The Impact of Destination Reputation on Tourist Decision-Making and Behavioural Intentions: A Conceptual Model

The global tourism market is characterised by intense competition, whereby the reputation of a tourist destination is one of the most important resources for gaining a competitive advantage. Since reputation represents a manageable category, this study aims to identify the key constituents of the reputation of an urban tourist destination and determine the nature of the relationship between these constituents and the intentions and behaviours of tourists towards urban tourist destinations with a good reputation. To examine the above-mentioned relationships, a conceptual model is proposed. To verify the model, a survey was conducted on a representative sample of 376 respondents from the capital of a Central and Eastern European (CEE) country, the Republic of Serbia. The research results indicate that both tangible and intangible constituents affect consequential intentions and behaviour, such as in-person positive review and recommendation, positive online review and recommendation, willingness to visit a destination again and willingness to permanently move to a destination. Moreover, it is demonstrated that this relationship is affected by the demographics of tourists—their age and income, which contributes to the current literature in the field and offers valuable insights for effective urban tourist destination management.