Integrating country and brand images: Using the product—Country image framework to understand travelers' loyalty towards responsible tourism operators

• Published in: Tourism management perspectives 2017-10, Vol.24, p.139-150
• Main Authors: Mody, Makarand, Day, Jonathon, Sydnor, Sandra, Lehto, Xinran, Jaffé, William
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: India; Loyalty; Product-Country Image; Responsible tourism; Tour operator
• ISSN: 2211-9736; 2211-9744
• DOI: 10.1016/j.tmp.2017.08.001

While much research into loyalty has been conducted at the destination level, tourists' loyalty towards their intermediary has not been considered. To address this gap, the present study develops a model of tourists' loyalty towards responsible tourism operators by integrating two streams of literature. The first stream pertains to branding, consumer behavior, and international business, specifically Product-Country Image (PCI), while the second stream pertains to the extensive work concerning the concepts of destination image and destination loyalty in tourism. Data were collected using an Internet survey of domestic and international travelers to five responsible tourism operators in India. Results indicate that tourists' motivations to participate in responsible tourism and their perceptions of the destination and the operator's brand constitute the determinants of their attitudinal and behavioral loyalty towards their operator. The study advances the PCI framework in the context of tourism, thus contributing to the literature on image measurement and also extending place image theory. The findings have important product development and positioning implications for operators and destination marketers in India. •Limited research on understanding loyalty beyond the level of the destination.•A model of travel operator loyalty was developed based product-country image and tourism literatures.•Motivations to be responsible travelers interact with destination and travel operator images to impact attitudinal loyalty.•Cognitive brand image is a critical antecedent to tour operator loyalty.•Study advances PCI framework in the context of tourism, and extends place image theory.