The impact of service quality and destination image towards tourists revisit intention : an empirical study on cox’s bazar marine tourism in Bangladesh

Abstract

In the perspective of overseeing the ocean and coastline tourism management, marine-based tourism has become an amplified area of interest. Demand for marine tourism has increased dramatically and is highlighted as one of the new horizons and fastest-growing sectors in the world’s tourism industry, as a potential sector it has grown significantly in recent years. Indeed, Bangladesh has some of the most exquisite and diverse marine tourism destinations. Main purpose of this study to examine the impact of service quality and destination image on tourist satisfaction toward revisit intention in Cox’s Bazar marine destinations in Bangladesh. SERVEQUAL framework, Destination Image theory and Stimulus-Organism-Response (SOR) model is employed. A total of 345 questionnaires were distributed among visiting tourists in five maritime tourism destinations in Cox’s Bazar region. Partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was employed to conduct Confirmatory Factor Analysis for assessing Measurement model and Structural model for hypotheses testing. The findings of the study reveal that service quality and destination image have positive significant impact on tourist satisfaction and revisit intention. However, tourist satisfaction is found to have no significant positive influence on revisit intention and tourist satisfaction dose not mediate the relationship between service quality, destination image and revisit intention. Findings from this study will help tourism service providers, entrepreneurs, and stakeholders as well as tourists in further. The study was conducted in only five marine tourism destinations in the Cox’s Bazar region and has considered only the marine tourism segment of the country which would give a room for future researchers by considering other segment of tourism sector in other region of the country. In addition, tourism marketing students and academicians can benefit from this study in the context of Cox’s Bazar marine tourism in Bangladesh.