European sun and sand holiday destinations that emerged in the Mediterranean in the 1960s are currently facing competition from both new destinations and new tourist demands. One of the main characteristics of these destinations is the phenomenon of repeat visitation. This article analyzes the effect that repeat visitation rates have on the intention to revisit the destination and on tourists’ level of satisfaction. The results show firstly that despite the fact that repeat visitors are more likely to make a further visit to a destination, its main determinant is a high level of satisfaction. Secondly, the repeat visitation rate has only a limited effect on overall satisfaction. The study's conclusions also point to a tourists’ continued interest in sun and sand products, as well as highlight a need for the product's basic components to offer high quality levels to maintain client loyalty.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse the determinants of tourist intentions to revisit a destination, paying special attention to the effects of satisfaction and the number of previous visits. In order to guarantee an incentive to improve the product, satisfaction must be the main determinant. A second objective is to analyse the contribution that satisfaction with different aspects of a destination makes on overall satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach – A structural equation model (SEM) has been estimated. Some of the variables involved in the model are ordinal. Thus, tetrachoric, polychoric and polyserial correlations were calculated and then used as the input for structural equation modelling. Findings – Both satisfaction and the number of previous visits have a positive effect on intention to return. However, the main determinant is satisfaction. Satisfaction with different aspects of the destination has a differing effect on overall satisfaction. Attributes associated with the basic sun and sand tourist product are the main determinants of overall satisfaction. Practical implications – To promote repeat visits, it is crucial to identify the determinants of the intention to return. The factors that influence this variable can be improved in order to increase the likelihood of repeat visits. Originality/value – Methods to estimate SEM with categorical variables have not been applied before to the field of tourism. In comparison with previous studies of repeat visitation, the main contribution of the model is that it simultaneously takes into consideration two causal links with the number of previous visits, the first affecting overall satisfaction and the second having a direct effect on a tourist's intention to return.

This paper is a first attempt to propose a multidimensional study of overtourism and undertourism in Majorca, a Spanish island and one of the world’s leading mass tourist destinations. The study was conducted before and after the pandemic started through a survey to local stakeholders. They were asked for their perceptions of overtourism and undertourism, what problems these phenomena generate, which sustainability indicator might be used to measure each problem, and, lastly, what solutions they suggest. Three main dimensions were taken (economy and demography, culture, and ecology) to classify the problems, sustainability indicators, and solutions. The main conclusion is the stakeholders’ consensus that both situations are the outcome of an economy based on a tourism monoculture and they view the stoppage brought about by the pandemic as being an opportunity to restructure the current tourism model, mainly by tackling labor conditions, the wellbeing of local residents, and ecological resilience. The sustainability indicators proposed by the respondents could contribute to the establishment of a monitoring system of the problems generated by overtourism and undertourism. Most of these indicators are available in official statistics, but there are others that need to be developed ad hoc.

The objective of mature tourist destinations should not be to increase the number of tourists but to increase tourism revenue. To achieve this goal, such destinations should aim to attract higher spending tourists. In this paper, expenditure-based tourist segments are analysed (high, high/medium, medium/low and low spenders). Tourist characteristics and trip-related variables are used to identify the determinants of tourist expenditures. In addition, tourist motivations in choosing the destination were selected as explanatory variables. The results show that, as well as tourist and trip-related characteristics, some tourist motivations are also useful in describing expenditure-based segments. Planning strategies must bear in mind that the effect of tourist motivations on tourist expenditure may differ according to the factors involved.

In the tourism and marketing literature, repeat visitation/repeat purchasing is assumed to be desirable behaviour. However, consumer expenditure might decrease with purchase repetition. Thus, expenditure by repeat visitors could actually be lower than that of first-timers. This result can be explained using limited information models and consumers' perceptions of prices as a signal of product/service quality. This paper estimates the effect that quality as a motivation may have on tourist expenditure, distinguishing between first-time and repeat visitors. The hypothesis is that quality as a motivation has a higher positive effect on tourist expenditure for first-timers than it does for repeat visitors. It is more likely for new visitors to regard higher prices as a signal of higher quality than repeat visitors, given their greater uncertainty about the characteristics of the destination.