Relationship marketing investment, relationship quality, and behavioral intention: In the context of the relationship between destination marketing organizations and meeting/convention planners

This study examined relationships between destination marketing organizations and meeting planners, and investigated the moderating effect of familiarity on the relationships. Multivariate techniques were employed to analyze 277 planners’ perceptions (structural equation modeling), and to test the moderating effect (multi-group analysis). This study found that relationship marketing investment had a significant impact on relationship quality, which impacted behavioral intention while the moderating effect of familiarity was also significant. In addition, the most important activity for building a relationship between the planner and a destination marketing organization was personal sales calls. Practical implications of the results are discussed