Revisiting drivers of tourist satisfaction and loyalty: Role of key moderators

This paper posits that using tourist characteristics as moderating variables has the potential to resolve conflicting results of previous tourism studies. To verify this hypothesis, the influence of tourist situational and demographic characteristics on overall satisfaction, intention to revisit and to recommend the destination and the associations between these constructs are examined. The statistical analysis of a sample of 951 tourists in the island of Montreal supports the proposed model. Among other results, it is found that the overall satisfaction level differs among different tourists, with female, older, less-educated, and less-experienced ones expressing higher satisfaction. Moreover, it is shown that the composition of overall satisfaction is significantly different among tourists with different gender, age, education, and experience. The results also indicate that older, less-educated, and lessexperienced tourists are more likely to recommend the destination to their family and friends. Theoretical and managerial implications are provided. © 2017 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.