The Influence of Word of Mouth on Tourism Destination Choice: Tourist–Resident Relationship and Safety Perception among Mainland Chinese Tourists Visiting Macau

The growth of urban tourism has the potential to increase tourist–resident tensions that limit the sustainable growth of tourism in many destination cities. Visitors’ perceptions of poor tourist–resident relationships and conditions of safety may have an impact on their attitudes, especially with re...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sustainability 2018-06, Vol.10 (7), p.2114
Main Authors: Lai, Ivan, Hitchcock, Michael, Lu, Dong, Liu, Yide
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Attitudes
Customer satisfaction
Gangs
Perception
Quality of service
Safety
Social exchange theory
Sustainability
Sustainable development
Terrorism
Tourism
Tourists
Violent crime
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Summary:The growth of urban tourism has the potential to increase tourist–resident tensions that limit the sustainable growth of tourism in many destination cities. Visitors’ perceptions of poor tourist–resident relationships and conditions of safety may have an impact on their attitudes, especially with regard to trip satisfaction. This study investigates the roles of tourist–resident relationship and safety perception on the relationship between service quality, trip satisfaction, and word of mouth (WOM). The results of this empirical study (n = 386) show that the tourist–resident relationship and safety perception have significant effects on trip satisfaction, but only safety perception reveals a significant effect on WOM. Furthermore, the results also indicate that the tourist–resident relationship and safety perception moderate the relationship between service quality and trip satisfaction, and that the tourist–resident relationship also moderates the relationship between trip satisfaction and WOM. An understanding of these mechanisms can help governments to create appropriate policies to support the sustainable development of tourism and promote their tourism industries by fostering tourists’ WOM.
ISSN:2071-1050
2071-1050
DOI:10.3390/su10072114