This study asks whether individual tourists are destination loyal or whether markets can be considered as loyal? While loyalty research has focused on the individual, a strong body of evidence suggests that individual tourists revisit international destinations rarely.Yet overall arrivals from mature markets are largely stable, suggesting some form of loyalty.The proposition of whether individuals or markets are loyal was tested by examining year-on-year visitation and repeat-visitation intentions of Hong Kong residents to 11 popular destinations. The study identified low individual repeat visitation intention, but overall market stability. Moreover, the profiles of actual and intended visitors were virtually identical. By contrast, the profiles of visitors to different destinations were substantially different. The study concludes, therefore, that markets are broadly loyal. The findings have significant implications for destination marketing organizations and also raise questions about tourism loyalty research.
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