Autor/a

Enrique Bigné Alcañiz (Universidad de Valencia)

Coautor/es

Nikolaos Stylos (University of Bristol, UK)

Carmen Pérez Cabañero (Universidad de Valencia)

The sightseeing city tours have grown over the last years because of the increase of short breaks, a worldwide well-expanded model (e.g. City Sightseeing is in more than 130 locations), and tourists aiming to get holistic views of destinations. However, the impact of city tours on the overall travel experience in urban destinations has not been examined yet with exceptions in UK (Stylos and Bigne, 2018)

City tours can be understood as a bundle of stimuli (i.e. tourist attractions), seen by a tourist in a consecutive way from a bus, delivered by a tourist provider and accompanied by background explanations of each attraction. These stimuli can be approached as small units of a tourism destination. The Schema theory (see for details Saito, 1999) states that all knowledge is organized into units. These units of knowledge driven by both cognitive and emotional interactions are stored, related to previous knowledge and retrieve when needed.

Accordingly, sightseeing tours may bring an overall image of a TD, including destinations associations. Tourists visiting a destination seek a cognitive knowledge of the multiple stimuli exposed to (Bigné , Mattila and Andreu, 2008; Stylos, Bellou, Andronikidis and Vassiliadis, 2017). The perceived experience on such tours affects tourists’ perceptions of TDs, derived from an intrinsic dimension related to the facility and extrinsic components related to attractions seen and the flow. These two dimensions can be captured through the perceived value of a bus-sightseeing experience, PVBSE, which includes quality, price-value, as well as affective elements.

The literature on perceived value shows a positive relationship on loyalty and electronic word-of-mouth. As Hultman, Strandberg, Oghazi and Mostaghel (2017) posit, the perceived destination personality has a positive influence, directly or indirectly, on behavioral loyalty through revisit and recommendations to others. Extending this argument into city tours, it is expected that

H₁: PVBSE directly and positively influences eWOM communication of on-board experience.

H₂: PVBSE directly and positively influences tourists’ intention to revisit a destination

Prior literature on tourism has shown a positive relationship between positive emotions and loyalty for specific attractions (Bigné and Andreu, 2004). However scarce research has been conducted at the destination level. Yuksel, Yuksel and Bilim (2010) found that positive emotional and cognitive links with a TD affect loyalty to the place. The overall mediating role of emotions can be conceptualized based on the direct and indirect effects of PVBSE on future intentions to recommend bus sightseeing and revisit the specific TDs. We posit that

H₃: Tourists emotions from bus sightseeing positively mediate the relationships between PVBSE and their future intentions to recommend bus sightseeing and revisit the destination.

H_3a: PVBSE significantly and positively influences tourist emotions.

H_3b: Tourist emotions exert a significant and positive effect on tourists’ intention for eWOM communication related to their on-board experience.

H_3c: Tourist emotions exert a significant and positive effect on tourists’ intentions to revisit the destination

The field research study took place in Valencia where a bus company offers city-circle sightseeing services. This Mediterranean tourism destination was selected as a good case of an emerging tourism destination of a medium-sized city; top destinations were not eligible because we wanted to escape of the previous knowledge on the destination that might exert some influence on the variables of interest for this study. Respondents were approached to participate in the field research study while being on-board to capture their experience. A self-administered paper-based questionnaire was distributed on board or while waiting for the bus for those who already have been on board. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was implemented to analyze data and specify the factors that significantly influence tourists’ behavioral intentions. A total of 470 tourists participated in this study. We have used the same measures as Stylos and Bigné (2018).

Structural equation modeling analysis (SEM) was executed. Reliability and validity of all constructs were examined and then a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was applied to examine the factorial structure of the measurement model. Overall the constructs and the model show good psychometric indicators

Overall, our data analysis shows that tourist emotions partially mediate the relationship between PVBSE and eWOM, and fully mediates the tourist emotions - revisit intentions relationship.

This was one of the first studies seeking to investigate the effects of bus sightseeing experience offered in urban areas and the relevant impact on the overall experience during tourists’ stay. Specifically we have examined the effect of PVBSE on tourists’ emotions, and their intentions to share their evaluation of travel experience through electronic word-of-mouth communications, as well as on the intention to revisit the destination. Future research may be focused on three directions. First, to analyze the whether the motives of visiting the destination might exert any variation in our proposed model. Second, to conduct a cross-cultural comparative study. Third, a further research may integrate data from smart cities (Liberato, Allen and Liberato, 2018)

References

Assaker, G., Vinzi, V. E., and O’Connor, P. (2011). Examining the effect of novelty seeking, satisfaction, and destination image on tourists’ return pattern: A two factor, non-linear latent growth model. Tourism Management, 32(4), 890-901.

Bigné, E. J., Mattila, A. S., and Andreu, L. (2008). The impact of experiential consumption cognitions and emotions on behavioral intentions. Journal of Services Marketing, 22(4), 303-315.

Hultman, M., Strandberg, C., Oghazi, P., and Mostaghel, R. (2017). The role of destination personality fit in destination branding: Antecedents and outcomes. Psychology and Marketing, 34(12), 1073-1083.

Liberato, P., Alen, E., and Liberato, D. (2018). Smart tourism destination triggers consumer experience: the case of Porto. European Journal of Management and Business Economics, 27(1), 6-25.

Malhotra, N. K., and McCort, J. D. (2001). A cross-cultural comparison of behavioral intention models-Theoretical consideration and an empirical investigation. International Marketing Review, 18(3), 235-269.

Saito, A. (1999). Bartlett, culture and cognition. A. Saito (ed.). Psychology Press, Guildford.

Stylos, N., Bellou, V., Andronikidis, A., and Vassiliadis, C. A. (2017). Linking the dots among destination images, place attachment, and revisit intentions: A study among British and Russian tourists. Tourism Management, 60, 15-29.

Stylos, N. and Bigne, E. (2018). How Transport Sightseeing Experiences at an Urban Destination Influence Tourists’ Future Behavior. 47th Annual Conference of the European Marketing Academy. Univeristy of Stracthclyde. Proceedings

Yuksel, A., Yuksel, F., and Bilim, Y. (2010). Destination attachment: Effects on customer satisfaction and cognitive, affective and conative loyalty. Tourism Management, 31(2), 274-284.

Palabras clave: Bus-sightseeing; Urban destination; e-WOM; Intentions