Destination love: Conceptualization, scale development and validation
(A2022-107427)

AUTHORS

DIMITRA MARGIETA LYKOUDI, UNIVERSITY OF PIRAEUS; MARKOS TSOGAS, University of Piraeus

ABSTRACT

The essential role of love has been highlighted by many scholars in tourism and marketing. This research investigates the destination love concept and develops its first measurement scale, as a universal concept that transcends specific destination brands. This study reports a series of 3 research efforts. Destination love is a third-order, highly inclusive construct. It features a seven-dimensional structure comprising of self-love, emotional solidarity, positive emotional connection, anthropomorphism, self-destination integration, long-term relationship, and passionate/romantic-driven behavior. The scale shows internal consistency reliability, construct validity and nomological validity. This research has valuable academic implications since it contributes to theory and establishes destination love scale for understanding tourists’ bonds towards destinations. It also has workable implications for tourism practitioners.