This work examines the projected image of Romania as an emerging tourism destination. Computed content-analysis was applied to the photos, text and video materials promoted online in Romania’s last international tourism campaign. The conceptual framework used corresponds to intrinsic values (play, aesthetics, ethics and spirituality), from Holbrook’s typology of value. Being more difficult to apprehend and therefore studied less, intrinsic values allow a more sophisticated approach to value creation. The purpose here is to identify the main attributes that are promoted about Romania by destination marketing organizations. The content analysis of text (last international promotion campaign Explore the Carpathian Garden) and visual data (27 photos from the official Facebook webpage and 7 TV videos) allow to depict an experiential view of Romania’s image: natural resources (coded as aesthetics with 29% of references), epistemic value of discovery (play 25.8%), authentic and historical traditions (ethics 25.8%) and wellness and therapeutic activities (spirituality, 19.3%). Destination marketing organizations have the potential to develop some distinctive aspects such as authenticity (as an ethical value dimension) and play (as an active, self-oriented value). Findings also highlight that a complimentary approach using textual and visual data might be a suitable option to research destination brand image.

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This research was developed in the frame of the VOLTO JÁ Project, which aims to implement a senior social exchange program in Portugal, among social economy organizations to promote tourism experiences for the elderly. The main goal of the research is to present a three-stage model of designing and evaluating tourism experiences in senior mobility, named as the OEC Model. This model was established based on a set of data collection instruments, which were chosen according to the goals of each stage of the process, in the context of the VOLTO JÁ Project. The results of stage one and three of the model considered as a more integrated approach on designing and evaluating senior tourism experiences are presented. The findings highlight the importance of a pre-stage in what concerns organizing the tourism experience (supply perspective); and a post-stage assessing senior´s perceptions after the experience (demand perspective).

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There is no doubt that destination image (DI) is an important sub-field of tourism destination marketing. Several meta-analysis studies have appeared since the emergence of this construct in the 1970s, resulting in almost 300 articles related with this topic. The mainstream of DI research was clearly identified by Chon (1990) and updated by Gallarza et al. (2002). Despite the existence of such evidence after forty years of research, several authors still recognize the lack of theoretical framework, stressing the difficulty in the opera tionaliza tion of this construct. The risk of it being theoretical and non-scientific is a reality. But, at the same time, a wider scope of DI studies has emerged, and new methodologies have come to light. Considering these conclusions after four decades of research, a shift from a static to a more dynamic analysis is required. Scientific progress is not linear and cumulative but dynamic and evolutionary. Therefore, this paper attempts to explore Hirsch and Levin's (1999) life-cycle model mainly applied to 'umbrella constructs' (UC) -encompassing their birth, growth, maturity and decline -as the perfect framework for an evolutionary analysis. Implications of the model for future direction of the DI construct are explored and elaborated, in order to provide some insights to open avenues along which DI research can scientifically progress.