A Systematic Comparison of First-Time and Repeat Visitors' Satisfaction with a Destination

Tourists behavior has received substantial attention in tourism literature with one focus being the difference between first-time visitors and repeat visitors. This paper, based on a survey conducted in Dalian city, one of Chinese top tourist destinations, attempts to identify the differences in satisfactions at both attribute and overall levels between first and repetitive visitors. One-way ANNOVA was made to examine the relationship between visitors' demographics and destination satisfaction. Regression analysis was performed to identify the relationship between attribute-level and overall satisfaction among the two groups. Results showed that first-timers and repeaters were similar at overall level but different at certain attribute levels. It was also found that age, education and income were important factors influencing tourists satisfaction with a destination.