Impact of Destination Attractiveness on Destination Attachment: The Mediating Role of Tourist’s Attitude Towards Islamabad.

Abstract

There has been an increasing interest among both academia and policy makers to develop tourism in recent times. The contribution of tourism in uplifting the economy is also well documented. Accordingly, the present study is focused on several important factors of tourism within the socio-economic context of Pakistan. The study examines the impact of destination attractiveness on destination attachment with the mediating influence of tourist’s attitude. Six dimensions of destination attractiveness are ascertained in present study, namely: access, amenities, local community, scenery, hedonism and novelty. These dimensions are used to predict destination attachment. Moreover, tourist’s attitude is used as an intervening variable among the equivalent conceptualized relationship. The present study is quantitative in nature and has relied upon convenience sample. Data was collected using questionnaires from 266 tourists which included both domestic and international tourists in Islamabad. The results revealed significant impact of access, amenities, local community, scenery, hedonism and novelty on tourist’s attitude. Direct impact of access, amenities, local community, scenery, hedonism and novelty has also been examined on destination attachment in which all showed significant relationship except access. Study also showed positive and significant impact of the tourist’s attitude on destination attachment. The finding of this study will help DMO (destination management organizations) and destination managers to understand importance of destination attractiveness and destination attachment on attitude of tourists and implement strategies accordingly. This will help them to understand travelling desires and motivation of tourists visiting Islamabad and help to identify factors that help tourists to assess attractiveness of a destination which will result in destination attachment.