Destination loyalty explained through place attachment, destination familiarity and destination image

Abstract

Abstract This study explores how familiarity and attachment, along with cognitive and affective image explain destination loyalty across visitors with divergent degrees of frequency of visitation (low vs. high). Serbians ( n = 401) who have previously visited Greece comprised the sample population for this study and were surveyed using a self‐administered questionnaire. Findings reveal that overall familiarity shapes cognitive and affective destination image, while each image component uniquely explains destination loyalty ( R 2 = 0.51). Differences also exist in the magnitude of the relationships tested among the two groups. Implications for theory and practice, along with limitations and research directions, are discussed.