The Determinantion of the Demand for the International Rural Destination - The PLS Model

One of the biggest challenges facing agritourism destination managers is a clear understanding of the factors that motivate consumers to choose a particular agritourism destination, and be loyal to it, when they have countless other options. The research on the international agritourism destination, from a broader perspective, aims to analyze the market behavior of tourists and implies the necessary prior knowledge of tourists’ decision-making. Therefore the subject of research is the analysis of the influence of the agritourism gastronomic experience, thorough the analysis of the influence of the factors of the agritourism gastronomic experience on the development of loyalty towards an agritourism destination. The survey analyzes international tourists' reactions to the atmosphere of catering establishments, gastronomy, services, quality and prices which affects the satisfaction and the loyalty to the agritourism destination, in our case the agritourism destinations in the Province of Vojovodina, close to the city of Novi Sad. The findings have shown that there is a statistically significant and positive association between atmosphere of agritourism catering establishments and gastronomy and satisfaction with the agritourism destination. The satisfaction with the agritourism destination has a positive relationship with the loyalty to the agritourism destination. The findings can help the stakeholders to improve the agritourism gastronomic experience as it covers an important role in the development of the gastronomic experience. The contribution of this paper is that it directly focuses on an aspect of the relationship between the elements of the agritourism gastronomic experience, satisfaction and loyalty that have not been previously directly addressed.