Integrating transactional and relationship marketing: a new approach to understanding destination loyalty
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Integrating transactional and relationship marketing: a new approach to understanding destination loyalty José Manuel Hernández-Mogollón 1 & Helena Alves 2 Ana María Campón-Cerro 1 & Elide Di-Clemente 3
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Received: 9 April 2020 / Accepted: 6 August 2020/ # Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract 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. Keywords Transactional marketing . Relationship marketing . Destination loyalty . Rural
tourism . Partial least squares (PLS) technique
1 Introduction A wide range of studies have focused on the factors causing tourists to return to the same destinations (Croes et al. 2010). Nonetheless, this research has essentially been conducted from a transactional marketing perspective (Morais and Lin 2010). Image, quality, value and satisfaction have been the most frequently studied antecedents of loyalty to destinations, while relationship variables such as trust and commitment have rarely been discussed (Campón et al. 2012), resulting in only a partial understanding of loyalty.
* Ana María Campón-Cerro [email protected] Extended author information available on the last page of the article
J. M. Hernández-Mogollón et al.
Oh et al.’s (2004) literature review identifies the combination of loyalty, relationship marketing and customer relationship management strategies as the third most important focus of loyalty studies. However, topics such as ways to apply concepts to relationships and loyalty to destinations and tourism organizations remain unexplored paths. According to Das (2009) the literature already includes many diverse applications of relationship marketing in multiple sectors, including the tourism industry. The present study centred on a proposed study model of the factors generating loyalty to rural tourism destinations, seeking to enrich the transactional marketing perspective with the relationship approach. The research took place in Spain, a country where rural tourism has undergone signif
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