Author Bios (50 Words for each Author)

Statia is Associate Professor and Director of the School of Hospitality, Food & Tourism Management, University of Guelph, Canada. She joined the University in 2007, her research builds from her years with destination marketing organizations. She studies tourism planning and performance, place image and branding, and e-marketing. Her sixty refereed publications include journals such as Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, Journal of Business Research, and the Journal of Travel Research. Statia is Past President of the Canadian Travel and Tourism Research Association, and Board member of Destination Canada’s Research Advisory Committee, and Tourism HR Canada.

Abstract (150 Words)

Place image is a matter of strong and current interest. This study advances existing knowledge by developing a model that integrates product, tourism, and general country images (GCI) of place, to identify antecedents and effects of tourist satisfaction in the tourism and product domains. Results indicate that travelers compartmentalize their beliefs, forming their perceptions of trip satisfaction directly from the destination image of a place, and indirectly through the influence on that image of the places general and producer-based images. This study shows for the first time that the image people hold about, and the familiarity they have with, a country’s products provide a “summary” to form perceptions of the country as a tourism destination. Perhaps of most interest, results indicate that a satisfactory tourism experience is able not only to positively affect destination loyalty and word of mouth, but can also significantly influence post-visit intentions towards national products.

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Country Image, Tourist Satisfaction, and Future Visit and Product Purchase Intentions: An Integrative Model

Place image is a matter of strong and current interest. This study advances existing knowledge by developing a model that integrates product, tourism, and general country images (GCI) of place, to identify antecedents and effects of tourist satisfaction in the tourism and product domains. Results indicate that travelers compartmentalize their beliefs, forming their perceptions of trip satisfaction directly from the destination image of a place, and indirectly through the influence on that image of the places general and producer-based images. This study shows for the first time that the image people hold about, and the familiarity they have with, a country’s products provide a “summary” to form perceptions of the country as a tourism destination. Perhaps of most interest, results indicate that a satisfactory tourism experience is able not only to positively affect destination loyalty and word of mouth, but can also significantly influence post-visit intentions towards national products.