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.
LINK
This paper presents four Destination Stewardship scenarios based on different levels of engagement from the public and private sector. The scenarios serve to support destination stakeholders in assessing their current context and the pathway towards greater stewardship. A Destination Stewardship Governance Diagnostic framework is built on the scenarios to support its stakeholders in considering how to move along that pathway, identifying the key aspects of governance that are either facilitating or frustrating a destination stewardship approach, and the required actions and resources to achieve an improved scenario. Moreover, the scenarios and diagnostic framework support stakeholders to come together to debate and scrutinise how tourism is managed in a way that meets the needs of the destination, casting new light on the barriers and opportunities for greater destination stewardship.
DOCUMENT
The understanding of visitor images is an important subject for tourism destination marketers. Although an increasing number of empirical studies explore images of several tourism destinations worldwide, limited research has been focussed on the tourism destination image of conflict areas. This study examines the image of Bethlehem by analysing Bethlehem's visitors' online publishing. Data was collected from popular travel blog sites, which include online posts about Bethlehem and its visitors' beliefs and evaluations. The results revealed that destination specific attributes in addition to primary image attributes are essential to understand the visitors' image of a conflict area. This study suggests that destination marketers of conflict areas should first accept their unique destination attributes, which do not change rapidly. The visitors' perceptions of Bethlehem and its people are based on more functional and psychological attributes than on holistic impressions. Destination marketers of conflict areas should craft a unique branding strategy that fits their destination best.
LINK
The general aim of this research project has been to examine this phenomenon of tourism flow switching and consider the factors driving the geopolitical instability that can compromise destination security. On a more practical level the research has also examined what the reactions of Dutch tourists are to security threats affecting their tourism decisions and looked at the development of preventive measures against attacks by destinations and travel organisations. Finally, the research on the regional geopolitics of the MENA and European areas have together with the attitudes of Dutch tourists towards destination security been used as inputs into a scenario planning process involving the steering group of tour operators who originally commissioned this research, as participants. This process has focussed on macro environmental analysis, identification of key uncertainties, and the development of resilient strategies for the future.
DOCUMENT
Emotional reactions to marketing stimuli are essential to tourist destination marketing, yet difficult to validly measure. A neuromarketing experiment was peformed to establish whether brain event-related potentials (ERPs), elicited by destination photos, can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of tourist destination marketing content in movies. Two groups of participants viewed pictures from the cities of Bruges and Kyoto. Prior to viewing the pictures, one group saw an excerpt from the movie In Bruges, which positively depicts Bruges’ main tourist attractions. The other group saw a movie excerpt that did not feature Bruges (the Rum Diary). An early emotional response was osberved to the subsequently presented Bruges pictures for the In Bruges group only; no reliable between-group differences were found in ERPs to pictures from Kyoto. In conclusion, EEG-based neuromarketing is a valuable tool for evaluating the effectiveness of destination marketing, and popular movies can positively influence affective destination image.
LINK
It is commonly assumed that TV commercials successfully influence affective tourism destination image by coupling positive emotions to a destination. In this study we record emotional responses to destination pictures before and after viewing a destination TV commercial from participants’ brains using electroencephalography (EEG). A control group of participants watched the same destination pictures, and an unrelated TV commercial. Emotion-related event-related potential (ERP) components, the P2 and LPP, were derived from the EEG. For the participants that watched the destination TV commercial, the P2 and the LPP were larger in response to destination pictures after compared to before having watched the TV commercial. This effect was not observed in the control group. In a behavioral version of the same experiment, we did not observe any effects in the self-report data. It is concluded that ERP methodology is a useful tool to complement the toolbox of tourism marketing researchers
LINK
De gemeente Den Haag buigt zich al jaren over de revitalisering van de winkelstraat Stationsweg. Ze typeert de straat, die tussen het station Hollands Spoor en de binnenstad ligt, als ‘de rode loper’. Dit roept het beeld op van een aantrekkelijk route waar men plezier aan beleeft. De vraag is in hoeverre deze visie aansluit bij de alledaagse beleving van bezoekers. Diverse passanten en klanten zijn benaderd om dit te onderzoeken. Er blijkt een behoorlijke discrepantie te bestaan tussen de manier waarop zij de straat gebruiken en beleven en het idee van ‘de rode loper’. Voor veel passanten is de straat vooral een efficiënte route naar de binnenstad en zeker niet een straat waar men naar de etalages kijkend kalmpjes doorheen loopt. Voor veel klanten is de straat geen route, maar juist een bestemming waar ze onder meer hun dagelijkse boodschappen doen en vertrouwd raken met anderen. The Municipality of The Hague has been making efforts to revitalize the shopping street Stationsweg for several years. The street, located between the Hollands Spoor railway station and city centre, is characterized as ‘the red carpet’. This gives the street the image of an exclusive shopping destination. However, the question is to what extent this image matches the everyday experiences of its visitors. To determine this, several passers-by and customers were approached. There appears to be a substantial discrepancy between how they experience the street and the image of ‘the red carpet’. For many passers-by, the street is simply an efficient route to the city centre, rather than a street for window shopping or strolling. Furthermore, instead of a route, many consider the street a destination, where they do their daily shopping and meet others.
DOCUMENT
The organizing theme of the 7th International Coastal and Marine Tourism Congress was "Planning, Designing, and Managing the Destination." This editorial begins with a commentary on how "destination" has been conceptualized and defined over the last several decades in the multidisciplinary tourism literature. Six articles presented at CMT '12 are introduced in this special double issue. Taken together they illustrate a variety of research questions and results bearing on the condition and future of coastal and marine tourism destinations.
LINK
DOCUMENT
