Examining the Relationships between Visitors Profile, Satisfaction and Revisit Intentions: Evidence from Romanian Ecotourism Destinations

Monitoring satisfaction levels among visitors presents an important challenge in ecotourism destinations, as it can provide useful information for tourism planning and management. The purposes of this study are (i) to identify the attribute-level satisfaction factors in the context of four ecotourism destinations from Romania, (ii) to investigate whether segments with different purposes for visiting reported different levels of satisfaction, (iii) to examine if the analyzed ecotourism destinations recorded different levels of satisfaction, and (iv) to determine if the attribute-level satisfaction factors and visitors’ profiles influence the intention to revisit ecotourism destinations. The research data were collected using a survey among 1157 visitors in the analyzed destinations. An exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was computed and an analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted in order to determine whether significant differences in satisfaction existed across segments and across destinations. The research findings indicate three attribute-level satisfaction factors ((i) attractions and information services, (ii) amenities, (iii) conservation of natural and cultural heritage). Subsequent results revealed significant differences across visitor segments for two out of the three attribute-level satisfaction factors and across the four analyzed ecotourism destinations regarding all satisfaction factors. Furthermore, there were significant differences across visitor segments concerning the intention to revisit, however, influence of satisfaction factors on the intention to revisit the ecotourism destinations was found to be poor. The present study provides a contribution to the body of knowledge in ecotourism destination management and marketing by improving the understanding of relationships among visitors’ profile, satisfaction levels, and revisiting intention.