Travel Reference
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Oppermann (2000) states tourists' loyalty
towards a destination is reciprocated by his or her
intention to revisit the destination apart from his
or her willingness to recommend it to others. Past
travel experience appears to be a powerful influ-
ence on behavioural intentions and individuals with
past travel experiences to various destinations may
become more confident as a result of their experi-
ence and thus be more likely to travel back to those
places of interests (He & Song, 2009; Sönmez &
Graefe, 1998) and repeat tourists are expected to
be more likely than first-timers to choose the same
destination in the future (Sampol, 1996). The first-
timers cannot be totally relied upon as they may
visit other destinations. In other words, repeat visi-
tation can be developed and it is contingent upon
their total experience with promotion, price, core
products, facilities and front employees while they
were on vacation for the first time.
the image that they have of destinations. Image
will influence tourists in the process of choosing a
destination, the subsequent evaluation of the trip
and in their future intentions. Destination image
exercises a positive influence on perceived quality
and satisfaction. A positive image deriving from
positive travel experiences would result in a posi-
tive evaluation of a destination (Gallarza et al.,
2002; Tasci, Gartner & Cavusgil, 2007). Tourist
satisfaction would improve if the destination has
a positive image and destination image also affects
tourists' behavioural intentions. (Pakaleva, 1998)
on the other hand contended that more favorable
image will lead to higher likelihood to return to the
same destination as long it is free from any destruc-
tion or environmental turbulences.
2.3
Tourists responses
It is also evident that satisfaction and commitment
with travel experience contributes to destination
loyalty (Bramwell, 1998; Hosany & Witham, 2010;
Oppermann, 2000; Pritchard & Howard, 1997).
The degree of tourists' satisfaction and commit-
ment to a destination is reflected in their intentions
to revisit the destination and in their willingness to
recommend it to others (Oppermann 2000). Tour-
ists' positive experiences of service, products and
other resources provided by tourism destinations
could produce repeat visits as well as positive word-
of-mouth effects to friends and/or relatives. Recom-
mendations by previous visits can be taken as the
most reliable information sources for potential tour-
ists. Recommendations to other people (word-of-
mouth) are also one of the most often sought types
of information for people interested in travelling.
On different note, tourist commitment which is
preceded by an act of planning to visit is an impor-
tant aspect of response as planning in itself is a
commitment to the intended behaviour (Warshaw
& Davis, 1985). Essentially, most scholars view
commitment as being represented by the following
dimensions: 1) expectation of continuity, 2) desire
of continuity (Geyskens, Steenkamp, Scheer &
Kumar, 1996), and 3) willingness to revisit (Siguaw,
Simpson & Baker, 1998).
2.2
Destination images
It has also been widely acknowledged that the des-
tination image affects tourists' subjective percep-
tion, consequent behaviour and destination choice
(Assaker & Hallak, 2013; Chi, 2012; Prayag &
Ryan, 2012). Researchers modeled image as a func-
tion of marketing information or other external
stimuli (Fakeye & Crompton, 1991; Gartner, 1989).
For example, in one of the first conceptualizations
of destination image, (Gunn, 1972) proposed that
destination images are formed from the types of
information that tourists received. It is argued that
destination images are divided into two levels: 1)
organic and 2) induced images. An organic image
is formed as a result of exposure to stimuli from
non-tourism market oriented information whereas
an induced image derives from conscious efforts
of marketers and advertisers to develop promote
and advertise a destination. Fakeye & Crompton
(1991) states that information as an important
determinant which distinguished an organic image
from an induced image.
In tourism, tourists develop a more complex and
differentiated image from induced image through-
out the actual visitation experience. Tasci et al (2007)
contend that the composition of tourism images as
advanced by place image has made inroads into
the gambit of tourism marketing. Product-country
image or simply country image and tourism destina-
tion image are both focusing on place image (Gal-
larza, Saura & Garc´a, 2002). In this sense, place
image relates on the buyer attitudes towards prod-
ucts from various origins. In other word, destina-
tion image represents the effects of beliefs, ideas and
impressions that a person has of a destination.
In line with above notion, tourists' behavioral
intention is expected to be partly conditioned by
3
ISSUES RELEVANT TO THE UNITED
ARAB EMIRATES
It is without doubt that UAE is blessed with a loca-
tion that is strategic and provides a bridge to the
connecting link between Europe, the Indian sub-
continent but both the Far East and Africa (Hend-
erson, 2006). It is still somewhat a melting of culture
as the population originates from different cultures
but somehow the dominant culture remains Arabic
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