Perceptions and Image Attributes of Tourists towards Rural Tourism: A Study on Pipili Village of Odisha

The present paper seeks to contribute to the literature on tourists’ perception by evaluating the relationship between destination travel attributes and tourist satisfaction. This study analyses components, attributes, factor influencing the destination image and examines the tourist satisfaction and determinants of destination loyalty. Using a sample of 107 tourists, the influence of travel attributes on satisfaction and the moderating effect of demographic factors in the relationship between travel attributes and tourist satisfaction were investigated. The travel attributes had satisfactory predictive relevance and explained the changes in the variance of the endogenous variable tourist satisfaction. All the demographic factors considered moderated the relationship between at least one of the travel dimensions and tourist satisfaction. The developed framework will be useful to understand the host tourism system and relationship that will emphasise co-management approach to promote a sustainable tourism practice.