Research on the Effect of Destination Image on Tourists' Behavioral

Intention of Long-Stay Tourism Endowment Based on Structural

Equation Model

Huicun Tan

a,*

and Jiarui Du

Business and Tourism School, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, Sichuan, 611830, China

jeridu@163.com

Keywords: Destination Image, Positive Anticipated Emotion, Negative Anticipated Emotion, Behavioral Intention,

Long-Stay Tourism Endowment.

Abstract: The long-stay tourism endowment is an important combination of the elderly service industry and tourism.

Taking Chengdu as an example, this paper uses structural equation model to explore the influence of

destination image and emotional factors on tourists' behavior intention of long-stay tourism endowment. The

results show that the destination image has a positive impact on the behavioral intention, positive and negative

anticipated emotions of the tourists. Positive anticipated emotion and negative anticipated emotion also have

a positive effect on the behavioral intention of tourists. Negative anticipated emotion played a partial

mediating effect in the relationship between tourist destination image and tourists' behavior intention of long-

stay tourism endowment, while positive anticipated emotion did not play a significant mediating effect.

Emotional factors are the important factors that affect tourists' behavior intention of long-stay tourism

endowment. Therefore, creating a real, unique and personalized image, improving destination marketing

strategies and improving destination service quality can shorten the emotional distance between tourists and

the destination, which is conducive to improving tourists' behavioral intention to long-stay tourism

endowment.

1 INTRODUCTION

The long-stay tourism endowment is a combination

of medical care, leisure and entertainment, one of the

way of vision. According to Maslow's hierarchy of

needs theory, in addition to the basic physiological

needs and safety needs of the elderly, they also have

social needs and self-realization needs. (Tang, 2020;

Qiao, 2021) The development of long-stay tourism

endowment industry can not only meet the diversified

needs of the elderly, but also promote the

development of the elderly service industry and

tourism.

According to the emotional appraisal theory, the

environmental stimulation can make people have

different emotions, and the image of the destination

will convey the information related to the destination

to the tourists, thus causing the tourists 'positive and

negative feelings for the destination, which will affect

people' s subsequent behavior intention. To explore

and analyze the influence of the destination image on

the intention of tourists, and the role of emotional

factors in this process, it can provide a reference idea

for the development of the long-stay tourism

endowment industry.

Chengdu is a popular tourist city in China and is

famous for its unique slow pace of life. Generally

speaking, people yearn more for a leisure and

comfortable lifestyle. Thus, if we can understand the

role of emotional factors in the decision-making

process of tourists, we can promote the development

of Chengdu's long-stay tourism endowment industry.

Therefore, in order to better study the influence of

Chengdu image on the tourist behavior intention, this

paper introduces the emotion factors into the model

to explore the decision-making process of tourists’

long-stay tourism endowment.

2 VARIABLES AND RESEARCH

ASSUMPTIONS

Destination image includes image of visitor cognitive

section and visitor evaluation section. (Embacher,

Tan, H. and Du, J.

Research on the Effect of Destination Image on Tourists’ Behavioral Intention of Long-Stay Tourism Endowment Based on Structural Equation Model.

DOI: 10.5220/0011734600003607

In Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Public Management, Digital Economy and Internet Technology (ICPDI 2022), pages 271-275

ISBN: 978-989-758-620-0

 2023 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. Under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

271

1989) The cognitive-affection model believes that the

tourism destination image is composed of cognitive

image (objective measurement of destination

attributes) and affection image (tourists' subjective

feelings of destination attributes). (Baloglu, 1999)

The destination image is the understanding and

impression of tourists on the internalization of the

destination. (Lv, 2020) It is the subjective perception

and objective expression of the tourist destination.

This paper treats the destination image as a second-

order factor as a comprehensive image jointly

determined by the cognitive image and the affection

image.

There is a close relationship between the

destination image and the tourist behavior intention,

and the destination image will affect the decision of

tourists. The image of the destination is closely

related to the reputation of the destination, tourists'

attitude and tourists' intention. (Jalilvand, 2012) The

evaluation of tourist image is related to tourists'

satisfaction and loyalty to the destination. Therefore,

combined with the study in this paper, we can make

the following assumptions:

H1: Image of the destination positively affects

tourists' intention to live for the long-stay tourism

endowment.

Emotional appraisal theory believes that emotion

is the formed by individuals in the interaction with the

environment. (Lazarus, 1991) Human beings will

produce emotional reactions to external

environmental stimulation, and these emotional

reactions will affect human needs and thinking, and

then affect human behavior. (Gasper, 2006)

Therefore, it can be said that human emotion is the

individual's response to the environment. (Siemer,

2007) The emotional intensity of tourists to the

destination reflects the degree of recognition of the

destination, and tourists with good experience and

positive feelings for the destination prefer to revisit

and recommend the destination. (Hosany, 2012;

Breitsohl, 2016)

The model of goal-directed behavior introduces

positive expected emotions (emotional perception of

target realization before performing specific

behavior) and negative expected emotions (emotional

perception of target realization before individuals

conduct specific behavior) and sees them affecting

human behavior as an essential element of

understanding the various human behavior. (Perugini,

2001) Expect emotion, as an important factor

affecting tourist behavior decision-making process

and behavior intention, has been widely used in

various tourism studies and achieved corresponding

results, (Esposito, 2016; Jiseon, 2020) which further

confirms that it has practical significance to

incorporate expected emotion as an emotional factor

into the study of tourist behavior intention.

Destination image is an important source of external

stimulation and emotional response. (Tu, 2017)

Therefore, it is very important to take the positive and

negative expected emotions as the emotional factor,

(Perugini, 2001; Jin, 2020) to analyze the role of the

emotional factors in the influence of the destination

image on the tourists' behavior intention. Thus, we

can make the following assumptions:

H2: Destination image is positively affecting the

positive anticipated emotion of tourists for long-stay

tourism endowment.

H3: Destination image is positively affecting the

negative anticipated emotion of tourists for long-stay

tourism endowment.

H4: Tourists' positive anticipated emotion of long-

stay tourism endowment is positively affecting

tourists' intention of long-stay tourism endowment.

H5: Tourists' negative anticipated emotion of

long-stay tourism endowment is positively affecting

tourists' intention of long-stay tourism endowment.

Based on the above analysis, tourists can get the

relevant information of the destination through the

destination image, and then they will have different

emotional reactions to the destination because of

these information. The quality and degree of

emotional reactions will affect the tourists' future

behavior intention. The higher the tourists' evaluation

of the destination image, the better the tourists'

emotional experience is, and the closer the emotional

connection with the destination is, the easier it is to

stimulate tourists' behavior intention. Thus, we can

make the following assumptions:

H6: The positive anticipated emotion of tourists

for long-stay tourism endowment plays a mediating

role between destination image and tourists' behavior

intention.

H7: The negative anticipated emotion of tourists

for long-stay tourism endowment plays a mediating

role between destination image and tourists' behavior

intention.

3 RESEARCH DESIGN AND

RESULTS

This paper mainly refers to the measurement scale

used in the study of Jin (Jin, 2020), Huang Chunhui

(Huang, 2015), and makes appropriate modifications

in combination with the Chinese context to design the

questionnaire of Table 1, using the five-level Likert

ICPDI 2022 - International Conference on Public Management, Digital Economy and Internet Technology

272

statistical questionnaire. Questionnaires are

distributed online and offline. The target population

is the tourists who have traveled to Chengdu. Finally,

a total of 433 samples from the target population were

collected, and then 12 incomplete questionnaires

were eliminated. Finally, 421 valid questionnaires

were received, with an effective rate of 97.2%,

including 242 online and 179 offline. The proportion

of male and female in the effective samples was

49.40% and 50.60% respectively; the proportion of

age 19-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60 and above was

48.00%, 23.00%, 16.60%, 8.80% and 2.90%

respectively; the proportion of the education level is

7.40%, 13.80%, 69.80% and 9.00% respectively in

junior high school and below, secondary school and

high school, junior college and undergraduate course,

master degree and above respectively; the proportion

of the occupation as government staff, public

institutions personnel, enterprise employees, self-

employed persons, farmers and students is 4.80%,

18.10%, 27.10%, 15.90%, 5.00% and 29.20%

respectively.

In this paper, Amos25.0 was used for

confirmatory factor analysis, and the results in Table

2 were obtained. The standardized factor loading of

the observed variables are between 0.5 and 0.95, and

the average variance extraction values of each factor

are greater than 0.4, indicating that the model has

good convergence validity. The Cronbach coefficient

of each factor is significantly greater than 0.7, and the

combined reliability of the corresponding items is

also significantly greater than 0.7, indicating that the

scale has high reliability.

The cognitive-affection model theoretically

supports that the cognitive and affection image can

jointly form the second-order factor of the destination

image. Because the correlation coefficient between

cognitive image and affection Image is 0.703, it

shows that they are highly correlated, and cognitive

image and affection Image can form a second-order

factor. Table 3 is the analysis table of discriminant

validity among the factors. The numbers on the

diagonal are the square root of the corresponding

factor AVE, and the numbers in the lower triangle are

the correlation coefficients among the corresponding

factors. The correlation coefficients of the lower

Table 1: Questionnaire item.

Factors (Abbreviation) Item Item Content

Destination

Image (DI)

Cognitive

Image (CI)

CI1 Chengdu has a strong leisure atmosphere and many leisure activities

CI2 Chengdu has a unique historical and cultural landscape

CI3 The natural scenery of Chengdu is very beautiful

CI4 There are all kinds of delicious food in Chengdu

Affection

Image (AI)

AI1 Chengdu is a relaxing place

AI2 Chengdu is a pleasant place

AI3 Chengdu is a place of comfort

AI4 Chengdu is a leisurely place

Positive Anticipated

Emotion

(PAE)

PAE1

If I can go to Chengdu (in the future) to stay for the long-stay tourism

endowment, I will be very happ

PAE2

If I can go to Chengdu (in the future) to stay for the long-stay tourism

endowment, I will be very satisfie

PAE3

If I can go to Chengdu (in the future) to stay for the long-stay tourism

endowment, I will be very happ

Negative Anticipated

Emotion

(NAE)

NAE1

If I can’t go to Chengdu (in the future) to stay for the long-stay tourism

endowment, I will be very sa

NAE2

If I can’t go to Chengdu (in the future) to stay for the long-stay tourism

endowment, I will be very angr

NAE3

If I can’t go to Chengdu (in the future) to stay for the long-stay tourism

endowment, I will be very disappointe

Behavioral Intention (BI)

BI1 I will go to Chengdu to stay for the long-stay tourism endowment

BI2

I will recommend others to stay in Chengdu for the long-stay tourism

endowment

BI3 I will spread the positive news of Chengdu to others

Research on the Effect of Destination Image on Tourists’ Behavioral Intention of Long-Stay Tourism Endowment Based on Structural

Equation Model

273

Table 2: Results of confirmatory factor analysis.

Factors Factor Loading Cronbach's Alpha CR AVE

CI1 0.74

0.75 0.755 0.437

CI2 0.707

CI3 0.626

CI4 0.557

AI1 0.802

0.837 0.838 0.566

AI2 0.768

AI3 0.753

AI4 0.68

PAE

PAE1 0.836

0.884 0.885 0.719

PAE2 0.861

PAE3 0.847

NAE

NAE1 0.851

0.921 0.922 0.797

NAE2 0.91

NAE3 0.916

BI1 0.68

0.734 0.747 0.503

BI2 0.86

BI3 0.555

Table 3: Analysis of discriminant validity.

DI BI

NAE PAE

0.850

BI 0.689

0.709

NAE 0.200 0.575

0.893

PAE 0.721 0.707 0.406

0.848

Note: the number of diagonal is the square root of AVE, and the number of lower triangle is the correlation coefficient between factors.

triangle in the discriminant validity analysis table are

less than the square root of the corresponding AVE,

indicating that the factors of the model have good

discriminant validity. In addition, the fitting results of

the model and the data are good. The model’s

absolute fitness index, CMIN / DF = 2.228 (between

1 and 3), RMR = 0.029 (< 0.05), RMSEA = 0.054 (<

0.08), GFI = 0.937 (> 0.9), AGFI = 0.913 (≥ 0.9) all

met the standard. The value-added fitness index, NFI

= 0.936 (> 0.9), RFI = 0.921 (> 0.9), IFI = 0.964 (>

0.9), CFI = 0.963 (> 0.9), TLI = 0.955 (> 0.9) are all

up to the standard. Therefore, there is a good match

between the model and the collected data.

The results of path analysis are as follows.

Destination image (β=0.487, P<0.001) has a

significant positive impact on tourists' behavior

intention, and H1 holds.. Destination image has a

significant positive impact on tourists' positive

anticipated emotion (β=0.763, P<0.001) and negative

anticipated emotion (β=0.306, P<0.001), thus H2 and

H3 hold. Both positive anticipated emotion (β=0.201,

P<0.05) and negative anticipated emotion (β=0.357,

P<0.001) affect tourists' behavior intention

positively, so H4 and H5 pass the test.

This paper analyzes the mediating effect of

emotional factors by Bootstrap method. In the

analysis of the mediating effect of Bias-corrected and

Percenntile, the coefficients of path TDI→PAE→BI

is in the range of [- 0.076,0.587] and [- 0.124,0.551],

both contain 0. Thus, H6 does not hold. Similarly, in

the analysis of the mediating effect of Bias-corrected

and Percenntile, the coefficient of path

TDI→NAE→BI does not contain 0 in the interval of

[0.107,0.334] and [0.097,0.321]. So H7 holds. The

direct effect of tourists' negative anticipated emotion

on tourists' behavior intention is significant,

Therefore, negative anticipated emotion plays a

partial mediating role in the process of tourism

destination image's influence on tourists' behavior

intention of long-stay tourism endowment.

4 CONCLUSION AND

DISCUSSION

Destination image plays an important role in tourists'

behavior intention of long-stay tourism endowment.

ICPDI 2022 - International Conference on Public Management, Digital Economy and Internet Technology

274

Destination image differentiation strategy is

conducive to the survival and development of the

destination. Tourists' evaluation of the destination

image will affect the reputation of the destination, and

good reputation can bring more tourists. For the

industry of long-stay tourism endowment, it is an

important dynamic mechanism to promote the

development of the industry of long-stay tourism

endowment by setting up a good image of city life,

creating a tourism destination image characterized by

profound cultural heritage, beautiful natural

environment, leisure and entertainment, emphasizing

physical and mental relief and prosperity.

In terms of the formation of tourists' behavior

intention of long-stay tourism endowment, tourists'

emotional injection of long-stay tourism endowment

will strengthen tourists' behavior intention.

Therefore, increasing tourists' happy experience and

expectations of living in Chengdu can improve

tourists' positive and negative expectations, thus

improving tourists' behavior intention of long-stay

tourism endowment in Chengdu.

Negative anticipated emotion can better reflect

the real feelings of individuals, and is a more

convincing result of individual information

processing. (Teal, 2020) Tourists' perception of

destination image will cause emotional resonance of

tourists, which will arouse tourists' desire to stay and

provide for the long-stay tourism endowment, and

then affect tourists' behavior intention. In addition,

we should also pay attention to the emotional

connection between the destination staff and the

destination, so as to shorten the emotional distance

between the tourism destination and the local staff.

REFERENCES

Baloglu, S., and McCleary, K. W. A model of destination

image formation [J]. Annals of Tourism Research,

1999, 26(4): 868-897.

Breitsohl, J., and Garrod, B. Assessing tourists' cognitive,

emotional and behavioural reactions to an unethical

destination incident [J]. Tourism Management, 2016,

54: 209-220.

Embacher, J., and Buttle, F. A Repertory Grid Analysis of

Austria’s Image as A Summer Vacation Destination[J].

Journal of Travel Research, 1989, 27(3): 3-7.

Esposito, G., Bavel, van. R, and Baranowski, T., et al.

Applying the Model of Goal-Directed Behavior,

Including Descriptive Norms, to Physical Activity

Intentions: A Contribution to Improving the Theory of

Planned Behavior[J]. Psychological reports, 2016,

119(1): 5-26.

Gasper, K., and Bramesfeld, K. D. Imparting wisdom:

Magda Arnold's contribution to research on emotion

and motivation[J]. Cognition & Emotion, 2006, 20(7):

1001-1026.

Hosany, S. Appraisal Determinants of Tourist Emotional

Responses [J]. Journal of Travel Research, 2012, 51(3):

303-314.

Huang, C., Li, J., Zhou, X. Study on Impact of Travel

Intention an Empirical Study Facing Public Health

Emergency[J]. Human Geography, 2015, (03): 145-

150.

Jalilvand, M. R., Samiei, N., and Dini, B., et al. Examining

the structural relationships of electronic word of mouth,

destination image, tourist attitude toward destination

and travel intention: An integrated approach [J]. Journal

of Destination Marketing & Management, 2012, 1(1-2):

134-143.

Jiseon, A., and Jookyung, K. Green hotel brands in

Malaysia: perceived value, cost, anticipated emotion,

and revisit intention[J]. Current Issues in Tourism,

2020, 23(12): 1559-1574.

Jin, M., Choi, Y., and Lee, C., et al. Effects of Place

Attachment and Image on Revisit Intention in an

Ecotourism Destination: Using an Extended Model of

Goal-Directed Behavior[J]. Sustainability, 2020,

12(18): 7831-7831.

Lazarus, R. S. Emotion and Adaptation[M]. New York:

Oxford University Press, 1991: 133-168.

Lv, L., Chen, T. Contrastive Study on Official Propaganda

Image and Tourist Perception Image of Tourism

Destinations: A Case Study of Henan Province[J]. Areal

Research and Development, 2020, (06): 98-102, 107.

Qiao, X. Estimation of Care Needs of Chinese Elderly in

the Future[J]. Population and Development, 2021, (01):

105-116.

Perugini, M., and Bagozzi, R. P. The role of desires and

anticipated emotions in goal‐directed behaviours:

Broadening and deepening the theory of planned

behaviour [J]. British Journal of Social Psychology,

2001, 40(1): 79-98.

Siemer, M., Mauss, I., and Gross, J. J. Same situation--

different emotions: how appraisals shape our emotions.

[J]. Emotion, 2007, 7(3): 592-600.

Tang, Y. Research and Suggestions on the Physical and

Mental Needs of the Elderly from the Perspective of

Aging of Population—— Analysis based on ERG

theoretical model[J]. Journal of Nanjing Arts Institute

(Fine Arts & Design), 2020, (03): 157-164.

Tu, W., Xiong, L., Huang, Y., Gu, G. The Effect of

Destination Image on Tourist Behavior Intention: An

Explanation Based on the Emotion Appraisal Theory

[J]. Tourism Tribune, 2017, (02): 32-41.

Teal, R., Roberts, M., and Harrigan, P., et al. Leveraging

spectator emotion: A review and conceptual framework

for marketing health behaviors in elite sports [J]. Sport

Management Review, 2020, 23(2): 183-199.

Research on the Effect of Destination Image on Tourists’ Behavioral Intention of Long-Stay Tourism Endowment Based on Structural

Equation Model

275