Destination Image, Motivation, Attitudes and Expenditure: An Integrated PLS-SEM Measurement Approach of Structural Relationships

Abstract

Although destination image, tourists’ motivations and their behavioural intentions towards the destination constitute crucial concepts and popular subjects in the tourism literature, the integration of these three key concepts in structural models is still infrequent. The same case happens in regards to the incorporation of tourists’ attitudes and expenditure in integrated models that propose to better understand the tourists’ behaviours, thus, establishing new market segments and destinations’ strategies. In this framework, the present investigation was firstly focused on how tourists perceive the attributes of two UNESCO world heritage cities (Porto and Santiago) and on the possible differences between the tourists of these two destinations. Secondly, this work presents a PLS-SEM model with the purpose of assessing the antecedents of behavioural intentions integrating composite and reflective constructs for the measurement of motivation and destination image. Thirdly, the investigation provides an integrated approach to the understanding of the structural relationships between cognitive image and tourists’ attitudes (i.e., overall image, overall satisfaction and behavioural intentions) and the possible impact of these attitudes on the overall individual tourist expenditure.