外文文献 互联网和旅游目的地形象 internet： an agent of tourism destination image

1、internet an agent of tourism destination image formation: content and correspondence analysis of istria travel related websites danijela kriman pavlovi, ph. d., assistant professor juraj dobrila university of pula department of economics and tourism “dr. mijo mirkovi” preradovieva 1, 52 100 pula, cr

2、oatia phone: +385 52 377 032 fax: +385 52 216 416 e-mail: dkrizmanefpu.hr alen belullo, ph. d., assistant professor juraj dobrila university of pula department of economics and tourism “dr. mijo mirkovi” preradovieva 1, 52 100 pula, croatia phone: +385 52 377 048 fax: +385 52 216 416 e-mail: abelule

3、fpu.hr key words: tourism destination, destination image, internet, istria, content analysis, correspondence analysis, worder, hamlet ii. 1. introduction tourism destination image has been an area of researchers interest for more than 30 years primarily due to its complex conceptual nature and its i

4、mportant role in influencing tourist decision making. destination images are derived from a wide spectrum of information sources, including internet. increased number and variety of on-line information about the tourism destinations introduced new challenges to achieving effective destination market

5、ing. research of internet as an image formation agent is still in its infancy. thus, this study attempts to: (a) determine the importance of managing and delivering desired destination image on-line; (b) identify the image representations of istria as tourism destination on the internet by analyzing

6、 and comparing the narrative and visual contents of a variety of web information sources (official tourism website of istria, tour operators and travel agents websites, online travel magazine and guide websites, and on-line travel blogs). the paper begins with theoretical analysis of tourism destina

7、tion image. follows the argument about significance of internet as tourists source of information. accordingly, emphasized is the role of internet as an agent in tourism destinations image formation. finally, presented are content and correspondence analyses of istria travel related websites conduct

8、ed in this paper. results of this research promote better understanding of the multiplicity of destination image representations on the web and the challenges of managing the destination image on-line. 542 2. tourism destination image definition, importance and formation process some early works (bo

9、ulding, 1956; martineau, 1958) suggested that human behavior is dependent upon image rather than objective reality. since then, image concept found its wide application in marketing theory and practice. image is generally defined as a mental or attitudinal construct developed on the basis of a few s

10、elected impressions from among the flood of total impressions through a creative process in which those selected are elaborated, embellished and ordered (reynolds, 1965). tourism destination image has been an area of researchers interest for more than 30 years1 .despite this, many agree that the maj

11、ority of studies carried out to date are insufficiently theory-based, resulting in a lack of framework or solid conceptualization (beerli, martin, 2004a). some reasons for that are (gallarza, saura, garcia, 2002): 1) complexity and multidimensionality of tourism product; 2) destination marketing inv

12、olves the consumer physically to moving to the behavior scenario; 3) great subjectivity in providing a tourism service: images are mixed with impressions about residents, retailers, other tourists, and/or employees; 4) the intangibility of tourism service hinders image assessment as it depends on in

13、visible elements of pre-visit selection and a pre-taste of the destination. while the definition of tourism destination image varies among scholars, it is generally referred to as “an attitudinal concept consisting of the sum of beliefs, ideas and impressions that a tourist holds of a destination” (

14、crompton, 1979). the study by gallarza, saura, garcia (2002) featured an exhaustive review of the literature dealing with the concept of “destination image”, proposing a theoretical model defining image in terms of four characteristics: complex (it is not unequivocal), multiple (in elements and proc

15、esses), relativistic (subjective and generally comparative) and dynamic (varying with the dimensions of time and space). the importance of the tourism destinations image is universally acknowledged, since it affects the tourist behavior in many ways (baloglu, mccleary, 1999; echtner, ritchie, 1991;

16、fakeye, crompton, 1991; woodside, lysonski, 1989). first of all, it affects the choice of holiday destination. based on the fact that tourists usually have a limited knowledge of tourism destination they have not previously visited, image fulfils an important function insofar as tourism destinations

17、 with stronger, positive and recognizable images have more probability of being chosen by the tourist. second, it influences after-decision behavior, i.e. tourist satisfaction and intention to repeat the visit in the future. after a vacation, people form opinions on tourism destinations capacity to

18、provide experiences that correspond with their needs and fit the image they had of the destination. the most recent studies (baloglu, brinberg, 1997; mackay, fesenmaier, 1997; walmsley, young, 1998; baloglu, mccleary, 1999) support the view that tourism destination image is a composite construct, wh

19、ich consists of two interrelated components - cognitive and affective, woven into overall impressions. the cognitive component can be interpreted as beliefs and knowledge about the physical attributes of a tourism destination, while the affective component refers to the appraisal of the affective qu

20、ality of feelings towards the attributes and the surrounding environments. furthermore, numerous researchers across fields and disciplines agree (baloglu, mccleary, 1999) that image is mainly formed by two major 1 studies on tourism destination image began in the early 1970s, when hunt (1975) examin

21、ed the role of image in tourism development (hosany, ekinci, uysal, 2006: 638). 543 forces: stimulus factors (information sources, previous experience and distribution) and personal factors (social and psychological) (figure 1.). it can be seen from the figure 1 that information sources represent on

22、e of the many forces or agents that influence the tourism destination image formation. information sources are usually categorized into organic and induced (gartner, 1993; gunn, 1972). the organic sources (book, school curriculum, news, movies, actual destination visits, etc.) do not have a vested i

23、nterest in promoting a tourism destination, while the induced sources (travel brochures, advertisements, posters, videos, and, most recently, the internet) are means of communicating marketing messages of the tourism destination and suppliers to a chosen travel audience. figure 1 a general framework

24、 of tourism destination image formation source: adapted from baloglu, s., mccleary, k. (1999): a model of destination image formation, annals of tourism research (4, 1999): 870; beerli, a., martin, j. (2004a): factors influencing destination image, annals of tourism research (4, 1999): 660 in the ab

25、sence of actual visitation, tourism destination images are formed through induced agents (gartner, 1989). this paper analyzes internet as an induced information source or an agent that influences tourism destination image formation. 3. internet an agent of tourist destination image formation tourism

26、 product is an unusual product because it exists only as information at the point of sale, and cannot be sampled before the purchase decision is made. its intangibility as well as a high price and purchase risk require a high level involvement in purchase decision making. thus, the informationbased

27、nature of the tourist product, on the one side, and the global reach, multimedia capability, ease of use, interactivity and flexibility, on the other side, made of internet “a prominent medium in tourism marketing” (o connor, murphy, 2004; oh, kim, shin, 2004). on the supply side of tourism market t

28、he internet is actively used by hotels, airlines, travel agencies, convention and visitor bureaus and other destination marketing organizations (stepchenkova, morrison, 2006), because it is relatively inexpensive in comparison with other promotion media (standing, vasudavan, 2000) and other distribu

29、tion channel (cf. doolin, burgess, cooper, 2002; lin, huang, 2006). the internet offers great potential to influence consumers perceived images, including creating virtual experiences of destination. according to internet weeks survey, more than two-thirds of the travel and hospitality companies vie

30、w the internet site as a significant competitive weapon within their industry and about 60 percent describe the internet as being substantial in acquiring new customers (mullen, 2000 in: baloglu, pekcan, 2006). stimulus factors information sources (amount, type) previous experience distribution pers

31、onal factors social (age, education, marital status, others) psychological (values, motivations, personality) perceived tourism destination image cognitive image affective image overall image 544 on the demand side of tourism market, an increasing number of people are using the internet for informat

32、ion search because the world wide web provides more in-depth materials and richer content compared with conventional promotional agents (govers, go, 2003; heung, 2004). there is currently about 17 percent of the world population that use internet (/stats.htm, accessed 30.03

33、.2007).2 according to the tomas research (2004), 2 percent of tourists that visited croatia in 1997 used the internet as information source for the visit, while in 2004 this share augmented at 23 percent. the same research also concluded that in 2004 internet held third place as tourists source of i

34、nformation (behind previous visits 47 percent, and recommendation from relatives and friends 33 percent), mainly for younger tourists (up to age 29), and those in the medium age group (ages 30-49) (tomas, 2004). due to that increased importance of digital information, the timing, costs and strategie

35、s for distributing promotional messages have changed (choi, lehto, morrison, 2007). in the preinternet era destination marketing organizations (dmos) were effective and influential in media content placement and in the coordination of destination positioning initiatives (govers, go, 2003). since the

36、 internet arrived, centralized control over destination information dissemination is almost impossible. therefore, it is necessary to research and redefine the role of internet and other information agents in shaping destination image. 4. content and correspondence analysis of istria travel related

37、websites 4.1. study background and objective istria is the most developed tourism destination in croatia (table 1). tourism in istria is one of the most important economic features and priorities in the context of its long-term development. there are two distinguished periods in the development of t

38、ourism in istria, that is: first period, from 1965 until 1990, when natural and social values of istria began to be appreciated for the purposes of tourism. during this period, tourism continuously grew and developed. second period, from 1990 until today. during this period, tourism in istria experi

39、enced huge changes due to political changes on global and national level. the changes involved financial damages, loss of markets and revenues, as well as a struggle to revive development processes and return to the markets of emitive tourism countries. 2 world usage of the internet growth from 2000

40、 to 2007 by 208.7 percent 545 table 1 istria as tourism destination selected indicators for 2005. indicators istria proportion in croatia (in %) accommodation capacity (in bed)1 245.238 27 hospitality facilities capacity (in seats)2 168.166 18 employed in hospitality facilities2 14.000 17 turnover (

41、in thousands of kunas with vat)2 2.953.371 23 tourist arrivals2 domestic tourists foreign tourists 2.505.017 166.610 2.338.407 25 11 28 overnight stays of tourists2 domestic tourists foreign tourists 16.649.944 686.276 15.963.688 32 13 35 source: 1 internal documentation (2006), hgk county chamber o

42、f economy pula. pula 2 statistical yearbook 2006 (2006), state bureau of statistics, http:/www.dzs.hr accessed 30.03. 2007during the first development period, the basic feature of tourism product of istria was tourism product “sun and sea”, accommodation facilities of large capacity and generating t

43、ourism turnover only during the summer months. during the second development period of istrian tourism numerous natural and social attractions are beginning to be used more significantly and tourism product is becoming diversified. master plan of istrian tourism 2004-2012 (www.istra-istria.hr, acces

44、sed 30.03.2007) has been passed with goal of initiating the new development cycle of tourism in istria. the plan channels tourism towards preserving the environment, different tourism products, extending the season, quality of offer with average 3-4 stars, as well as increasing employment and qualit

45、y of life for the local population. besides master plan of istrian tourism, the following programs and projects have been developed with goal of valuing the overall tourism potential of istria (www.istra-istria.hr, accessed 30.03.2007): farm tourism in istria wine roads gastro tourism days of truffl

46、e in istria olive oil roads bike tourism brijuni rivijera system for promoting tourism quality golf in istria parenzana stimulating development of small family hotels. above stated programs and projects should contribute to better positioning of istria as a destination on the tourism market. because

47、 of larger spectrum of information sources and channels, representing destinations image has become more complex today. thus, the focus of this research was to compare and contrast the images projected by the official istrian tourism website (www.istra.hr, accessed 30.03.2007), and those of the trav

48、el trade and online travel publications (guides and magazines). travel blogs were also analyzed to reveal the dialectic view of both the trade and the general travel public (lin, huang, 2006; choi, lehto, morrison, 2007). the narrative and visual information was analyzed through content and correspo

49、ndence analyses. accordingly, the specific research objectives were to: 546 1. identify the most frequently used words describing istria as a tourism destination on istria travel related websites, and compare them across the different online information sources. 2. identify the most frequently used

50、visual information on macao travel related websites, and compare them across the different online information sources. 3. examine how different sub-categories of websites project the images of istria and provide marketing implications if there are disparities in image representation. 4.2. methodolog

51、y some previous studies have investigated the pictorial or verbal contents of promotional materials from the perspectives of the research subjects after exposure to the messages (day, skidmore, koller, 2002; mackay, fesenmaier, 2000). oleary and deegan (2005) argued that content analysis of written

52、information, such as guidebooks and travel brochures, could provide a great number of information about the images projected by a tourism destination. online tourism information sorces were analyzed by a few researchers. stepcenkova and morrison (2006) examined narrative content of touroperator webs

53、ites about russia; lin and huang (2006) explored the internet blogs as a tourism marketing medium; and choi, lehto and morrison (2007) analyzed narrative and visual contents of travel related websites. this research was intended to go one step further, so that besides analyzing narrative and visual

54、contents of travel related websites, it performs correspondence analysis between different online information sources. in this research the sample of websites was selected through an exhaustive sarch of website lists under the travel directories of google from april 21, 2007 to april 25 2007. by vis

55、iting a number of websites under the sub-categories such as destinations, guides and directories, images galleries, publications, tour operators, travel agents, travelogues, news and media, blogs and istria, the websites with istria travelrelated information were identified. then, these websites wer

56、e classified into four subcategories according to the websites identities: travel blogs, travel guides, travel magazines and travel trade. to avoid redundancy, some websites were eliminated from the sample. the remaining sample of 39 websites included the official istrian county tourism office (icto

57、) website, 9 travel blog, 13 travel guide, 8 travel magazine and 8 travel trade websites. the website contents were saved as .txt files (for textual information analysis) and .html files (for visual information analysis). after that, the text files and html files were merged into five separate files for each sub-category