Tourists taking photographs: the long tail in tourists' perceived image of Barcelona

This study examines photographs taken by tourists of Barcelona in order to identify the perceived image of the city. Specifically, the study analyses 3100 photographs uploaded by tourist photographers on the social network Flickr. The method of analysis used was content analysis. The findings demonstrate that Barcelona's perceived image is dominated by a few very popular sights, but also contains a large number of new sights and spaces. These new elements are not of much individual value, but collectively account for a large volume and therefore have the capacity to expand the city's image. This is the long tail of Barcelona's tourist image, providing the city with a new image created by tourists themselves.     

The lighting dimension of perceived tourist image: the case of Barcelona

ABSTRACT

Perceived tourist image has been studied from different dimensions. However, destination lighting, as a dimension of the perceived tourist image, has so far been unexplored. This research letter analyses illumination of tourist sites as a dimension of the perceived night-time tourist image. Results show that lighting is a relevant issue for image perception, and is related to the image projected by some monuments and tourist attractions. Results show that age and origin are determining factors of this dimension of image perception. Some managerial and research implications are also considered and discussed.     

Tourist satisfaction with souvenir shopping: evidence from Indonesian domestic tourists

This study proposes new insight into theoretical concepts and evaluates the empirical evidence of tourist satisfaction with souvenir shopping experience and its relationship to tourist post-purchase behaviour. This study applies variance-based structural equation modelling by means of partial least squares with a sample of 192 domestic tourists in Bandung, Indonesia. The results suggest that tourist satisfaction with souvenir shopping experience is an important determinant of tourist perception on destination image and tourist loyalty toward a destination. Further, this study discloses that tourist satisfaction with store and collectability attributes are crucial factors in determining tourists’ satisfaction with souvenir shopping experience. These findings provide a better understanding for both scholars and managers of retail businesses in a tourist destination of tourist satisfaction with souvenir shopping experience and with the visit.     

Understanding and measuring tourist destination images

A destination image is ‘the expression of all objective knowledge, impressions, prejudice, imaginations, and emotional thoughts an individual or group might have of a particular place’ (Lawson and Baud Bovy, 1977 ). Destination images influence a tourist's travel decision-making, cognition and behaviour at a destination as well as satisfaction levels and recollection of the experience. This paper looks at the concept of tourist destination images and how destination image research has been approached from different academic disciplines and by practitioners such as tourism marketers. In particular, different techniques for the measurement of a tourist's destination images are reviewed and the dominance of structured, word-based approaches is highlighted. This paper adds to previous work that has listed the main attributes used in image studies by including recent studies, many of which are Australian. In the paper it is argued that to provide valid image research, a preliminary phase of qualitative research is important in order to distil the constructs relevant to the population being studied. Construct elicitation techniques, such as free-elicitation, interactive interviews and focus group interviews, are discussed along with new techniques that include the visual aspect of image, such as photo-elicitation. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Click to Share: Patterns in Tourist Photography and Sharing

Differences between tourists in photographing and photo‐sharing behaviours have been under‐researched. We examined the influence of geographic origin and travel group composition on tourist photographing and sharing. Questionnaires were used to measure photographing and sharing frequency, while participant observation afforded a deeper examination of sharing processes. Findings showed differences in photography behaviour between solo and accompanied tourists. Tourists from some continents also took and shared photographs more frequently. Observations uncovered processes connecting sharing, photographing, and content of photographs. As user‐generated content becomes increasingly influential in tourism management, attention to origin, group composition and other individual differences can help engage tourists in photographing and sharing. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Maori of Tourist Brochures Representing Indigenousness

This study analyses how Maori operators in the tourist industry portray indigenous culture in their brochures. For close to 150 years, Maori people have been involved as entrepreneurs in New Zealand's tourist industry. Although now integrated into the modern New Zealand nation-state, the representation of their culture in tourism gives an image of a traditional people radically different and set apart from modern New Zealand (Kiwi) culture. Utilising Fabian's ideas regarding the organisation of otherness through cultural constructions of time and space, this article demonstrates how certain spatial arrangements are necessary to sustain the imaginary temporary division between a modern Kiwi culture and the representation of a traditional Maori culture, the latter is a tourist attraction in itself. Auto-ethnography in the discourse of tourism inevitably becomes ‘self-Orientalism’, even if some spaces makes co-presence possible.     

Rural,White and Straight. The ETC's Vision of England

The standard image of England has been traditionally dominated by bucolic, semi-rural, quintessentially southern Englishness. This paper examines England's current tourist promotional materials only to confirm that these largely conform to the above-mentioned traditional image. However, it also goes further to analyse sexuality and race issues which, we shall argue, lie at the heart of not only Englishness itself but also the difference between the former and contemporary Britishness.     

Tourists’ destination image: an exploratory study of alternative tourism in Palestine

This study aims to understand how alternative tourism can contribute to the destination image of Palestine, given its negative image in the media. It proposes a framework for various destination image aspects and applies this framework in the context of alternative tourism in Palestine. It seeks to explore the key image formation factors, the perceived images of Palestine, and the post-visit behaviours of tourists who had engaged in alternative tourism in Palestine. This research contributes in fulfilling intriguing gaps in the Palestinian destination’s image literature, as well as the alternative tourism field that has emerged manifestly in Palestine. This study is exploratory in nature applying qualitative methodology by using open-ended questions in email interviews, and the interviews were analysed using thematic analysis. The empirical results proved that tourists who had visited Palestine and engaged in alternative tourism, had positive destination images, opposite to the ones portrayed in the media that show Palestine as a dangerous place to visit. Finally, this research provides academic and managerial implications.     

Can we enhance low-carbon tour intentions through climate science or responsibility sharing information?

In line with social representations theory, our study presents two mediating models to examine the psychological mechanism underlying how tourists’ intentions toward low-carbon tours could be enhanced through a reduction in their ambivalence toward low-carbon tours. Recruiting 767 independent tourists, applying an ordinary-least-square simple regression, and following the mediating testing approach of Baron and Kenny (1986), we have found that using scientific climate information can efficiently strengthen tourists’ travel intentions toward engaging in low-carbon tours and can also reduce tourists’ ambivalence toward low-carbon tours. We found, however, that another tourist education approach, responsibility sharing, did not have a similar effect, owing possibly to the social-loafing effect.     

Regional destination image perception of tourists within a winescape context

This study's purpose is to conceptualise a wine regional destination's perceived image, in the process integrating multiple theories such as servicescape, place-based and destination choice. The research (n?=?334 respondents) outlines the conceptualisation of a wine region destination's image in the form of a winescape framework as perceived by visitors. The winescape construct is identified within a framework of eight dimensions for a well-known US wine region. The most important winescape dimension is the natural beauty/geographical setting. The first-time and repeat visit dynamic impacts upon visitors' wine tourism behaviour and perception of the region's winescape. For in-state and out-of-state-based visitors there are pronounced differences in their perception of the region's winescape dimensions. Increasing distance from the destination region is pivotal in the perception of the winescape dimensions. The decision to engage in wine tourism is seemingly impulsive from a timing viewpoint, and the motivations guiding the visitors' behaviour are mainly of a hedonic nature.     

Singapore's image as a tourist destination

The present study seeks to examine the image of Singapore as a tourist destination. A sample of 131 tourists was collected at the Singapore Changi International Airport's two departure halls. In addition to answering a short Likert‐scale questionnaire, respondents were asked to describe in their own words the unique aspects of the country. Comparisons of response differences in respect of gender, age groups, educational levels as well as countries of origin were also conducted. Significant perceptual differences were detected with respect to the last three categories. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley &Sons, Ltd.     

Paradise from the other side of nowhere: troubling a troubled scene of tourist encounter in Belize

When Shaky was run over by a drunken tourist one night in April of 2003 on the main street of Placencia, one of several coastal ‘tourist paradises’ in Belize, the image and stories of his mangled body stimulated a flow of narrative that conjured a nervous dread troubling the smooth, laid-back, tropical vibe of the place. In such a moment of shock and impact, images of a Caribbean dream-world suddenly enter the senses like a nightmare to agitate things. This paper tracks the affective forces of Shaky's death as an arresting image and the troubling state of suspense and suspension that still haunts the place and its people. It explores how the stories of a ‘death in paradise’ focused anxieties and wild speculations about tourist encounters. This paper is about the local public pulse of things in moments of impact and of the generative potential lodged in fashioning life in a space of tourist encounter.     

Destination food image and intention to eat destination foods: a view from Korea

Food image has begun to influence tourist behaviour, so understanding the food image of a destination is important. This study examined the relationships among destination food image, preference, and intention to eat destination foods. A total of 357 tourists in Korea participated in this study. The results of structural equation modelling confirmed empirically that image affected behavioural intention as it applied to food. Cognitive image had a stronger influence than affective image on preferences for destination foods and intention to eat destination foods. In addition, preference for destination foods predicted intention to eat destination foods. This study indicates that the cognitive image of destination foods should be identified and that image strengthened to increase tourists' intentions to eat destination foods. Marketing strategies should appeal to both authenticity and the unique cognitive image of destination foods as well as encourage tourists to experience destination foods and gain internal information.     

Solo Holiday Travellers: Motivators and Drivers of Satisfaction and Dissatisfaction

A growing number of people are travelling alone for holidays, yet limited research addresses this topic. This paper explores the main motivators and drivers of satisfaction and dissatisfaction for solo holiday travellers using a critical incident technique to collect and analyse data. The findings show that drivers of satisfaction for solo holiday travellers are more related to personal feelings of freedom, relaxation and discovery (personal factors) and interaction with other people (human interaction factors) than with holiday destination factors. Safety (a destination factor) and unfriendly service providers (a human interaction factor) are the main sources of dissatisfaction for solo holiday travellers. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Tourist satisfaction and beyond: tourist migrants in Mallorca

This exploratory study analyses the role of tourist experience, especially tourist satisfaction, in subsequent migration from the UK to the municipality of Calviá, Mallorca, Spain. An overview and commentary is provided of theory relating to both tourist satisfaction and migration. Through a series of elite interviews, in‐depth micro‐studies and a questionnaire, which provides a small quantitative component, it is established that the motivation given by tourist satisfaction can be recognised as a key catalyst for migration. Classic migration motivations cannot be entirely discounted, and the migration decisions are multi‐stage through time. But tourist satisfaction—and particularly the two satisfaction components of performance and emotion—is especially relevant in the micro‐perspective of migration decision‐making. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Testing Heterogeneous Image in Cultural/Non‐cultural Tourism Markets: a Latent Model Approach

We identify the latent variable ‘destination image’ to segment tourism demand based on the different types of behaviour generated by those images. We used simultaneous latent structure analysis, which also permits a comparison of the degree of homogeneity or heterogeneity of two or more tourist markets. After presenting the most significant methodological aspects of this technique, we describe its application to the data of a study of the behaviour of tourism demand of Andalusia to determine whether those tourists with a marked inclination for cultural tourism have a similar (homogeneous) image of this destination as do other tourists. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Tourist satisfaction and the souvenir shopping of domestic tourists: extended weekends in Spain

The satisfaction dimensions of domestic tourists when buying souvenirs are studied in relation to the overall satisfaction of the same tourists, a theme that has received little attention in the prior scientific literature. The research data were gathered from interviews with domestic tourists visiting Seville over an extended weekend. The results show that souvenir shopping satisfaction consists of four factors: internal attraction, service differentiation, service provision and external attraction. The last two, moreover, influence the overall tourist satisfaction rates. A discussion of these results and their implications help contribute to a better understanding among both scholars and practitioners of tourist satisfaction.     

The role of destination personality in predicting tourist behaviour: implications for branding mid-sized urban destinations

The purpose of this study was to explore urban tourists' perceptions of the personality of a mid-sized city destination in Greece and to assess the effect of destination personality on the city's overall image and tourists' behavioural intentions. Experience with the destination was taken into account as the sample consisted of three distinct groups of urban tourists: local residents, past visitors of the city and non-visitors. Through a mixed-methods approach, excitement and sincerity were found to be the predominant personality characteristics of the destination across all respondents. Further analyses offered support for the significant role of personality in influencing overall destination image and predicting tourists' intention to (re)visit the city or recommend it to others. Differences among the three groups as well as implications of the findings for branding small or mid-sized urban destinations are also discussed.     

Analyzing online reviews in hospitality: data-driven opportunities for predicting the sharing of negative emotional content

Hospitality is one of the sectors that are nowadays most heavily characterized by consumers’ tendency to share online reviews on dedicated digital platforms. While most past work has focused on understanding the effect of online reviews and ratings on consumers’ evaluation and purchase decisions, this research tackles the issue of what drives the sharing of certain types of online content. Specifically, we investigate the sharing of user-generated content characterized by negative emotional valence, and study the effect of two factors on the extent to which user-generated content contains negative emotions. One such factor is reviewer's expertise, while the other is hotel quality. Our analysis of 1200 TripAdvisor reviews on Italian hotels located in three major Italian cities confirm our hypothesis that expert reviewers might share reviews containing less intense negative emotional content compared to less expert reviewers especially when the hotel is of high quality. To support our hypothesis, we build on the research on psychological antecedents of word-of-mouth behaviour suggesting that expert consumers are particularly reluctant to share negative word-of-mouth to avoid projecting a negative image of themselves in social contexts, thus possibly damaging their reputation.