Destination Image and Tourist Intention to Recommend Visiting NEOM City in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

The travel and tourism industry is a key sector for economic development and job creation around the world. The purpose of this paper is to understand the antecedents of Tourist Intention to Visit NEOM city. The data was collected among 200 Saudi citizens. Smart-PLS was used to test the model. The results show that there is a strong link between Attitude and Tourist Intention to Visit NEOM city. Similarly, the results have shown that there is a strong link between Subjective norms and Tourist Intention to Visit NEOM city. Surprisingly, results also show that the link between Perceived behavior control and Tourist Intention to Visit NEOM city is not supported in this study. With regards to the moderating effect of Destination image, the finding shows that Destination image moderates the relationship between Attitude and Tourist Intention to Visit NEOM city, such that the effect is stronger when the level of Destination image is high. Surprisingly, the moderating effect of Destination image on the relationships between Perceived behavior control and Tourist Intention to Visit NEOM city and Subjective and Tourist Intention to Visit NEOM city are not supported. The various theoretical and practical significance of these findings are discussed

Keywords: Destination image, Attitude, Subjective norms, Perceived behavior control, Tourist Intention

DOI: 10.7176/JTHS/63-03

Publication date: January 31^st 2023