Effective Destination Marketing Research Articles

Floating Market History, Status, and Changes: Insights from Vietnam

Floating markets are a unique form of traditional commercial business, playing an important role in waterway trade and featuring distinctively attractive local cultural values. Studies of floating markets not only provide insights into cultural heritage but also foster better conservation and effective destination marketing and promotion. Research data were collected from structured interviews with 80 merchants and 8 representatives of state management agencies responsible for culture and tourism. Moreover, unstructured interviews with 34 merchants were undertaken. Field observations and literature review also provided relevant sources of information to frame our research. The findings in this study indicate that floating markets in Vietnam have distinctive features that have been historically long formed as a consequence of both natural and socioeconomic factors. Floating markets are found to play a focal role in the socioeconomic and cultural development of the country. There are also some critical changes made to conventional spaces, trading boat quantity, travel and trading activities, community relations, and impacts in the floating markets.

All I know – destination cognitive image latent profile analysis

Purpose Understanding the multifaceted images of tourism destinations is critical for effective destination marketing and management strategies. Traditional approaches, including conceptualization of destination images or analysis of their antecedents and consequences, are commonly used. This study aims to advocate the inclusion of visitors’ latent profiles based on cognitive images to enrich the evaluation and formulation of destination marketing and management strategies. Design/methodology/approach The analysis focuses on Serbia, an emerging destination, that attracts an increasing number of first-time, repeat and prospective visitors. Exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were used to test the potential dimensions (tangible and intangible cultural destination; infrastructural and accessible destination; active, nature and family destination; sensory and hospitable destination; and welcoming, value for money (VFM) and safe destination) of the cognitive destination image factors scale while subtypes (profiles) were obtained using latent profile analysis (LPA). Findings The cognitive image component encompasses the perceived attributes of a destination, whether derived from direct experience or acquired through other means. The study identified the following profiles: conventional destination; sensory and hospitable destination; welcoming, VFM and safe destination; secure and active family destination and accessible cultural destination, which are presented individually with their sociodemographic assets. Originality/value The main contribution of the paper is the application of a novel method (LPA) for profiling visitor segments based on cognitive destination image. From a theoretical perspective, this research contributes to the extant body of literature pertaining to the destination image, thereby facilitating the identification of discrete latent visitor segments and elucidating noteworthy differences among them concerning a cognitive image.

The language of marketing hyperbole and consumer perception-The case of Glasgow.

The aim of the study was to explore the potential of a timed word association task to generate detailed insights into the perception of Glasgow city and its people which could inform destination and brand marketing. Destination marketers have a challenge to convey the tourist destination image to attract and satisfy the expectations of its visitors. Yet destination perceptions are often the result of multiple tourist visitor experiences at a location, neglecting the voice of the resident. The extent to which word associations varied by participants' relationship to Glasgow was identified in terms of Aaker's brand personality scale, an extension of personality research on brands and destinations. Surveying of 1,219 UK participants generated a total of 5,993 terms (city; 1,144 unique) and 5,034 terms (people; 944 unique). The value of capturing the perceptions of a destination by its residents is identified. The results showed that the city of Glasgow was often described as cold and busy, while the people were primarily described as friendly and funny. Evidence was found in support of dual-processing theory suggesting word associations based on lived experiences of a city may be generated later (in terms of the order in which the terms were generated) in a word association task, while common linguistic associations (e.g. synonyms, antonyms, hierarchies etc.) tend to be generated earlier in the task. As hypothesised, analyses revealed a significant relationship between several of the Aaker-dimensions of brand personality, and the consumers' relationship to Glasgow, extending marketing research with an empirical approach to identifying differences in the perceived personality of a destination. The study offers a practical, fast, and replicable method for destination marketers to study consumer perception at scale, which is currently not widely utilised in this field. In particular, the use of semantic distance and word embeddings provides a readily available approach to automatically categorise content derived from word associations studies, or indeed, any text-based content. In contrast, financial investment in non-validated branding and destination marketing campaigns appear to be increasingly problematic. Advances were made in testing an approach to interpreting word associations through the lens of linguistic and situated simulation (LASS) theory to provide deeper analysis to both categorise and interpret consumers' perception. Traditional approaches to tourism marketing and destination branding rarely provide such a level of analytical appraisal. The analysis presented in this paper challenges the orthodoxy and validity of investment in brand and destination marketing at a city level and the potential for word association tasks to be used as a valuable alternative method to create more effective destination marketing and branding.

THE ROLE OF STRATEGIC EVENT MANAGEMENT IN DESTINATION MARKETING

Natia Beridze 
 E-mail: beridze.natia@bsu.edu.ge 
 Assistant Professor,Batumi Shota Rustaveli State University 
 Batumi, Georgia
 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5706-5380
 
 Tamar Beridze 
 E-mail: beridze.tamar@bsu.edu.ge 
 Assistant Professor,Batumi Shota Rustaveli State University 
 Batumi, Georgia
 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8290-0998
 
 Tsira Tsetskhladze 
 E-mail: tsira.tsetskhladze@bsu.edu.ge 
 Assistant Professor,Batumi Shota Rustaveli State University 
 Batumi, Georgia
 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6907-7637
 
 Abstract: The role of destination management in the development of sustainable tourism is highly important. However, it is also essential to note that effective destination marketing has an equally vital role to play in shaping the success of the tourism sector. The organization of events of various kinds has become more important in recent years, not only by focusing on the short-term increase in tourism demand, but also as an element of urban development policy with hoped-for effects on politics, economy and society. The aim of this article is to highlight the challenges in event management with a focus on small events. Management approaches to the involvement and interaction of stakeholders, the formation of a planning strategy for the development of the destination are considered. The role and nature of sponsorship associated with increasing the value of small events, as well as the development of a marketing management model for territory marketing, are investigated. Article also emphasizes the role of complex communication strategies in increasing the value of small events. In the conclusion, the marketing management model for small events is represented, that can be the result of problem solving processes by event organizers based on the creation of alliances in the community ecosystem.

Virtual reality’s impact on destination visit intentions and the moderating role of amateur photography

FinalidadEsta investigación analizó los efectos de las experiencias de realidad virtual (VREs) y las emociones en las intenciones de visita a destinos vacacionales aplicando el modelo estímulo-organismo-respuesta (S-O-R). También examinó el papel de la fotografía amateur como moderador en la relación entre las VREs, las emociones y las intenciones de visita.Diseño/metodología/enfoqueLos datos primarios se recogieron mediante una encuesta con cuestionario estructurado administrado en la India, y se utilizó la modelización de ecuaciones estructurales (SEM) para examinar las relaciones entre las variables. La encuesta principal fue precedida de un estudio piloto. Se aplicó la técnica PLS-SEM para medir el efecto moderador de la fotografía amateur.ResultadosCuando las personas poseen un alto nivel de emociones positivas en la etapa previa al viaje con participación en VRE, sus intenciones de visitar destinos son más fuertes. La fotografía amateur moderó las relaciones entre la interactividad del usuario, las experiencias memorables, las imágenes mentales y las intenciones de visita. No se encontró ningún efecto moderador significativo entre las experiencias emocionales y las intenciones de visita.Originalidad/valorEsta investigación tiene el valor de hacer varias contribuciones potenciales a las aplicaciones turísticas de la realidad virtual. Es el primer estudio que utiliza y pone a prueba el marco estímulo-organismo-respuesta (S-O-R) para analizar el comportamiento de los turistas desde la perspectiva de las emociones generadas por las aplicaciones de RV. El análisis se centra en el mercado turístico de la India, poco explorado en el contexto de la RV y desde la perspectiva de un país en desarrollo. La investigación hace hincapié en el uso de la RV como herramienta para comprender el comportamiento de los turistas, en lugar de centrarse únicamente en las intenciones de visita. Las conclusiones aportan valiosas ideas sobre la importancia de la RV en el turismo. Los conocimientos generados contribuirán a comprender el impacto de las experiencias de RV en las emociones y las intenciones de visita, así como el efecto moderador de la fotografía amateur. Se presentan implicaciones prácticas para los responsables de marketing de los destinos turísticos a la hora de desarrollar estrategias de marketing eficaces que potencien las emociones de los turistas y motiven las intenciones de visita.

Understanding the world heritage sites’ brand diffusion and formation via social media: a mixed-method study

PurposeBuilding on social media and destination brand-related literature, this study aims to explore World Heritage Sites’ (WHSs) brand diffusion and formation process from long-term and short-term perspectives, which includes brand diffusion, user-generated content (UGC), opinion leaders and brand events’ impact.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses a mixed-method including text mining, keyword analysis and social network analysis to explore the brand formation process of four popular WHSs in Beijing, namely, the Palace Museum, Great Wall, Summer Palace and Temple of Heaven and more than 10,000,000 users’ data on Sina Weibo has been implemented to uncover the underlying social media branding mechanism.FindingsThe results show that the number of postings keeps in a stable range in most months, but, in general, there are no common rules for changing trends among the four WHSs; long-term high-frequency keywords related to history and culture account for a higher percentage; different kinds of accounts have varying impacts on information diffusion, in which media accounts lead to a bigger influence. However, more followers do not necessarily mean more interactions and most of the interaction ratio is much lower than 0.01000; brand events facilitate brand dissemination and have an impact on the creation of UGC.Practical implicationsThis study is valuable for destination marketers to deeper understand brand diffusion and formation and provides valuable insights for developing effective destination marketing strategies.Originality/valueUnlike previous studies that only concern a few parts of destination brand formation via social media (e.g. brand diffusion, brand events or opinion leaders’ impact), this study takes a more comprehensive perspective by systematically analyzing the brand formation process of WHSs on social media. By considering both long-term diffusion and short-term representative events, this study provides a more holistic understanding of the branding mechanism.

A Longitudinal Study of Destination Image, Tourist Satisfaction, and Revisit Intention

International tourists’ perceptions of the destination’s image, travel satisfaction and revisit intentions are crucial to effective destination marketing and overall destination competitiveness. Tourist destinations often compete through their image in potential tourists’ minds. Therefore, a destination image is central due to its influence on tourists’ decision-making and destination selection. Successful destination marketing depends on the in-depth understanding of the destination image held by tourists. This study investigates the destination image changes of Mongolia for specific periods of time. The research examines the attributes of destination images through a longitudinal comparison of data sets from 2004 to 2019 to determine if any change in destination images existed over time. The research model was developed on the attributes of cognitive and affective images, tourist satisfaction, and revisit intentions. The first set of data was obtained from the 280 international tourists who travelled to Mongolia in 2004. The second set of data was obtained from 310 international tourists who travelled to Mongolia in 2019. The research model was validated using structural equation modelling. Independent sample t-tests were performed using two data sets to examine changes in the destination image over the years. The result shows that there are positive changes in the cognitive and affective image of the destination in a given period of time, which influenced tourist satisfaction and their revisit intentions. The implications of the research findings for the travel intermediaries, destination marketing organizations, and potential future research are also discussed.

What Shapes Activity Preferences? The Role of Tourist Personality, Destination Personality and Destination Image: Evidence from Serbia

Understanding activity preferences and their antecedents is essential for creating personalized tourism offers and effective destination marketing, vital components of a sustainable tourism destination. Previous studies have provided insights into tourist behavior and activity choices, but without research on activity preferences and their relationship with perceptions of destinations. The literature still lacks an integrative model exploring the antecedents of activity preferences, including tourist characteristics, destination personality, and destination image, and explaining the nature of the relationships between them. This research proposes and tests a structural model of individual characteristics, destination image, destination personality, and activity preferences. A survey was conducted on a sample of 502 visitors to The Trail of Roman Emperors in Serbia. The results confirmed the influence of personality (extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness) and destination personality (sincerity and ruggedness) on activity preferences. Additionally, the model revealed the significant influence of individual characteristics on perceptions of destination personality and image. Managerial implications were given in light of the importance of this research for destination branding that will support long-term destination sustainability.

The identity change of rural–urban transformational tourism development in Chiang Mai heritage city: local residents’ perspectives

Purpose This paper aims to develop an empirical understanding of the local identity changes of Chiang Mai heritage city from residents’ perspectives from when the city was pushed forward to inscription on the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites during a period of transformation in tourism development. The indicative themes of identity change are proposed in a conceptualised model of the multiple stages of identity change in transformational tourism development. Design/methodology/approach This study applied the qualitative approach to gain insight on local residents in Chiang Mai. Twenty-two semi-structured interviews were conducted with local residents who underwent transformational experiences with the city, including life-changing tourism experiences with mixtures of senior citizens who were born in the city, migrants and local experts. Site observations and secondary data supplemented the interviews were used in triangulation with identity changes during the transformational tourism period. Findings This study’s findings revealed identity changes in locals’ way of life regarding tradition and culture and the increased urbanisation. The indicative themes that caused local identity changes included tourism demand, national policy and new critical emerging issues of capitalism and education are underlined. The way of life in local community transition, tradition and culture has been distorted by effective destination marketing, However, the positive perspectives of identity changes were explored in this study. Originality/value This study fills a research gap, given that few scholars (Gu and Ryan, 2007; Lean, 2009; Lemmi et al., 2018; Reisinger, 2015; Robledo and Batle, 2017; Willson et al., 2013; Xue et al., 2017) have conducted in-depth studies on identity change problems that are caused by rural to urban transformational tourism development.

Investigate Tourist Behavior through Mobile Signal: Tourist Flow Pattern Exploration in Tibet

Identifying the tourist flow of a destination can promote the development of travel-related products and effective destination marketing. Nevertheless, tourist inflows and outflows have only received limited attention from previous studies. Hence, this study visualizes the tourist flow of Tibet through social network analysis to bridge the aforementioned gap. Findings show that the Lhasa prefecture is the transportation hub of Tibet. Tourist flow in the eastern part of Tibet is generally stronger than that in the western part. Moreover, the tourist flow pattern identified mainly includes “(diverse or balanced) diffusion from the main center”, “clustering to the main center”, and “diffusion from a clustered circle”.

Homosexual not Homogeneous: A Motivation-Based Typology of Gay Leisure Travelers Holidaying in Cape Town, South Africa

ABSTRACTThe gay traveler, a segment of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) travel market, is perceived to be a homogeneous market segment as a result of the assumption that gay men have a unique “homosexual lifestyle.” This assumption is problematic as it conceals many other important variables, and it may hinder effective destination marketing. A Web-based electronic survey was completed by 469 gay male travelers, and attribute-based benefit segmentation was carried out by applying a hierarchical cluster analysis using Ward’s procedure with Euclidean distances. The typology is based on the push and pull framework; the motivations of travelers were assessed both in terms of their socio-psychological motivations and destination attributes of Cape Town. The typology empirically suggests that gay travelers are not homogeneous, and that sexuality influences the travel behavior of a minority of gay men. Consequently, not all gay travelers or activities by these travelers can be labeled as “gay” tourism.

Data Mining in Tourism Data Analysis: Inbound Visitors to Japan

The increasing power of technology puts new, advanced statistical tools at the disposal of researchers. This is one of the first research articles to use a data mining tool—namely, decision trees—to analyze the behavior of inbound tourists for the purpose of effective future destination marketing in Japan. The research results of approximately 4,000 observations show that the main motivation for visitors’ future return is not driven by experiences had during their most current visit but rather by experiences anticipated in the future, such as visiting hot springs or immersing themselves in beautiful natural settings. The data mining method largely excludes the possibility of the intrusion of researcher subjectivity and is conducive to useful discoveries of certain visitor patterns in large data sets, providing governments and destination marketing organizations with additional tools to better formulate effective destination marketing strategies.

Virtual Community Based Destination Marketing with YouTube

YouTube has now evolved into a powerful medium for social interaction. Utilizing YouTube for enhancing marketing endeavours is a strategy practiced by marketing professionals across several industries. This paper rationalizes on the different strategies of leveraging YouTube-based platforms for effective destination marketing by the hospitality industry (hotels) and provides insights on the critical drivers and challenges embedded within YouTube-based community interactions for destination marketing. The comments made by YouTube users have been subjected to a content analysis and the results are reported under the five broad clusters of virtual communities. More broadly, the typology of virtual communities is adapted to evaluate the YouTube platform for effective destination marketing.

Contemporary insights to the dynamic pre-trip information sourcing behaviour

Prior to their trips, leisure travellers search for information, both in the pre- and the post-decision stages. Previous studies on leisure travel decision making have documented how personal characteristics and perceived risk influence pre-trip information sourcing, but not detailed their effects on information sources used before and after a purchase decision is made. This study explores the role of traveller characteristics and the mediating effects of perceived risk on the choice of pre-trip information sources used by Finnish leisure travellers. The findings disclose a dynamic structure of information sources used before and after purchase decision contingent on risk perception. In particular, risk-averse travellers make increased use of television (commercials, news and TV travel shows), radio and family as information sources in a post-decision stage. For practice, these findings imply that tourism and hospitality marketers benefit from effective destination marketing strategies spanning an optimal mix of information channels.

Is social class still working? Revisiting the social class division in tourist consumption

The effects of social class division have been extensively examined in tourist behaviour studies, but mostly on specific tourism forms, attractions, or activities. Limited empirical research has looked into the effects of social class difference (as well as other demographic variables) on tourists' destination consumption in a holistic and comprehensive way. To revisit the role of social class in today's tourist consumption, this study stratified a group of American tourists based on their social class and compared their participation patterns in four types of destination activities: cultural, hedonic, nature-based, and shopping-related. The empirical data were from a conversion and destination branding study conducted for Thoroughbred Country, South Carolina. The analysis gained mixed results, as social class was found to have significant impacts on tourists' consumption of certain destination products/activities, but not on others. It was expected that this study could not only contribute to the research endeavours in tourist consuming behaviour, but also provide practical implications for more effective destination marketing and market segmentation strategies.

Mediating Perceived Travel Constraints: The Role of Destination Image

ABSTRACT This study assessed the mediating effects of destination image on the relationship between travel constraints and intention to visit. Structural equation modeling identified that destination image mediates between travel constraints and intention to visit, and thereby the negative impact of perceived constraints on intention to visit could be alleviated through the mediating effect of destination image. Thus, travelers can find the means to alleviate travel constraints through a negotiation mechanism. The findings provide practical implications for effective destination marketing programs in that the negative impact from travel constraints can, to a great extent, be mitigated.

Sweepstakes Promotions to Build Database for Promoting International Tourism Destinations

This article discusses the importance of a tourism-oriented database to promote tourism destinations and how sweepstakes promotions can be utilized in developing a sophisticated database for more effective destination marketing. The article presents various ways databases can be utilized by domestic and international destination marketers. Sweepstakes promotions can be effective in promoting international tourism and attracting potential tourists to desired destinations of the sponsoring countries. In addition, they can also be used to develop a sophisticated database from sweepstakes entrants. Such a database could be used to design more effective relationship marketing strategies. Finally, the article presents several managerial implications for building a more effective database from targeted sweepstakes.

Monumentality in ‘Capital’ Cities and Its Implications for Tourism Marketing

Monuments and monumental architecture are established vehicles for communicating capital city status. The need to reduce complex cities into simplified images also means they can be very effective destination marketing tools. This paper assesses the relationship between monuments, capital city status and tourism marketing. Monumental developments in Barcelona during two periods, 1888–1929 and 1982-present, are used to explore this relationship. Barcelona provides an interesting example, because of the city's attempts to reassert its historic status as the capital of Catalunya and of the SW Mediterranean. Despite some noted variances in the scope of, and rationale for, monumentality, the paper concludes that in both eras, attempts to monumentalise the city has assisted political and tourism ambitions. Operational implications are also identified.

Tourist purchase decision involvement and information preferences

This study examines the relationships between tourists’ purchase decision involvement and their information search behaviours. The behaviours include their information preferences as measured by perceived value of different types of information contents, and their use of the internet as an information channel. The relationships are presented in a proposed conceptual framework of the tourist information search process, and tested through two hypotheses using a survey sample. The findings reveal that tourist information preferences significantly differed from one level of purchase decision involvement to another in seven out of 13 instances. It is also found that there are significant differences in using the internet as a destination information channel from one level of purchase decision involvement to another. The findings are discussed in the context of developing effective destination marketing strategies.

East versus West: A comparison of online destination marketing in China and the USA

The internet is playing an increasingly important role in destination marketing. To explore the current situation of online marketing in major destinations, this study compared destination marketing organisation (DMO) websites in the USA and China. By applying a modified balanced scorecard approach, website marketing strategies, web page designs, marketing information and technical qualities were evaluated. The main purpose was to determine similarities and differences among the official DMO websites in the USA and China. Four tiers of DMO websites were evaluated: state tourism offices and convention and visitors bureaus (CVBs) in the USA, and provincial and city tourism administrations in China. US DMO websites were found to be superior to those in China in terms of marketing strategies and information, and US CVB sites received the highest evaluations. Based on the evaluation results, recommendations were made on how DMOs can improve their websites to develop them into more effective destination marketing tools.