Are loyal visitors desired visitors? [An article from: Tourism Management]

This digital document is a journal article from Tourism Management, published by Elsevier in 2004. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Description:
Cruise managers strive to increase visitor loyalty for it is generally assumed that retaining current passengers is more viable and profitable than searching for new passengers. Yet, Opperman (Consumer psychology of tourism, hospitality and leisure. Wallingford, UK: CABI Publishing, pp. 19-37) argues that empirical evidence has yet to show that loyal customers are any better than new customers, and that loyalty segmentation must account for the vast differences between first time visitors and multiple time visitors. Thus, the purpose of the current study was to determine if loyal cruise visitors (passengers) are more desirable (based on repurchase intentions, word of mouth publicity, price sensitivity, money spent and risk-adjusted profitability index than both first time visitors and less loyal visitors. Results found that loyal visitors were found to be more likely to visit in the future, spread word of mouth advertising and to offer a lower risk associated with their profitability, while first time visitors and less loyal visitors are less price sensitive, and spend more. Specific managerial implications are discussed.