Australia’s cognitive, affective and conative destination image: an Emirati tourist perspective

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this study is to understand the destination image perceptions about Australia – a Western culture country – as held by the rapidly increasing, high spending, culturally dissimilar new segment of travellers, the Emiratis[1] from the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Design/methodology/approach A qualitative methodology was used to understand the cognitive, affective and conative images of Australia. A structured categorisation matrix was used to analyse the data so that only aspects fitting the matrix were selected. Findings Within the cognitive variable, Australia was found to be pleasant, family oriented, a fun place, laid back and the local people friendly. From an affective factor perspective, Australia was seen as being exciting, because of the variety of activities available for these tourists. Exciting was expressed by words like fantastic, amazing and extreme experience. In terms of the conative variable most of the Emirati tourists expressed strong feelings to go back to Australia and to even re-visit with friends. They also mentioned that they would recommend Australia to family and friends. Research limitations/implications A limitation of this study was that our sample comprised informants mainly from the Emirates of Abu Dhabi and Dubai, the two largest Emirates of the nation. The study offers destination marketing organisations’ (DMOs) insights into Emirati travellers’ perceptions about Australia, which would benefit destination marketing. Originality/value This study examines the under researched area of how Australia – with its liberal Western culture – could be better marketed to the growing numbers of culturally conservative, high spending Emirati outbound tourists from the officially Islamic UAE, and also more generally to the socio-culturally homogeneous Gulf Cooperation Council region that the UAE is part of. Whilst destination image is an intensively analysed topic within the realm of tourism research, and reportedly a powerful influence on destination choice, the extant literature on how Australia is perceived as a travel destination by Emiratis is scant. For DMO’s attempting to attract wealthy Emirati tourists into Australia, this research is valuable and timely, as several Emiratis are seeking newer travel destinations away from the Western hemisphere, where the general anti-Arab/Islamic sentiments are currently quite strong.

How does familiarity shape destination image and loyalty for visitors and residents?

“…Generally, tourists need a positive image of a destination to consider visiting (Braun et al, 2013; Ramkissoon and Nunkoo, 2011). Finally a third interrelated component of destination image is the conative or behavioural image, which influences and predicts tourists’ behaviour (Michael et al, 2018).…”

Promoting Egypt through its National Stereotype: The Role of Stereotype in Evaluating the Components of Destination Image

“…Stepchenkova & Mills's (2010) study revealed that the conative component is linked to revisiting, recommending or saying positive word of mouth based on the positive tourists' expressions. Michael et al (2018) used a qualitative method to understand the cognitive, affective and conative images of Australia. From the affective perspective, Australia is found to be pleasant, family oriented, a fun place, laid back and the local people friendly.…”

Testing Destination Image Scale Invariance Among British, German and Russian Tourists: A Multigroup Confirmatory Factor Analysis

“…Understanding the core concept of destination image has attained immense attention by practitioners and academicians in last few years. Analysis of destination image from different perspectives has contributed to a great understanding as how the destination image is formed; the importance/performance of information sources; the implications of personal factors and motivations; the impact of tourists' experience and familiarity with destination and/or with similar type of holiday making (Russel & Pratt, 1980;Fayeke & Crompton, 1991;Gartner, 1993;Echtner & Richie, 1993;Baloglu & McClearly, 1999;Baloglu, 2001;Baloglu & Mangaloglu, 2001;Beerli & Martin, 2004a, 2004bPike & Ryan, 2004;Agapito et al, 2013;Stylidis et al, 2017;Stylos et al, 2016Stylos et al, , 2017Michael et al, 2018).…”

“…Scholars agree on the importance of studying the dimensions of destination image one by one, in order to better understand the complexity of the whole. Michael et al (2018) emphasize that utilizing all three components provides a more nuanced understanding of interrelated contributors of destination image. The three dimensional model of destination image proposed by Gartner (1993), is also supported by Social Psychologists' three dimensions of attitude: cognitive, affective and conative (Allport, 1935;Hilgard, 1980;Aranson et al, 2010).…”

“…Scholars agree on the importance of studying the dimensions of destination image one by one, in order to better understand the complexity of the whole. Michael et al (2018) emphasize that utilizing all three components provides a more nuanced understanding of interrelated contributors of destination image.…”