the educational tourism niche market.