A latent growth model of destination image's halo effect

Abstract By disentangling the static and dynamic components of a latent growth model, this study demonstrates how tourists' mere presence may influence the evaluation of the destination's products because of the halo effect of their perceived destination image. The results show that destination image positively influenced product evaluations. However, while visitors had more favourable initial product evaluations and purchase intentions, these enhanced evaluations decayed over time once the visitors returned home. Further, the effects were less pronounced for high-involvement visitors, who were more knowledgeable about the product. These findings imply that cross-sectional studies may yield an incomplete picture regarding the effects of destination image. This study also demonstrated how to apply latent growth modelling to longitudinal tourism research.