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When tourists enter a shopping district, they usually do not possess complete information about merchandise or service quality. Judgments and choices, are therefore, based on inferences made from multiple sources of information, including the product and service quality cues available in the external environment. While exterior environment is one critical attribute by which tourists judge the quality of the total service process, only a few studies have examined exterior environment from the perspective of the informational value that it offers to consumers. The results of the structural equation modeling in this study revealed that exterior shopping environment could act as a surrogate of service and merchandise quality. Tourists’ patronage intentions were strongly influenced by service quality inferences as compared with inferences about merchandise quality. Implications for retailers at tourist destinations are discussed.