Hawkeye sees dragon: A longitudinal study of China's destination-country image projected by the Discovery Channel

Abstract

In the increasingly competitive global market, destination-country image has important strategic value for tourism destination countries to gain competitive advantages. The Discovery Channel, which provides high-quality non-drama documentaries in 35 different languages, covers more than 160 countries and regions around the world. This study aims to refine the construction of projected destination-country image, examine the evolution of China's destination-country image projected by the Discovery Channel in different periods, and find out the law between destination-country image shaping and documentary creation from an international perspective. CAQDAS-NVivo software was employed and 39 China-related documentaries shot by the Discovery Channel since 1998 were collected to conduct a content analysis. Finally, a refined construction for projected destination-country image was proposed, which contains macro projected destination-country image and micro projected destination-country image. And a systematic and dynamic atlas of China's destination-country image projected by the Discovery Channel was outlined. In addition, the reasons behind its evolution were interpreted from the perspectives of times background and discourse dominant mechanism. These findings have practical implications for documentary producers and destination marketers, as well as for academic circles engaged in destination-country image research from the perspective of projection and/or perception. • A longitudinal study of China's DCI in documentaries since 1998 was conducted. • Thirty-nine China-related documentaries shot by Discovery Channel were analyzed. • Both quantitative analysis and qualitative discussion were employed. • A refined construct for projected DCI was proposed. • A dynamic atlas of China's DCI was outlined.