Sympathy and loyalty intention after visitor harassment

The purpose of this study was to, first, determine the demographic predictors of the extent a visitor would feel sympathetic after a visitor harassment (VH) episode and, second, to ascertain whether there were any significant connections between a visitor feeling sympathetic after such an episode and his or her loyalty intentions toward the destination.

A survey research was conducted. Snowballing was used for the online survey and accidental sampling for the paper survey. The data were analyzed using ordinal logistic regression analyses. A total of 634 surveys were analyzed.

The following were found. First, sympathy was not a common emotion visitors experienced after being harassed by a trader at a tourist destination. Second, the demographic factors age, gender, income and educational levels were not significant predictors of the extent to which visitors would be sympathetic after a VH episode. Sympathy was a significant predictor of visitors’ intention to recommend the destination and support the traders in the future but not of visitors’ intention to return to the destination.

The study was exploratory, and hence, the findings were preliminary.

The findings could lead to “new” local responses to the problem of VH at tourist destinations.

The study was the first known to look at visitor sympathy after a VH episode.