The Consequence of Destination Image on Travel Motivation: Evidence from Bangladesh Ecotourism

Abstract

The precipitous expansion of ecotourism destinations and tourists has intensified competition in the tourism business. Thus, the present study investigates the connection between destination image and travel motivation that marketers must comprehend and focus on establishing ecotourism in Bangladesh. Despite a growing number of works on destination image, there has been little investigation on the relationship between travel motivation. This study aims to evaluate the effect of destination image and travel motivation on tourists’ selection of ecotourism destinations. Therefore, it utilised a structured survey aimed at visitors during their on-site experiences, unlike earlier studies that mainly focused on identifying destination characteristics. Using SPSS-SEM, the suggested structural model was evaluated using a sample of 326 tourists from various Bangladesh’s ecotourism destinations. The results confirmed that cognitive and affective destination images significantly influence travel motivation. It also indicates a better understanding of the relationship and significant managerial implications for destination marketing managers.