The primary objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between travel destination image and the tourist satisfaction/dissatisfaction. Using the evaluative congruity theory framework, this study focused on the role of destination images in tourism with regard to consumer satisfaction/ dissatisfaction (CS/D) from the stand point of: (1) the functional congruency between the tourist's expectations and his/her perceptions of specific utilitarian (functional) attributes of a destination; (2) the value-expressive (symbolic) congruency between the tourist'S self concept and the destination's personality image; and (3) the degree of emotional involvement the traveler associates with travel purchases and its influence on his/her satisfaction/ dissatisfaction. The key findings of this study indicate that CS/D is related to both functional and symbolic congruity. With regard to the relative strength of the functional congruity and the symbolic congruity in explaining CS/D in tourism, the functional congruity was found to explain CS/D better than the symbolic congruity. It was also found that the tourist's emotional involvement in the travel purchase process affects his/her satisfaction/dissatisfaction with the destination. / Ph. D.

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