Why do tourists persist in visiting the same destination?

Capturing and retaining tourists are the main driving forces behind tourism marketing research. Nevertheless, research on how to retain tourists and why they persist in repeating the same destination is not consensual. Following the early work of Ehrenberg and the recency–frequency–monetary value paradigm, this study applies a Poisson distribution model to estimate the past frequency of revisiting Portugal based on information collected from international repeat visitors surveyed at all airports of Portugal in 2012. Results from estimating the model show mixed effects for recency, country of origin and destination region. Recommendation behaviour could not be identified as an explanatory variable for past visitation frequency.