Mediating role of the country image in enhancing memorable experiences and revisits: an Analysis of U.S. tourists in Japan

Abstract

Many countries have begun to recognise the importance of their public image in boosting inbound tourism. Following this trend, many destination marketing organisations have begun to promote their country image to attract foreigners, and the relationship between country image and tourists’ behavioural intentions has been examined in tourism research. This study explores the mechanism that generates repeat visits from overseas tourists by investigating tourists’ information processes when visiting a foreign country and how these processes eventually foster their revisit intentions. This study tested an established hypothesis, following an online survey of actual repeat U.S. tourists in Japan. The results revealed that the causal path linking memorable tourism experiences (MTEs) to revisit intention is driven by tourism satisfaction, revised macro country image (RMCI), and consumer affinity. Furthermore, the RMCI fosters revisit intention only when mediated by consumer affinity. This study contributes in the following manner: first, it provides a research model for investigating the sequential mechanism that generates repeat visits from overseas tourists combining country-of-origin research with tourism research; second, it introduces the RMCI as a cognitive country image index to examine the effects of the two types of post-visit evaluations (MTEs and tourism satisfaction).