Sustainable Tourism and Tourist Destination Loyalty Model with the Integration of Safety Indicators in the COVID-19 Period

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.29036/5p6cnd34

Keywords:

sustainable development, sustainable tourism, destination loyalty, safety, COVID-19, Slovakia

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic and current security issues bring new aspects to the area of destination loyalty, which need to be incorporated into this model and comprehensively evaluated. The purpose of this study is to assess the significance of the model of tourist destination loyalty in combination with the safety indicators during the pandemic period among consumers in Slovakia. The research sample consists of 383 consumers from Slovakia, and data were collected during the COVID-19 period. The confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the sufficient validity and reliability of the model consisting of the indicators Safety, Cultural image, Environmental image, Socioeconomic image, Tourist satisfaction, and Destination loyalty. The research also assessed the significance of differences among the above indicators in terms of the categories Frequency of Travel, Length of Stay, Income, and Form of Tourism using ANOVA analysis. Large-scale differences have not been found, which indicates the model’s stability. PLS Path Modelling assessed the relationships between the individual categories of the indicators. The strongest relationship was found between Tourist satisfaction and Destination loyalty. The element Value for Money was added to the model, and it had a significant positive relation to Tourist satisfaction. The indicator Safety is also of significant importance to the model as was shown in several cases. Based on the results, it could be stated that the indicator Safety is an important element in the Socioeconomic image indicator.

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Author Biographies

  • Martin Rigelsky, Faculty of Management and Business, University of Prešov, Prešov, Slovak Republic

    Email: martin.rigelsky@unipo.sk

    He is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Marketing and International Business at the Faculty of Management, Economics and Business of the University of Prešov. His teaching activity focuses on subjects such as marketing research, performance marketing, case studies in digital marketing and mathematics. His research focuses primarily on economics, management and marketing with applications to service economy, sustainable and circular economy. Secondarily, he works in the areas of business and data analytics.

  • Beata Gavurova, Faculty of Management and Economics, Tomas Bata University in Zlín, Zlín, Czech Republic

    Email: beata.gavurova@tuke.sk

    She works as a Professor and researcher at the Faculty of Mining, Ecology, Process Control and Geotechnologies of Technical University of Kosice. She focuses in her research work on issues of measurement and performance management in various sectors, process management and process optimisation, strategic and performance benchmarking. Her dominant research area is the development and testing in the management and performance measurement, the evaluation of methodologies and the preparation of an application platform for innovative management and performance measurement.

  • Roman Novotny, Faculty of Management and Business, University of Prešov, Prešov, Slovak Republic

    Email: roman.novotny@unipo.sk

    He is an Assistant Professor at the University of Prešov, Faculty of Management and Business, Department of Management. In his research activities, he focuses on the assessment of selected aspects of sustainable development, with a focus on economic-environmental indicators.

  • Radovan Bacik, Faculty of Management and Business, University of Prešov, Prešov, Slovak Republic

    Email: radovan.bacik@unipo.sk

    He is a Professor and the Head of the Department of Marketing and International Trade at the Faculty of Management and Business of the University of Prešov in Prešov. In his research activities, he focuses on public relations, public relations in tourism, marketing of selected areas, strategic marketing, presentation of management and marketing, communication in management, branding and innovation, and online marketing.

  • Anna Senkova, Faculty of Management and Business, University of Prešov, Prešov, Slovak Republic

    Email: anna.senkova@unipo.sk

    She is an Associate Professor and the Head of the Department of Tourism and Hotel Management at the Faculty of Management and Business of the University of Prešov in Prešov. In her research and publishing activities, she deals with the economics of tourism, hospitality management, culinary tourism, and spa tourism.

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Published

2025-05-30

How to Cite

Rigelsky, M., Gavurova, B., Novotny, R., Bacik, R., & Senkova, A. (2025). Sustainable Tourism and Tourist Destination Loyalty Model with the Integration of Safety Indicators in the COVID-19 Period. Journal of Tourism and Services, 16(30), 236-261. https://doi.org/10.29036/5p6cnd34