Exploring the Antecedents of Cruisers’ Destination Loyalty: Cognitive Destination Image and Cruisers’ Satisfaction

Abstract

This study is one of the few of its kind that explores the individual impact of each of the cognitive attributes of a tourist destination’s image on cruisers’ destination loyalty and overall satisfaction. It also analyzes the mediating role of satisfaction between each of the attributes and loyalty. Variance-based structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used for this analysis, based on a survey of 457 cruisers visiting the city of Malaga. The results confirm that three of the five attributes, the destination’s environment image, the perceived value image of services and the accessibility image have a direct influence on cruisers’ overall satisfaction, where environment image has the most significant impact. Moreover, the results support the mediating role of satisfaction in certain cases. There is total mediation between perceived value and loyalty, as well as between accessibility image and loyalty while there is only partial complementary mediation between environment image and loyalty. The confirmation that overall satisfaction influences loyalty enables management organizations to develop more efficient loyalty strategies for their respective destinations.