The Role of Service Quality and Word-of-Mouth Advertisment in Return Intention of Tourists with the Mediating Role of the Destination Image(Case Study of Poladkaf International Ski Resort)

The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of service quality and word-of-mouth on the return intention on the mediating role of destination image in Pooladkaf ski resort in Fars province. The research method of this study was descriptive-correlational.The statistical population consisted of all tourists in the winter of 2018 in Pooladksf ski resort. Due to the uncertainty of the number of the statistical population, 384 questionnaires were distributed by available method and 330 questionnaires could be analyzed. Four questionnaires of sport Service Quality(Liu, 2008), Word-of-Mouth(Goythe et al, 2010), Destination Image(Davis et al., 2009) and Return Intention(Lim, 2006) were used to collect data. The face and content validity of the questionnaires were confirmed by 10 sport management professors and the reliability of the questionnaires was confirmed by Cronbach's alpha coefficient. PLS software was used for fitting and testing the hypotheses using Structural Model. The results showed that the service quality and word-of-mouth advertising had a direct and significant effect on the intention of tourists to re-attend. The mediating role of destination imagery on the relationship between service quality and return intention as well as the relationship between word-of-mouth advertising and return intention was confirmed. Model fit analysis also showed that the proposed model had a moderate fit. Based on the findings of the study, it is suggested that by creating a specialized committee, strategies should be designed and implemented to increase the services quality and positive word-of-mouth and thereby enhance the destination image to increase tourists' return intention.