The Image of Taiwan as a Travel Destination: Perspectives from Mainland China

This study presents the perceived and projected image of Taiwan as a travel destination from perspectives from Mainland China. The perceived image of Taiwan was examined by interviewing 28 Mainland Chinese; the projected image of Taiwan was investigated by analyzing articles in China's most popular travel magazines. The different types of images of Taiwan among visitors, nonvisitors, and travel magazines were compared. The projected image changed notably after the opening of Taiwan's tourism to travelers from Mainland China. The results of this study could help destination marketing organizations to assess their marketing strategies for the Mainland Chinese travel market.     

Repositioning a Tourism Destination

SUMMARY

This paper is a case study of the repositioning of New Orleans as a tourism destination after the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina in August 2005. It examines the event from a post-disaster marketing viewpoint and first outlines the tourism industry in New Orleans before Hurricane Katrina, including visitor profile, destination image, and positioning statements. The article then recounts the effects of the hurricane on the tourism infrastructure. The effectiveness of recovery marketing strategies, including the repositioning strategies undertaken by the city's tourism marketing organizations, is examined. The disaster management frameworks as discussed in the literature are revisited and extended to include the lessons learned for post disaster market repositioning.     

Expenditure-Based Segmentation of a Mountain Destination Tourist Market

Although tourism is one of the most dynamic economic activities worldwide, few studies have been conducted on the potential role of market segmentation based on visitors' expenditure level at the destination in order to define strategies for maximizing the economic benefits of tourism for local destinations. This study extends the research undertaken in this area by identifying different clusters of visitors, in a Portuguese mountain destination, according to the level and patterns of visitors' expenditure during the visit. Four distinct segments were identified and show statistically significant differences regarding their economic relevance for the destination, sociodemographic profile, and trip behavior. This study contributes to the discussion of analytical marketing tools available in the context of destination planning, aiming at the definition of strategies that may maximize the economic contribution of tourism for local economic development.     

The Effectiveness of Post-Disaster Recovery Marketing Messages—The Case of the 2009 Australian Bushfires

An understanding of how best to communicate with the tourism market in the wake of a disastrous event is essential for destination marketing organizations seeking to manage the misperceptions and media-imposed attitudes held by potential visitors. To date, the literature remains silent in terms of the types of messages destination marketing organizations are best to employ when a disaster has hit and consequently marketers often take an “ad hoc” approach to their post-disaster communications that may or may not be effective in terms of encouraging visitation. In response to this knowledge gap, the research presented in this article adopted an experimental methodology to examine the effectiveness of nine disaster recovery message themes commonly used by destination marketing organizations. The messages were presented to respondents via a print advertisement promoting the Victorian region of Gippsland—a tourism region severely affected by the 2009 Black Saturday Bushfires. The results revealed that a marketing message endorsed by a well-known and well-associated celebrity figure is likely to be most effective in encouraging tourists to return to or visit a disaster-affected destination 12 to 24 months following the event. The findings also revealed a significant relationship between past visitation and the time frame in which visitors will visit a disaster-affected region. Those who had visited the region four times or more were much more likely to return within 6 months of the event than less frequent visitors. A final important message revealed in this study was the fact that the tourism market is not averse to disaster recovery promotional activities, a concern often considered by destination marketers when planning their post-disaster recovery campaigns.     

国外旅游目的地营销研究综述

本文对国外旅游目的地营销研究进行综述.近10年来国外研究主要涉及旅游目的地形象、旅游目的地营销组织、旅游目的地促销、信息技术与目的地营销4大方面.文章在简要评述我国旅游目的地营销研究现状的基础上,结合国外研究情况,认为强化实证研究及定量分析、旅游目的地品牌及定位研究、旅游目的地营销组织、信息技术的促进作用和旅游目的地营销绩效评价应是我国近期旅游目的地营销研究的主要方向.     

The Amazing Race to India: Prominence in reality television affects destination image and travel intentions

Considering the increasing popularity of reality television shows, this research investigated the impact of a destination placement in reality television on tourism. Two experiments reveal that a reality show can change the image of the destination in which the show is set. This positively affects cognitive, affective and behavioral outcomes. Specifically, it changes perceptions in accordance with the depiction of the destination in the reality show, increases knowledge about the destination, favorably affects viewers' attitude toward the destination, and even more importantly, increases the intention to travel to the destination. Our findings are of interest to destination marketing organizations; they inform them on how to promote touristic destinations.     

Exploring Marketing Strategies for Culinary Tourism in Hong Kong and Singapore

This study focused on Hong Kong and Singapore and sought to explore culinary tourism development and marketing strategies and contents. The study also analyzed the framework of marketing strategies for developing culinary tourism from a resource-based theory perspective. The methodology primarily involved in-depth interviews with strategy planners on tourism boards and content analysis of academic documents and official publications on tourism as means for exploring marketing strategies for culinary tourism in Hong Kong and Singapore. The results showed that, although Hong Kong and Singapore do not have abundant natural resources to develop more diverse tourism experiences, they do have a diversified dietary and cultural background, and with a combination of tourism and creativity they could develop culinary tourism that is innovative, diverse and likely to attract attention. The public and private sectors could form strategic alliances to enhance the attractiveness of tourism through different marketing strategies and thereby present an image of the destination's culinary culture.     

How cute mascots affect relationships with tourism destinations: A moderated mediation model

The mascot, acting as an ambassador for a destination, plays a significant role in promoting tourism development. However, limited research has focused on the cute features of a mascot and its marketing effects on a destination. This study extends the literature on cuteness and mascots by examining the effect of including a cute mascot in destination advertising on a person's travel intention. Four experiments were undertaken to investigate the cuteness effect. It was found that including a cute mascot in a destination advertisement increased travel intention. Feelings of healing and destination intimacy mediated the cuteness effect. The moderating role of social exclusion was also examined. The study revealed that a mascot's cuteness effect was stronger for socially excluded individuals. The findings give destination managers novel insights into mascot design in tourism and destination marketing.     

Co-flourishing: Intertwining community resilience and tourism development in destination communities

This paper contributes to the understanding of community resilience in tourism development in the destination community. Accordingly, we propose a ‘co-flourishing’ framework integrating community resilience and tourism development by mobilising six types of community capital – human, social, natural, physical, financial, and psychological – which strengthen community capacity during disturbances or crises. We argue that the existing understanding of the tourism system tends to be resource-driven and market-oriented. Such approaches neglect the needs of the destination community, which should have adequate resources for its goal of providing a good life for its members. We first review the six forms of community capital and their implications for community resilience, and argue that tourism development has a negative impact on various kinds of community capital – particularly in destination communities. Hence, we propose a co-flourishing framework which advocates a paradigm change in tourism development to cater to the capital needs of the community. The proposed framework highlights practical long-term policy suggestions for tourism development and planning. We identify further necessary research is needed to accumulate empirical evidence to better apply the co-flourishing framework in various development scenarios in both developing and developed economies.     

Tourism in India: Policy pitfalls

Tourism destination marketing is now widely recognized as an essential component in the management of destinations. In harmony with the general marketing literature, which understands marketing as a management tool, some researchers understand destination marketing as a form of ‘market-oriented strategic planning’ and hence as a strategic approach to place development rather than a promotional tool. Based on the results of a case study of tourism destination marketing in the Nelson/Tasman Region, New Zealand, this article examines the suitability of tourism destination marketing as a tool and of Destination Marketing Organizations (DMO) as a vehicle for tourism destination management and development. A discussion of several difficulties in the implementation of tourism destination marketing in Nelson/Tasman Region leads to the conclusion that DMOs are unlikely to be able to claim too much responsibility for destination management but that they can play an important part in the management of the destination product.     

The influence of the political environment and destination governance on sustainable tourism development: a study of Bled,Slovenia

In the context of sustainable tourism development, there are many studies about the exchange process between residents and tourism, yet this issue is practically unexplored with respect to the political environment of tourism. Therefore, this paper introduces and posits that the political environment is a necessary enabler for implementing sustainable tourism. The authors extend the established three-pillar sustainability concept by adding in the political dimension. Then they surveyed how residents' positive and negative perceptions of tourism impacts determine their satisfaction with life in the tourism destination and thus their support for tourism in their community. The model was empirically tested within the context of the long-established Alpine destination of Bled in Slovenia. The findings confirm the importance of the political environment and question the sustainability of Bled's tourism development. It is suggested that the community has relatively weak destination governance due to the underdeveloped political environment. The survey expands and deepens the tourism sustainability debate by adding in the political environment and how it relates to the emerging growth of research on destination governance. The proposed model can be adapted and applied to any destination in order to improve its governance, including the implementation of sustainable tourism development.     

Exploring Content and Design Factors Associated with Convention and Visitors Bureau Web Site Development

Abstract

Convention and visitors bureaus (CVBs) have become important organizations within the tourism industry. The International Association of Convention & Visitor Bureaus (IACVB) reported that it represents approximately 500 destination management organizations in 30 countries (IACVB, 2003). As one of the most important components of the tourism industry in the United States, the Convention and Visitors Bureau performs various activities to facilitate destination marketing and development, with the aim of enticing leisure and convention customers to their particular city or region. Meanwhile, meeting planners are using technology to enhance their ability to produce and execute meetings that demonstrate a high return on investment. Consequently, CVBs' websites have enormous potential in selling a destination and facilitating the meeting/convention planning process. This paper explores the content and design factors associated with convention and visitors bureau web site development. It also demonstrates how planners utilize the Internet and CVB websites.     

The Impacts of Mass Media on Organic Destination Image: A Case Study of Singapore

The shaping of organic destination image received limited investigation though it is an important factor influencing destination image and tourist's intention to travel. This study explores the impacts of mass media on shaping the organic destination image of tourism destinations. The organic destination images of Singapore in the views of Hong Kong residents were explored. This study explores the consumers' subconscious awareness of Singapore, and identifies that organic destination images are the outcome of readers' assimilation of material from newspapers, publications and books. The findings also demonstrate the process underlying the changes of organic destination images due to the information feeding of mass media. The findings indicate the importance for destination marketing organizations to monitor the new reports related to the destination in its main tourist origin countries/regions, and strategically deploy their marketing efforts to leverage the impacts of positive news reports, minimize the negative influence of unfavorable news.     

Smart governance for heritage tourism destinations: Contextual factors and destination management organization perspectives

The sustainable development of tourism is a major concern for destination management organisations (DMOs) in heritage tourism. Smart tourism advocates claim that technologically-driven innovations can help DMOs to optimise tourism development by addressing issues such as carrying capacity, stakeholder management and community involvement. This study enhances the understanding of smart tourism governance (SG), showing how contextual factors affect DMO perspectives of SG. A mixed-methods approach was used to investigate heritage tourism destinations in the United Kingdom. The results demonstrate that well-established DMOs do not perceive SG as potentially beneficial, as they already perform well in many areas in which SG promises improvements, such as citizen engagement, decision-making, and stakeholder engagement. Despite this, this research highlights the aspects of SG that these destinations can take advantage of as social inclusion, environmental performance and the provision of citizen-centric services. All of these can help heritage tourism destinations to optimise their tourism development. This research additionally demonstrates the effect of contextual factors, such as the level of public-sector support for tourism and the growing influence of non-tourism stakeholders in destination management, on DMO perceptions of SG and makes recommendations for how developments in the use of SG by DMOs can be made, in light of these.     

Children's attention toward cartoon executed photos

The study is intended to examine the effect of cartoon execution on children's attention toward and preferences for tourism photographs. A 3 (photo categories) × 2 (photo effects) × 2 (display order) repeated-measures experiment was designed to compare children's fixation counts, fixation duration, and dwell time between normal and cartoon-executed photos of tourism attractions in culture, nature, and recreation categories. Follow-up interviews were conducted to triangulate experimental findings. Results indicate that cartoon execution, as a common advertising tactic, can effectively increase children's attention to tourism photographs, but the effects vary by category. Findings from this study contribute to the body of knowledge on advertising effectiveness and tourism and provide insight for destination marketing organizations.     

Developing a holistic framework for analysis of destination management and/or marketing organizations: six Danish destinations

This paper presents a holistic framework for analysis of destination management and/or marketing organizations (DMOs) and explores how these work in a highly complex tourism environment. Six destinations are investigated through 61 qualitative interviews with representatives from tourism businesses and organizations. The analysis reveals a number of important factors, including whether the DMOs are focused on survival or development, on experiences or communication, and on internally or externally oriented governance. Finally, it reveals that Danish DMOs constantly negotiate between their various roles at the destination, creating discrepancies between ideals, goals and practices.     

Building the Destination Brand: An Empirical Comparison of Two Approaches

Destination brand strategies have in the main assumed that consumers actively seek and process information about potential destinations with their choice determined on the basis of a favorable attitude toward the destination. This article examines an alternative approach to destination branding, which relates to building the salience of the destination to increase the likelihood that the destination will be considered in purchase situations. The study examines the predictive validity of brand salience measures for a set of travel destinations compared with the predictive validity of traditional attitude-based measures. The results of the research provide empirical support for a salience approach to destination marketing for domestic tourism in Australia.     

Exploring event bundling: The strategy and its impacts

The objectives of this article are to explore the strategy of event bundling from the perspectives of varied event stakeholders including event organizers, event attendees, and destination marketing organizations (DMOs); and to examine the strategy's impacts on the relationships between perceived event value and visitors' trip outcome (perceived trip value and destination loyalty intention). Based on a mixed-method approach, the research first investigates stakeholders' perceptions and perceived value of event bundling from a qualitative approach in Study 1. It further tests a proposed framework through a quantitative approach in Study 2, in which two well-known events in Macau, China were chosen as an event bundle and a large sample of over 800 respondents were surveyed. Findings from the research advance the literature on event tourism and tourism product bundling practices. They further provide insights for DMOs and event planners in event policymaking and destination marketing.     

Destination brand authenticity: What an experiential simulacrum! A multigroup analysis of its antecedents and outcomes through official online platforms

Tourists' intensive use of information and communication technologies when planning travel has forced destination marketing organizations to design online simulacra of destinations in multiple formats. We focus our study on official online destination platforms to analyze preliminary experiences with destination brands and the online perception of authenticity. Previous consumption studies have theorized that consumers' encounters with products/services are antecedents of their perceptions of authenticity. In the tourism literature, however, the link between online destination experiences and online destination authenticity constitutes a research gap. To fill that gap, we used a multimethod approach to develop a causal-predictive model by which we observed that the online destination brand experience directly affects destination brand authenticity. The findings also show that both of these constructs directly and indirectly influence users' behavioral intentions toward the destination. We examine the moderating role of various official online destination platforms to enrich the theoretical and managerial implications discussed.     

论旅游目的地营销误区与新策略

旅游目的地之间竞争的日益加剧,使营销成为目的地在竞争中胜出的有力武器,旅游市场营销也随之从以企业为主体的营销模式转变到以目的地营销为主体的时代.本文在考察国内外旅游目的地营销研究和实践的基础上,结合国内旅游目的地实际,分析我国目的地营销中存在的几大误区,并讨论了旅游目的地营销的新策略.