Antecedents Affecting the Loyalty of Health Tourists in the Lower Central Region Group 2

Abstract

Health tourism has a significant role in promoting tourists’ physical and mental health and is a substantial source of income for the local economy. This research was aimed to;
1) study the level of service quality, tourist attraction image, service innovation, intention to travel, tourist satisfaction, and loyalty of health tourists; 2) study the effect of service quality, tourist attraction image, service innovation, intention to travel, tourist satisfaction towards the loyalty of health tourists; and 3) create the model of the loyalty of health tourists. This research was a mixed method research between quantitative research and qualitative research; the quantitative research data were gathered by using the questionnaire from 400 sample groups of health tourists in the lower central region group 2; and the qualitative research data were gathered by using the in-depth interview. Data were analyzed by using the structural equation. The findings revealed that; 1) service quality, tourist attraction image, service innovation, intention to travel, tourist satisfaction, and loyalty of health tourists were at a high level; 2) service quality, service innovation, and tourist satisfaction had a direct positive effect towards the loyalty of health tourists, and tourist attraction image had an indirect positive effect towards the loyalty of health tourists through the intention to travel and tourist satisfaction at a 0.05 level of satisfaction; and 3) a model of “STSITL Model” presented a high service quality would create the tourist satisfaction and intention to travel, good tourist attraction image and service innovation would enhance the good memorable experience and tourist satisfaction as the key factors to create their loyalty, retravelling, and word-of-mouth that affect the tourist base’s stability and sustainability.