Destination Marketing Organizations and destination marketing: A narrative analysis of the literature

This article presents the first narrative analysis of the areas of research that have developed within the destination marketing field since its commencement in 1973. Given the broad extent of the field, and the absence of any previous reviews in four decades, a key challenge is in providing a focus for such a disparate body of knowledge. The review is structured around one principal question: ‘To what extent is the Destination Marketing Organisation (DMO) responsible for the competitiveness of the destination?’. In pursuit of this underlying question, we address a number of themes including nomenclature and the DMO, the evolution of the destination marketing literature, competitiveness as the DMO reason d'être, and DMO effectiveness including issues of branding and positioning, and future research themes in the field.     

Social media micro-film marketing by Chinese destinations: The case of Shaoxing

Marketing destinations by micro-films via social media is becoming more popular among Chinese destinations. Little has been published about this phenomenon in the tourism literature. Using a netnographic case study from the city of Shaoxing, this research revealed the success factors for micro-film marketing by destinations. The research results showed that during the micro-film diffusion process, destination marketers were continuously and actively engaging with followers and online and offline marketing efforts were well planned and integrated. Attractions without uniqueness were impressive to viewers by being embodied in a romantic theme. Suggestions and implications for destination marketing are given.     

Image and perceived risk: A study of Uganda and its official tourism website

Increasingly, perceived risk is part of a destination’s image. This is particularly true for Africa. This study investigated images and risks associated with Uganda and whether exposure to Uganda’s official tourism website could induce image change. A classic two group randomized experimental design was used. Exposure to Uganda’s official tourism website was the intervention. Pre-test images, formed prior to website exposure were negative for both groups, and Uganda was perceived as a risky destination. Post-test images for the experimental group, formed after exposure to the website, were significantly more positive and perceived risk was reduced. Post-test images and perceived risk for the control group remained the same. Five underlying dimensions of perceived risk in Uganda were identified. It appears that by addressing these underlying dimensions, African destinations could use the web to better manage image and perceived risk. More integration between the image and risk literatures is recommended.     

Processing promotional travel narratives

While research exists which examines the use of tourism promotional communications (2 and 40), an investigation of how travelers process such promotional communications is lacking. In response, this study sought to investigate processing as well as perceived skepticism towards tourism promotional communications. The importance of understanding processing and perceived skepticism resides in the fact that both have been linked to overall message persuasiveness; and as such, both are essential to developing and implementing effective travel promotional communications. Specifically, this study sought to examine if participants differed based on their demographic characteristics in (1) the degree to which participants’ were able to be transported by a narrative (i.e. process), and (2) participants’ level of perceived skepticism concerning travel articles and travel brochures. To do so, Green and Brock’s (2000) Transportation scale and Obermiller and Spangenberg’s (1998) Skepticism Towards Advertising scale (SKEP) were incorporated.     

Services Research in Destination Marketing

Abstract

This paper examines the past performance of, and future prospects for, services marketing research into tourism destination marketing and management. While service delivery by individual enterprises is important, the fundamental products of the industry are destination experiences that incorporate commercial tourism services as well as non-commercial activities and interactions. For this reason, the paper focuses on tourism destinations rather than the individual enterprises that deliver services to tourists at destinations. The paper identifies areas that have attracted a concentration of research effort to date. The principal objective of the paper, however, is to identify services research issues deserving greater attention by service researchers in general and tourism researchers in particular.     

Expanding theory of tourists’ destination loyalty: The role of sensory impressions

What shapes tourist's attitudes towards destinations most, abstract destination image or concrete sensory impressions? This exploratory research investigates the unique role played by sensory impressions in understanding destination loyalty through a multi-level validation process utilizing three progressive studies. Study 1, based on online reviews found that positive sensory impressions have a positive effect on loyalty while negative sensory impressions have a negative effect. A field study then revealed that sensory impressions can be distinguished from destination image and provides incremental explanatory power on loyalty. Through a survey of actual tourists, Study 3 verified the robustness of the conclusions of the first two studies and provides evidence that sensory impressions are related to other outcome concepts (perceived quality, value and satisfaction). This research illustrates the mechanisms behind the influence of this emerging construct on destination loyalty, and more importantly, verifies its importance and necessity through a more rigorous multi-level validation.     

Perceptions of visitor relationship marketing opportunities by destination marketers: An importance-performance analysis

Customer relationship marketing (CRM) initiatives are increasingly being adopted by businesses in the attempt to enhance brand loyalty and stimulate repeat purchases. The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which destination marketing organisations (DMOs) around the world have developed a visitor relationship marketing (VRM) orientation. The proposition underpinning the study is that maintaining meaningful dialogue with previous visitors in some markets would represent a more efficient use of resources than above the line advertising to attract new visitors. Importance-performance analysis was utilised to measure destination marketers’ perceptions of the efficacy of CRM initiatives, and then rate their own organisation’s performance across the same range of initiatives. A key finding was that mean importance was higher than perceived performance for every item. While the small sample limits generalisability, in general there are appears to be a lack of strategic intent by DMOs to invest in VRM.     

Analyzing Destination Images: A Perceptual Charting Approach

Abstract

Heterogeneity of perceptions is a neglected issue in market segmentation studies. Only recently parametric approaches toward modeling segmented perception-preference structures such as combined MDS and Latent Class procedures have been introduced. A completely different nonparametric method is based on topology-sensitive vector quantization (VQ) for consumers-by-brands-by-attributes data. It maps the segment-specific perceptual structures into bar charts with multiple brand positions exhibiting perceptual distinctiveness or similarity. A brief introduction into the VQ methodology is followed by a sample study on three urban destinations competing on the world travel markets. City images serve as the underlying behavioral constructs. Preferential data are based on respondents' comes-closest-to-ideal-city judgments and incorporated into the perceptual positions of city profiles. Perceptual charting works on two levels of aggregation named prototypes and perceptual sub-structures. The results demonstrate how this method prevents the analyst from drawing erroneous conclusions due to uncontrolled aggregation.     

Shopping destinations and trust – Tourist attitudes: Scale development and validation

Shopping is one of the oldest tourist activities and commonly accounts for the majority of travel budgets. However, tourists have expressed concerns regarding the risks they face in shopping destinations. Scholars have suggested that trust is a mechanism for reducing the complexity of human behavior in a situation that involves uncertainty. Therefore, the present study aims to investigate the trust of tourists toward shopping destinations. Specifically, the study attempts to develop and validate the measurement properties of a scale, which measures shopping destination trust. The target sample comprised shopping tourists. Via convenience sampling, 708 usable samples were collected in Hong Kong. Subsequently, purification of the measurement scale, assessment of the latent structure, and scale validation were conducted. Results reveal that shopping destination trust consists of nine dimensions. The present research is expected to shed light on potential research topics in the field of shopping tourism.