The contribution of past experiences on revisit intentions in national parks: the case of tourists in Tanzania’s Lake Manyara national park

Abstract

Studies of tourists’ destination loyalty demonstrate that experiences during past visits to a destination influence future intentions to revisit the same destination. Similarly, literature on travel behaviour reveals that post-visitation variables significantly relate to revisit intentions. However, at the time of this study, there was a paucity of empirical studies exploring the correlation between ‘during-visitation’ variables and revisit intentions to parks. This study attempted to fill this gap by assessing the influence of on-site experiences on tourists’ revisit intentions in Lake Manyara National Park (LMNP). The findings showed that experience (Mean = 1.876) influenced tourists’ intentions to revisit LMNP. Further, Pearson’s correlation coefficient depicted a relatively significant association between experience and tourist intentions to revisit the park (r = 0.447**, p = 0.000). This study concludes that experience is a significant predictor of future tourists’ behavioural intentions. Tourism destination managers should, therefore, strive to understand their target market(s) to create memorable experiences.