Destination Word of Mouth

Abstract

Recent research has identified identity salience and satisfaction as important variables affecting word-of-mouth communications in several contexts, such as university giving, retail environments, and leisure activities. Given these findings, these same variables may also be important in a tourism context, depending on the type of tourist. This study explores the effects of satisfaction and identity salience on word-of-mouth promotion and differences in these variables based on five different destination market segments, including tourists and local residents. The data indicate that satisfaction and identity salience are significant in predicting word-of-mouth promotions and that level of satisfaction and identity salience vary significantly depending on tourist type and resident type.