Mediating role of the country image in enhancing memorable experiencesand revisits: an Analysis of U.S. tourists in Japan

• Shinichiro Terasaki ^[1] ; Tadayuki Hara ^[2] ; Jusuke Ikegami ^[3]
  1. [1] Ritsumeikan University

     Ritsumeikan University

     Kamigyō-ku, Japón

     
  2. [2] University of Central Florida

     University of Central Florida

     Estados Unidos

     
  3. [3] Waseda University

     Waseda University

     Japón

     

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• Localización: Tourism recreation research, ISSN 0250-8281, Vol. 49, Nº. 6, 2024, págs. 1470-1482
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Many countries have begun to recognise the importance of their public image in boosting inboundtourism. Following this trend, many destination marketing organisations have begun to promotetheir country image to attract foreigners, and the relationship between country image and tourists’behavioural intentions has been examined in tourism research. This study explores the mechanismthat generates repeat visits from overseas tourists by investigating tourists’ information processeswhen visiting a foreign country and how these processes eventually foster their revisit intentions.This study tested an established hypothesis, following an online survey of actual repeat U.S.tourists in Japan. The results revealed that the causal path linking memorable tourismexperiences (MTEs) to revisit intention is driven by tourism satisfaction, revised macro countryimage (RMCI), and consumer affinity. Furthermore, the RMCI fosters revisit intention only whenmediated by consumer affinity. This study contributes in the following manner: first, it providesa research model for investigating the sequential mechanism that generates repeat visits fromoverseas tourists combining country-of-origin research with tourism research; second, itintroduces the RMCI as a cognitive country image index to examine the effects of the two typesof post-visit evaluations (MTEs and tourism satisfaction).