A systematic approach to non-repeat and repeat travel:With measurement and destination loyalty concept implications

Abstract

When one accepts findings on first-time and repeat travel from the literature and examines the concept of loyalty, then one can build a schema, a system of relations, for analysis of tourism behavior and loyalty. Given the schema, implications can be derived on how loyalty and non-repeat combined with repeat tourism can be manifested and should be measured. Implications following from the schema are examined to clarify measurement and conceptual issues and they are compared to implications of models. Analysis focuses attention on how heterogeneity in populations taking similar trips should impact data collection for analysis of tourism behavior and destination loyalty. Segment- specific measures of behavior, not population statistics, are identified as providing the basis for understanding aspects of non-repeat and repeat tourism and their relation to loyalty. © 2002, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. All rights reserved.