Resumen de Integrating transactional and relationship marketing: a new approach to understanding destination loyalty
José Manuel Hernández Mogollón, Helena Alves, Ana María Campón Cerro, Elide Di Clemente
Studies of factors generating loyalty to tourism destinations have included extensive research into transactional marketing variables, but researchers have neglected relationship variables and, thus, have developed only a partial understanding of loyalty. This study proposes a study model of factors generating destination loyalty – applied specifically to rural tourism –and thereby seeks to enrich the transactional marketing perspective (image, quality and value) with a focus on relationships (trust, attachment and satisfaction). The integration of the transactional and relational submodels are tested as antecedents of overall satisfaction and destination loyalty. The results are based on an online survey of 464 rural tourists. The data were analysed using the partial least squares technique, revealing that transactional models need to be enriched with relationship variables such as trust and attachment. Efforts to improve destinations’ image and their perceived quality are at best a fragmented strategy if relationship variables are not included, as these are clearly important to destination success.
