Abstract
In the era characterized by globalization and cultural diversification cross-cultural understanding of needs and desires of global customers becomes of particular importance. The present study addresses cross-cultural differences in evaluation of destination and its influence on satisfaction with stay at destination. We base our investigation on empirical evaluation of comprehensive congruity model developed in Bosnjak et al (2011). We analyze 743 responses of vacationers in Thailand with the help of structural equation modeling. We compare three groups of visitors diving them in individuals coming from Asia, Europe and the rest of the world. We find that aggregate behavior demonstrates preference for high-order needs like self-congruity, hedonic and leisure congruities. Considering the groups separately we find that search for leisure and self-congruity are the driving forces for all groups of travellers visiting Thailand. However, visitors from Asia favor value for money considerations, while visitors from Europe look for quality in services.