Factors Determining the Revisit Intentions of the Tourists: A case study of Bhutan

Bhutan is an important tourist destination in South Asia, and its tourism industry has emerged as the second highest revenue generator next to hydropower. Retaining and enticing first-time tourists to revisit their country is an important policy adopted by many countries of the world. However, the growth trajectory of tourists' flow to Bhutan changed with a sharp decline in the repeat tourists over the past straight 8 years (2011-2018) with an annual negative growth of 19.1%. Against this backdrop and the non-availability of any meaningful study on tourists' revisit dynamics, this study investigates the factors associated with the Bhutan revisit intentions of regional and international tourists by using both quantitative and qualitative data. The quantitative data are analysed using multinomial logistic regression and are triangulated with qualitative findings. Factors such as perceived value of money, safety and control variables, viz. gender, age, category of tourists and employment are found significantly affecting tourists' Bhutan revisit intentions. Eventually, this study also discusses policy implications at the level of the state and tour operators.