The high degree of depopulation in certain areas of Spain is a serious threat to the country, and is aggravated by the ongoing loss of population from those areas. Rural tourism is one of the activities that can help prevent this depopulation. However, to successfully promote such tourism, we must consider the elements that have the greatest influence on tourists when they choose one location over another, or one accommodation over another. Extensive data have been collected from 1658 valid surveys of tourists in one of the most depopulated areas of Spain. Several multivariate techniques were then applied to the data, including Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Multiple Classification Analysis (MCA). Factors were obtained that identified both the different motivations that influence tourists, and the variables that identify the province based on its image. An analysis was then made of how both the variables thus identified the influence of the formation of the image that tourists take away from the visit. Tourists are most strongly motivated by natural landscapes, monuments, or events of cultural interest, i.e., natural and cultural attractions rather than social ones, and the cognitive image has the greatest influence on the formation of the new image. The principal findings of this research are that the future of many of these depopulated areas depends on successfully promoting both their beautiful landscapes and their cultural heritage, as well as developing and improving the areas themselves so that the depopulation is slowed down or even reversed, to the benefit of the local population. This would also benefit the local and regional authorities and the establishments linked to rural tourism in the area, increasing their profits and raising the level of employment in the province.
29 March 2011 in International Review on Public and Nonprofit Marketing
In recent years, rural tourism has experienced a major boom; it was once a secondary type of tourism but has now become a significant alternative option within the Spanish economy. This type of tourism facilitates the sustainable development of the host communities and their surrounding areas, becoming an extra source of income in some cases, and the principal business in others. It is therefore important to ascertain which variables influence the behavior of rural tourists. The objective of this study is to demonstrate the influence on rural tourist behavior of destination image, both initial and final, as well as tourist satisfaction and loyalty to the area. Loyalty, which translates into repeat visits to the area and recommendations to third parties, promotes the sustainable development of rural areas. After an exhaustive review of the literature on the relevant variables, an empirical study was carried out using a questionnaire designed for tourists over 18 years old who visited the province of Soria (Spain) and stayed in a rural tourism establishment. This resulted in a total of 1658 valid completed questionnaires. A structural equation model was then drawn up to discover the relationships between all the variables. The results demonstrated the importance of destination image in the formation of the new image, and also showed that tourist satisfaction is the variable that most strongly influences loyalty to the tourist area. This study is a novel contribution to the study of sustainable development in rural areas since it focuses on tourist loyalty and its resulting benefits.
While some social networks like Facebook are losing interest among digital influencers, TikTok continues to grow, capturing and impacting centennials and millennials alike. This situation highlights the new generations’ increasing interest in short video formats, which are also becoming a new window of communication between companies and consumers. TikTok allows users to create, share, and discover short, user-generated videos in hopes of attracting viewers. But it is necessary to understand the variables that attract and engage users of these particular social networks. This article analyses the variables of continuance motivation, video sharing behaviour, and video creation capabilities, which allow users to enjoy such networks, and service providers and companies to obtain results from them. The aim is to understand how these variables motivate social media users to return to and spend more time on this video-sharing platform. This is measured through the stickiness variable. In this context—and due to the particular relevance of the topic—the authors also aim to reveal any potential differences in the behaviour of centennials and millennials when using TikTok. Therefore, a cross-sectional study was conducted through a questionnaire answered by 2,301 millennials and centennials who use TikTok. The data were analysed through a structural equation model to measure the relevance of each of the variables to stickiness. The results provide guidelines for improving research on video social media platforms, as well as an opportunity to explore the importance of the selected variables to the stickiness variable across different user segments.