Acta academica karviniensia 2021, 21(2):36-53 | DOI: 10.25142/aak.2021.011

CULTURAL DIFFERENCES AS A KEY DETERMINANT OF TOURIST LOYALTY PERCEPTION

Andrea Králiková, Kateřina Ryglová

Mendel University in Brno, Faculty of Business and Economics, Zemědělská 1665/1, 613 00 Brno

As a result of the current COVID-19 situation, tourist loyalty is a crucial predominator in maintaining the position in the global tourism market. Nevertheless, a number of factors play a significant role in shaping tourists' loyalty, however, only a few studies focus on the tourists' cultural differences. Therefore, this paper examines their impact on the tourist loyalty perception in the Czech Republic context among American, Russian, and Finnish tourists. For the American and Finnish respondents, cultural monuments played the biggest role. Contrarily, food quality and safety were the most important factors for the Russian respondents. However, regardless of nationality, there are four high-priority factors: cultural and natural attractions, safety, and acceptance by the locals. Closer attention should be paid to safety and acceptance by the locals, as they can be altered by the government to some extent. Therefore, this study might help to provide a deeper understanding of visitor loyalty.

Keywords: cultural differences, destination image, loyalty, the Czech Republic.

JEL classification: M10, Z32

Received: March 30, 2021; Revised: April 27, 2021; Accepted: November 3, 2021; Published: November 8, 2021  Show citation