Examining the role of familiarity in the destination word-of-mouth

• Autor(a) principal: Ferreira, Sónia
• Data de Publicação: 2024
• Outros Autores: Santos, Sara, Augusto, Luísa, Santo, Pedro Espírito, Vasconcelos, Maria
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.19/8534
• topic: word-of-mouth; attitude towards the region; place familiarity; tourism; destinations

After the COVID-19 pandemic, tourism has grown enormously; this growth has been even more significant in Portugal. The dissemination of experiences by tourists who have already visited a region significantly impacts the interest aroused by other tourists. It is increasingly common for tourists to analyse the experiences of others before they travel. In this sense, word-of-mouth by tourists is a factor to be considered in tourism. Since tourism is based on experiences and familiarity with destinations is reinforced by accumulated experiences, studying the effects of familiarity on tourists' intention to word-of-mouth would be relevant. Furthermore, given that the attitude towards the region visited comprises cognitive and affective dimensions, it would be relevant to analyse the effects of the attitude towards the region on the intention to word-of-mouth. In this sense, this study sought to analyse the determining factors of word-of-mouth in tourism. To this end, a quantitative, cross-sectional survey was carried out, for which data was collected through a questionnaire from a sample of 906 tourists using the Smart PLS software. The results showed that familiarity with the region and attitudes towards the region is essential in tourists' intention to WOM. Therefore, this study supports the idea that tourist destinations should welcome tourists in the best way possible by providing them with greater familiarity with the region so that, through the word-of-mouth generated, it is possible to attract more tourists.