Marketing to Tourists from Unfriendly Countries: Should We Even Try?

Abstract

This study employs a two-group pretest–posttest experimental design to investigate to what extent promotional materials affect the image perceptions, attitudes, and behavioral intentions of potential tourists toward a country-vacation destination in a situation of political and economic conflict between the two nations. Specifically, the study focuses on such psychographic characteristics of tourists as animosity toward the destination country, national attachment to their own country, and consumer ethnocentrism to investigate whether these traits can inhibit the effectiveness of the promotional materials. The findings of the study indicate that intermediate effects of destination advertising include changes in perceptions of country values and overall attitudes. The results also suggest that the amount of change depends on the individual’s level of psychographic variables, most notably animosity.