Covariates of repeat tourism: an endogenous switching Poisson model

This paper introduces the endogenous switching Poisson model to analyse the underlying reasons behind repeat visitation to Madeira Island. The advantage of the model is that it allows for both unobserved heterogeneity and endogeneity in the covariates. Using data gathered by questionnaire, the authors confirm that the overall fit of the model is good and outperforms other related count data models. From the model estimation it is clear that the number of visits to Madeira Island is supported by multiple variables such as destination attributes, hotel facilities and travel cost, tourist motivation and tourist satisfaction. The related policy implications are derived.