Promoting WOM through Destination Image in the Era of Live-Streaming in Health and Wellness Tourism Context
Tsai-Fa(TF) Yen *
School of Management and Research Center for Big Data Marketing, Qingdao City University, Shandong Province, China.
Ningning Sun
School of Management and Research Center for Big Data Marketing, Qingdao City University, Shandong Province, China.
Chengfeng Yang
School of Management and Research Center for Big Data Marketing, Qingdao City University, Shandong Province, China.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
While many studies have argued the importance of destination image, few have examined the impact of tourists' perceptions of wellness tourism destination images, destination relationships and word of mouth. This study provides new insights by examining: i. The impact of health and wellness tourism destination images on destination relationships and word of mouth. ii. The impact of destination relationships on word of mouth. And iii. The mediating effect of destination relationships. A survey of 284 questionnaires was conducted in famous health and wellness tourism destinations in Sichuan, China. The study found that perceptions of destinations images positively influenced word-of-mouth through destination relationships with destination relationships playing a significant mediating effect in a health and wellness tourism context. Finally, this study also provides some management implications of health and wellness tourism such as destination managers and tourism enterprises which should create the impression of a helpful, honest, safe and secure destination image.
Keywords: Destination image, destination relationship, word of mouth, health and wellness tourism, live-streaming