Modelling perceived value as a driver of tourism development

This study investigates visitors’ perceived value in little known small areas, at the early stage of tourism development, participating in a European regional development project, for improving the local tourism supply and marketing initiatives, with limited investments. We suggest to employ an Ordinal Structural Equation Model with Pairwise Likelihood estimator to deal with non-normal and missing data. We detect which destinations’ aspects convey the greatest value to tourists, identify market segmentation variables, test the relations of perceived value with satisfaction, intention to recommend and destination image. Results are relevant for policymakers and destination managers, even more in the post-COVID-19 tourism recovery.