Destination Marketing Organizations Research Articles

Impact of Social Media in Rebuild Destination Image

The growth in the use of social media allied with increasing ownership levels of smart phones indicates that destination marketing organizations of small regional destinations need to pay greater attention to social media and its delivery systems including smart phones. Implications are discussed for managers and stakeholders of small regional destinations, who may find this study valuable in guiding their future social media marketing effort Social media play a significant role both on the demand and on the supply side of tourism allowing destinations to interact directly with visitors via various internet platforms and monitor and react on visitors ́ opinions and evaluations of services. The paper defines how social media and communications can utilized for the destination image rebuilding. It summarizes the main characteristics of social media with implication to destination communication strategy and it deals with changes in visitor’s ́ behaviour affecting the destination image. The main objective of the paper is to show that social media as a tool that can help destinations image rebuilding and to remain competitive.

Executing a destination branding strategy: Louisville Tourism’s Urban Bourbon Trail

Purpose The purpose of this study is to add new insights into the discussion of how a city’s destination marketing organization (DMO) can apply operand resources to act upon its operant resources to create, market and manage a unique brand over time. Design/methodology/approach This study uses an abductive approach to advance understanding of how to execute a branding strategy that evolves over time while strategically curating its unique and valued resources. This understanding is based on an in-depth review of Louisville’s branding journey, including written documents and interviews with people involved in building the branding strategy. Findings This paper presents a model to help destinations focus on how to create, market and manage the delivery of a branded ecosystem that capitalizes on its resources. This study adds new insights into how DMOs can curate a destination’s resources into an ecosystem that delivers its brand promise over time. Originality/value This study introduces the idea of ecotopes to expand an understanding of tourism ecosystems, presents the concept of a customer journey to depict a destination’s branding strategy, incorporates Barney's resource based theory (Barney and Clark, 2007) into the process of creating a destination’s brand and applies Barnard’s (1938) classic acceptance theory of authority to explain how DMOs can execute a destination’s branding strategy.

Cognitive-affective-motivation factors influencing international visitors' destination satisfaction and loyalty

PurposeThis paper seeks to understand the interrelationships between destination attractiveness, satisfaction, attachment and visitors' loyalty and to determine the potential moderating effect of generational cohorts. Using expectancy disconfirmation and generational cohort theories, the paper explains how visitors' cognitive knowledge and motivation factors influence international visitors' attraction and maintenance and their behavioral/attitudinal loyalty.Design/methodology/approachData were collected from 390 international visitors to South Africa during the Southern Hemisphere's summertime via a quantitative research method. A two-stage approach of structural equation modeling was used to analyze the hypothesized model.FindingsThere was no relationship between visitors' loyalty and destination image or destination image and destination trust. However, destination image has a significant effect on visitors' satisfaction. Additionally, visitors' experience had a positive effect on satisfaction and loyalty, while destination trust and destination attachment were positively related.Practical implicationsThe findings show that the tourism sector could reap greater benefits from international tourists if a deeper understanding of different generational cohorts was obtained. There was a varying effect of destination marketing organizations' efforts on different generational cohorts' attraction, trust, satisfaction, feelings and expectations. This study proposes that direct marketing organizations should focus on building brand trust, as it is key to attracting different generational cohorts. Lastly, the study found that generational cohort segmentation accrues many benefits and creates and enhances superior advantages.Originality/valueThe paper provides evidence that more than a destination's attractiveness is required to achieve loyalty; segmenting and understanding different generational cohorts' cognitive, affective and motivation aids in generating better response actions to tourists' changing needs and meeting their demands.

When Virtual Reality meets destination marketing: The mediating role of presences between vividness and user responses

Virtual Reality (VR) has been widely adopted by destination marketing organizations (DMOs) to promote a destination. However, the existing literature lacks a solid theoretical foundation to interpret the phenomenon of VR experience. To address this research gap, this study aims to advance our understanding of how two distinct presences (telepresence and sense of presence) are formed and how they influence user responses after VR experience. A theoretical framework was proposed including vividness, sense of presence, telepresence, satisfaction, and intention to visit. According to the findings, two distinct presences mediate the positive relationship between vividness and satisfaction, and consequently intention. Additionally, theoretical and managerial insights are provided.

Social media and Tourism: a cross-platform study of Indian DMOs

ABSTRACT Social media is an excellent medium for sharing content to promote destinations and engage tourists. This study aimed to examine the impact of content characteristics of social media posts shared by destination marketing organisations (DMOs) on tourist engagement. An analysis of over 12,000 posts and 3.65 million tourist impressions recorded on 16 official Indian DMOs’ Facebook and Twitter handles was undertaken. Tourist engagement was measured by likes, comments/tweets, and shares/retweets counts. The analysis revealed that interactive and informative posts gained maximum engagement on Facebook and Twitter, respectively. The varied effect of content richness and content elaborateness were explicated. The study contributes to the emerging literature on tourist engagement and provides practical prescriptions for DMOs to effectively design cross-platform content.

Communication for destinations’ image in crises and disasters: a review and future research agenda

Comunicación Para la imagen de destinos en crisis y desastres: revisión y futura agenda de investigaciónResumenPropósitoEste estudio proporciona una perspectiva general, los “research fronts”- los temas más actuales de una disciplina científica-, los temas emergentes y una agenda de investigación sobre comunicación de crisis de la imagen de los destinos turísticos.MetodologíaLa investigación está basada en un análisis bibliográfico coupling, complementado con una clasificación h-Classics y un análisis temático de todos los artículos examinados con esta metodología bibliométrica (artículos fechados entre 2017 y 2021, ambos años incluidos).ResultadosCon este análisis bibliométrico, se identifican cuatro clusters temáticos. Dos de ellos, presentan los “research fronts”, los temas más vigentes de un campo científico: el cluster 1 se refiere a la comunicación realizada para transmitir el concepto de seguridad a los turistas, y el cluster 2 destaca la relevancia de la colaboración de todos los agentes turísticos para crear resiliencia en los destinos en la comunicación de crisis. Los otros dos clusters recogen los temas emergentes de investigación futura: el cluster 3 se centra en las estrategias de marketing para la época de postcrisis y el cluster 4 analiza cómo la comunicación contribuye a reducir la percepción de riesgo de los turistas y, por tanto, a potenciar su intención de viaje. Por último, el artículo propone una agenda de investigación basada en estos temas emergentes.Originalidad/valorHasta donde tenemos conocimiento, éste es el primer estudio bibliométrico especialmente enfocado a la comunicación de crisis para la imagen de los destinos turísticos (con sus tres etapas, precrisis, crisis y poscrisis). Esta investigación, que analiza la literatura más reciente en este campo, proporciona conocimiento sobre la comunicación de las crisis y desastres más recientes, a través de sus “research fronts”. Asimismo, propone una agenda con nuevos temas que están surgiendo en esta disciplina, útil para futuras investigaciones académicas. Dichos temas, junto con los aprendizajes de incidentes pasados, pueden ser usados por las Organizaciones de Marketing de Destinos (DMO, en sus siglas en inglés) para incorporarlos en su comunicación de crisis destinada a la recuperación de la imagen de los destinos turísticos en el actual escenario post pandemia o en futuras crisis o desastres.

Between authenticity and belonging: residents’ and tourists’ perception of the Cinque Terre (Italy) in Pixar-Disney’s Luca

ABSTRACT As mainstream cultural products, it is increasingly recognized that movies can influence the way places are perceived, exploited and materially transformed, particularly in tourism development. The relationship between movies and places has been widely explored in geographical research, but the role of animated features is still relatively unexplored. Thanks to its extremely precise geographical connotations, Disney-Pixar’s animated film Luca (2021) is an exceptional case study. The film is set in Cinque Terre (Liguria, NW Italy), an area that in the last twenty years has been affected by over tourism phenomena. By examining how the movie has been received by local institutions, residents and tourists, this paper aims to provide new insights into how such products can contribute to create meaning of places and influence local attractiveness. In particular, the paper focusses on Destination Marketing Organisations’ reactions to Luca’s release and how it was perceived by residents and tourists, by analysing the results of a survey we administered in 2021. The results show the positive impact and potential issues of geographically defined animated films particularly in terms of sense of belonging and authenticity perception amongst insiders and outsiders.

Special issue on food and beverage tourism: management and marketing perspectives

ABSTRACT Tourism and food & beverage are and have always been strongly connected. Nevertheless, in recent times, the experience potential of various types of local food and beverages (f & b) have sparked significant attention in food and beverage tourism amongst the tourism industry and destination marketing organizations. Food, beverage, and tourism researches have been done from a range of disciplines viewpoints, including finance, advertising, local participation, dietary habits, entrepreneurship, hospitality, ethnography, cognitive science, and other related fields, and the available literature on F & b tourism contains “management and marketing viewpoints” as well as “sociocultural viewpoints.” As a result, there has been a pressing need for new conceptual and empirical research that would add to the field of inquiry, particularly in the marketing and management aspects of f & b tourism, by recognizing important emerging developments. The selection of papers for this special issue on “Food and Beverage Tourism: Marketing and Management Perspectives” took a multidisciplinary approach. The goal was to provide a thorough overview of innovative issues while also presenting the current state of the tourism and marketing industries. Five papers were selected through a rigorous double-blind review process. These articles cover a wide range of topics in the field of food and beverage, including phenomenological examination of craft beer, mixing wine and tourism cultures, wine experienscape and visitor satisfaction, and wineries of Benedictine monasteries throughout Europe.

Extending the Conceptualization of Destination Brand Experiences

Tourism research has flourished over the last decade, providing novel insights and deepening the literature on destination branding and tourism experiences. Consequently, the initial conceptualization of destination brand experience (DBE) as a four-dimension concept may not fully capture the field’s expanded knowledge-base. The present study seeks to extend the conceptualization of DBE into six main dimensions (i.e., relational; spiritual, sensory, cognitive, affective, and behavioral) and provide empirical support for this extended conceptualization from a sample of tourists at Lake Malawi in Africa. The study contributes by providing support to the relevance of “relational” and “spiritual” dimensions as additional components of DBE. It offers insights to destination marketing organizations toward facilitating relational and spiritual dimensions that may be particularly relevant when tourists seek recovery and social experiences as travel and tourism re-emerges from the pandemic.

Risk or benefit? Economic and sociocultural impact of P2P accommodation on community resilience, consumer perception and behavioral intention

PurposeDrawing on the social exchange theory, stakeholder theory and extended theory of reasoned action, this study aims to investigate how consumers view the economic and sociocultural impacts (benefits/costs) of peer-to-peer (P2P) accommodations on the local community’s resilience and how consumers form behavioral intentions toward P2P accommodation as a part of sustainable tourism behavior.Design/methodology/approachWith data from a survey of 300 consumers who have previously used P2P accommodation, the authors performed partial least squares-structural equation modeling to test the proposed model and hypotheses.FindingsThe current study reveals the significant impact of the sociocultural benefits of P2P accommodations on consumers’ perceived community resilience, while economic benefits have a non-significant impact on perceived community resilience. Moreover, neither the sociocultural nor economic costs of P2P accommodation significantly reduce consumers’ perceived community resilience. Furthermore, the authors found significant positive relationships among perceived community resilience, attitude, subjective norm, personal norm and behavioral intentions.Practical implicationsP2P accommodation platforms can leverage these research findings and contribute to the community resilience and help community residents by establishing strategic collaboration with various stakeholders (e.g. governments, destination marketing organizations and non-profit organizations) for the community’s sustainable development.Originality/valueThis study systematically investigates the role of P2P accommodation in achieving community resilience by categorizing the impacts of P2P accommodation into economic and sociocultural benefits/costs.

Airbnb phenomenon: a review of literature and future research directions

PurposeThe paper intends to review academic research on peer to peer (P2P) accommodation sharing, notably Airbnb, for 2010–2022 and to identify the knowledge gaps for future research directions.Design/methodology/approachNumerous databases were searched using keywords. Based on the central theme of the research papers, the papers were divided into eight segments—consumer behavior, host behavior, host–guest relationship (HGR), trust in Airbnb, dominant theories in Airbnb, Airbnb regulation, Airbnb and hotels and macro impacts of Airbnb. In-depth content analysis resulted in the final 101 papers for inclusion.FindingsThe review advances comprehension of the Airbnb phenomenon by enriching the literature with new and most recent studies. Most existing Airbnb research has been conducted in Europe, USA/Canada, followed by Asian countries like China, Singapore, S. Korea and India. Future studies should include South America, Africa and other developing nations. More cross-cultural studies are required to understand consumer and host behavior in different cultural settings. Numerous proposals to fulfill the research gaps identified by the paper are discussed.Practical implicationsThe study will give better insights into the spiraling P2P accommodation economy. The study will be useful to researchers, scholars, Airbnb, the hotel industry, vacation rental players and destination marketing organizations by relating the study findings to practical competition analysis. The study provides deeper insights into the decision-making process of both guests and hosts by examining the relevant motivators and constraints. It will also assist the Airbnb platform in identifying its strength over the traditional hotel industry and other vacation rentals. The findings will also assist policymakers in better controlling the Airbnb phenomena by providing a comprehensive view of the micro and macro environment.Originality/valueThe paper includes the most recent studies from Asian countries like India, Singapore, China, Korea and Taiwan, not covered by earlier reviews. Prior studies mainly focused on European and American countries. Also, the paper tried to cover the macro impacts of Airbnb in-depth and the effects of COVID-19.

Attracted by a Song: Image-building and tourist-attracting effects of destination songs

ABSTRACT Taking a popular folk song in China, Chengdu, as an example, this paper uses sensory marketing theory to analyze the impact of destination songs on listeners’ perception of destination image and discusses how auditory stimulation promotes destination brand building and attracts potential tourists. Results showed that the experience of the destination song significantly affects the listeners’ perception of destination image, which leads to a greater willingness to visit by enhancing the place attachment between the listeners and the destination. The experience of the destination song can also enhance the listeners’ willingness to visit by directly establishing place attachment to the destination through the non-mental processing path. Compared with the path of image building, the non-mental processing path exerts a stronger influence on the willingness to visit. The results of this study extend the findings in the destination sensory marketing and tourist behavior literature. Additionally, we provide actionable guidelines for destination marketing organizations on how to attract tourists with destination songs.

Developing a Wine Event Portfolio by Wine Stakeholders at Individual Wineries in Victoria, Australia

This exploratory study identifies the economic benefits for wine regions, but specifically where wine stakeholders invest in their own event portfolio creating fun and social occasions. There is little empirical research about the utility of an event portfolio in regional areas and even less in relation to their application to Victorian wine events making the study innovative in nature. It is the first attempt to represent the viewpoint of wine stakeholders. A qualitative geographical bounded case study approach was applied to explore the rational and benefits of developing a wine event portfolio in two Victorian wine regions from a wine stakeholders' perspective. The findings suggest that while destination marketing organizations were familiar with the term 'event portfolio' the concept was quite new for event organizers at individual wineries. Nonetheless, they were planning for multiple events across the year and aimed to capture a range of benefits by holding more than one annual event. These benefits for wine stakeholders' representing individual wineries are an increase in wine sales, diverse demographics of winery visitors and repeat visitation throughout the calendar year. This is despite the increase in financial risk and time commitments by wine stakeholders' hosting wine events at their winery. The paper concludes by suggesting the future research should focus on other viewpoints and replicating this study in other wine regions highlighting the importance and greater benefits of investing in regional development focusing on wine event tourism.

Network Interaction Utility of User-Generated Content and Destination Image Perception

The overall aim of this article is to construct and empirically validate a theoretical model about how network interaction utility based on user-generated content in virtual tourism communities influences tourism destination image perception with susceptibility to interpersonal influence as a moderating variable. Seventeen hypotheses are proposed after theoretical deduction and are then tested. A presurvey with 63 valid questionnaires and a formal survey with 432 valid questionnaires were conducted. Then the researchers used reliability analysis, factor analysis, correlation analysis, structural equation modeling, and hierarchical regression. The results show that susceptibility to informational interpersonal influence plays a significantly negative moderating role in the relationship between instrumental utility and cognitive image perception and the relationship between psychological utility and cognitive or affective image perception. Susceptibility to normative interpersonal influence significantly negatively moderates the relationship between psychological utility and cognitive or affective image perception. The findings and marketing implications helps destination marketing organizations reasonably plan tourism resources utilization and tourism product development to build or maintain a sustainable destination.

EFFECTS OF BRAND PERSONALITY DIMENSIONS AND SELF-CONGRUITY ON REVISIT INTENTION: A STRUCTURAL EQUATION MODELING APPROACH

The study is aimed to test the structural relationship between brand personality dimensions, selfcongruity (i.e., actual and ideal self-congruity) and revisit intention. Brand personality was conceptualised as a five-dimensional construct including sincerity, excitement, competence, sophistication, and ruggedness. When Chinese outbound tourists perceived various personality traits of destination brand, it might influence their revisit intentions to Glasgow, UK. The current study proposed that self-congruity exerted mediating effects between five dimensions of brand personality and revisit intention. Structural equation modelling was applied to confirming the hypothesis testing. Findings of current study suggested that only two dimensions (sincerity and excitement) had an indirect impact on revisit intention through ideal self-congruity. Furthermore, this study contributed to the extant literature by partially confirming self-congruity theory in the setting of Glasgow tourism. Research findings are also beneficial to destination marketing organisations (DMOs) in their efforts to make Glasgow destination attract more repeated Chinese tourists.

Executing a destination branding strategy: Louisville Tourism’s Urban Bourbon Trail

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to add new insights into the discussion of how a city’s destination marketing organization (DMO) can apply operant resources to act upon its operant resources to create, market and manage a unique brand over time.Design/methodology/approachThe study uses an abductive approach to advance understanding of how to execute a branding strategy that evolves over time while strategically curating its unique and valued resources. This understanding is based on an in-depth review of Louisville’s branding journey, including written documents and interviews with people involved in building the branding strategy.FindingsThis paper presents a model to help destinations focus on how to create, market and manage the delivery of a branded ecosystem that capitalizes on its resources. The study adds new insights into how DMOs can curate a destination’s resources into an ecosystem that delivers its brand promise over time.Originality/valueThe study introduces the idea of ecotopes to expand an understanding of tourism ecosystems, it presents the concept of a customer journey to depict a destination’s branding strategy, incorporates Barney’s Resource Based Theory (Barney & Clark, 2007) into the process of creating a destination’s brand and applies Barnard’s (1938) classic Acceptance Theory of Authority to explain how DMOs can execute a destination’s branding strategy.

Exploring entertainment tourism experience in integrated resorts: a process-based perspective

ABSTRACT Entertainment tourism experience is an emerging but largely overlooked phenomenon. The current study, adopting a qualitative approach, explored travel motivation and entertainment tourism experience from tourists’ and industry professionals’ perspectives. A total of 33 tourists and 18 industry professionals in Macao were interviewed. Three layers of entertainment tourism experience were identified, namely, behavioural, functional and affective aspects of experience. Furthermore, the three layers of experience were reported to be interrelated and played different roles in creating tourists’ entertainment experience. The study accordingly established an integrated flow of entertainment tourism experience. Moreover, the study offered practical implications to destination marketing organizations, industry practitioners, and tourists on cultivating a desired entertainment tourism experience for the tourists.

What Drives Event Discovery Apps User Behaviors Among Generation Z? Evidence from Macau

The purpose of this research is threefold: (1) to develop a theoretical framework for the investigation of event discovery mobile applications (event discovery apps) usage behavior, (2) to examine the core determinants from the technology acceptance model (TAM), and (3) to study the effect of moderating factors in explaining the relationships of influential factors among young event-goers. Generation Z event discovery apps usage behavior was examined by incorporating the psychology-based TAM to understand motivational factors better. Results revealed that core TAM factors (perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness) influenced Generation Z's event discovery apps adoption behavior. Additionally, price value and perceived enjoyment, as extensions of the TAM, were found to have a significant influence on Generation Z's attitude and intention. This research contributes to the body of knowledge pertaining to the "Generation Smart" (Generation Z) by filling the void in the psychological literature on young consumerism and provide empirical research with a replicable theoretical framework. Further, for members of the festival and event industry alike (e. g., destination marketing organizations), this research offers up-to-date and insightful information that pertains to the needs of young consumers while developing self-enabled products or services to empower smart event development and advance the marketing efforts of local festivals and events.

The Changing Role of Regional Australian Destination Management Organisations in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic

This study explores the changing role of Destination Management Organisations (DMOs) in response to the COVID-19 Pandemic within the regional context of Tropical North Queensland. A case study of a Regional Tourism Organisation (RTO) is utilised to gain insights into external and internal stakeholder perspectives on the changing role of DMOs in response to COVID-19. This research adopts a qualitative approach to investigate insights into the specific phenomenon of the changing role of regional DMOs in response to the COVID-19 Pandemic. The research was conducted in two stages: semi-structured interviews and thematic analysis of the transcripts. This research project (including methodologies engaged) was approved by James Cook University’s Human Research Ethics Committee, reference number H8559, on September 29 2021. The insights provided suggest that changes made within the RTO were mostly temporary and that there is a desire from external and internal stakeholders for the RTO to return to a marketing function post the acute phase of the Pandemic. Findings indicate that the role of a regional DMO can shift to a role of destination management in times of crisis and then revert to one adapted to marketing functions in the recovery period. Recommendations for the role of destination marketing and management organisations in response to times of crisis are presented and include flexibility of the role of DMOs in crisis management, the requirement for strong leadership and the need for ongoing consultation with the industry about the desired role and function of DMOs.

Lessons from COVID-19 for the future: destination crisis management, tourist behaviour and tourism industry trends

PurposeThis research aims at arriving at a broad scope of the lessons learnt after two years of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic outbreak by analysing the catalyst and inhibiting factors within three aspects of the tourism sector: destination crisis management, tourist behaviour and tourism industry trends.Design/methodology/approachThe methodology of this paper involves semi-structured interviews with high-ranking European travel agents as the agents represent the intermediates between the tourism offer and demand.FindingsData obtained from travel agents disclosed the factors that catalysed and inhibited the destination, the behaviour of tourists and the tourism industry trends. By contrasting data with previous literature, constructing an overview of the positive and negative outcomes of the pandemic in the tourism sector is possible.Practical implicationsGovernments, destination marketing and management organisations and tourism and hospitality organisations could learn from the lessons of COVID-19 outbreak to cope better with future disruptive events affecting the tourism industry.Originality/valueThe paper is novel as it is the first overview that attempts to synthesise the lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic in the tourism sector by analysing tourism sector's three dimensions: the destination, the tourists and the industry.