THE THEORY OF COGNITIVE DISSONANCE, APPLIED TO THE IMAGE OF THE AGUA BLANCA COMMUNITY AND ITS EFFECT ON TOURIST SATISFACTION

Abstract

In  the present research,  the elements that constitute the image of the Agua Blanca Community, as a tourist  destination, were studied, taking into account the impact they generate in the people who visit it  and how they influence the  process of satisfaction of the service providedor and subsequent recommendation of the destination . The study is based on the theory of cognitive dissonance of the author León Festinguer, the image of destiny is analyzed from three stages that are: expectation (before), perception (during) and experience (after); The first stage analyzes the factors involved in the destination selection process, the second stage indicates the perception that the tourist had at the time of choosing the destination and if what he is living agrees with what he expected and in the third stage it is determined if his experience was satisfactory. In turn, this study was framed in the methodology of descriptive research and data from official bibliographic sources. Due to the health crisis,  virtual interviews were conducted with the actors responsible for tourism activity and virtual surveys were conducted   with national and foreign tourists who were registered in the community's database. With the results obtained, it was possible to analyze the image of the community and its influence on the satisfaction of tourists. As a proposal, strategies supported by Information Technologies  are proposed, which will help strengthen the tourist image of the Agua Blanca Community, considering the experience of visitors to contribute to the development  of the  local tourism market.