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People travel to fulfil initial needs satisfactorily. This process of action or consumer behaviour is of importance to understand, especially for the tourism industry striving to enhance businesses economy by attracting customers in the future. The present article focuses on tourist satisfaction with a destination as a state, which is influenced by the process of buying behaviour, which further materialises in intentional behaviour (intention to re-buy and recommend). Thus, the article examines the prediction of tourist satisfaction and consequences of tourist satisfaction, an area of key importance for the actors of the industry. Here satisfaction with the destination is conceived as the resultant outcome of tourist motivations, their goal directed choices (activities) and perceptions of product elements. Based on a review of the past literature, a set of interrelated hypotheses is derived and tested among a sample of tourists visiting different Southern European destinations. The findings show that the experience of the service/organising side of the journey explained about 50 percent of the variance in overall tourist satisfaction with the destination. Further, the results reveal that tourists behave fairly rationally while choosing activities in line with their inner motives. They also become highly satisfied, which materialises primarily from positive word of mouth. Even so, the relationship between tourist motivation and satisfaction, and behaviour and satisfaction, was not as strong as expected. Theoretical and managerial implications are also highlighted