Abstract: Cultural heritage tourism in Malaysia is facing fierce competition in the Southeast Asia region as there are more new emerging cultural heritage destinations that have been recognized as UNESCO World Heritage Sites (WHS). The increase in competition can have an adverse impact on the tourist arrivals to Malaysia as tourists will have many choices of cultural heritage destinations to select from. Hence, it is important for destination managers to devise strategic plans to target more on loyal tourists. In order for destination managers to derive destination management and marketing strategies, an understanding of the factors that can influence tourists’ destination loyalty is necessary. Therefore, this study aims to propose a conceptual framework on the factors that can influence the destination loyalty of tourists at historic cities in Malaysia, namely Penang and Melaka. The factors proposed are destination factors (destination image; destination familiarity) and personal factors (perceived authenticity; tourist interactions; tourist emotions). Satisfaction is also discussed as a factor that can influence destination loyalty as well as a mediating variable between the factors and destination loyalty. This study will also discuss the hypotheses that are developed based on the model and the measurement of the constructs. As this is a conceptual study, the results of the testing of the model are not available but this paper establishes the relationships among the constructs which are useful for warranting further research. The significance of this study will provide a conceptual framework that can be tested in the context of cultural heritage tourism.
Tung Lisa, Mohd Noor and Nor Azila, 2016. Factors Influencing Destination Loyalty of Tourists at Historic Cities in Malaysia: A Proposed Model. The Social Sciences, 11: 2698-2704.