Identity and authenticity in destination image construction

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to establish a clear distinction between the often misused concepts of identity and authenticity as related to place and also to examine the role that both concepts play in constructing destination image. The basic hypothesis of this theoretical approach is that the concepts of identity and authenticity are fundamentally different in terms of the tourist element they are related to, from the point of view of destination image construction. Identity is a concept basically related to the tourist object and projected image. Authenticity, a more ambiguous term, is basically related to the tourist subject and perceived image. A model is built to understand both tourism identity and authenticity in a holistic conception of destination image construction.

Tourism analytics with massive user-generated content: A case study of Barcelona

“…Numerous studies suggest that UGC, through the eWOM effect, considerably influences the formation of destination image (Hidalgo et al, 2014;Jalilvand et al, 2012;Koltringer & Dickinger, 2015;Marine-Roig, 2015). However, as a source of online information, it needs to be disseminated via the Internet to be able to influence potential tourists.…”

Brand Equity of a Tourist Destination

“…Online WoM can be defined as the process of communication among consumers exchanging positive or negative information obtained through direct or indirect experiences regarding certain firms, products, or services via e-mail or hypertext [72,76,82]. This approach emphasizes that a perceived and transmitted destination image becomes a projected image through the electronic WoM (eWoM) effect, and contributes to closing the circle of tourist destination image formation in a holistic way.…”

Measuring Destination Image through Travel Reviews in Search Engines

“…In this vein, Baloglu et al [22] state that the construction of the TDI depends on two evaluations; perceptual/cognitive, referring to beliefs or knowledge about the attributes of a destination, and affective, referring to feelings or attachment to the same. The overall perceived image is formed by the union of both [12,23]. A third component is directly derived from the previous two, the conative, which affects the individual's behaviour when selecting a destination, based on the images received during the cognitive phase and evaluated during the affective phase [20].…”

“…In the field of tourism, through trip diaries, a perceived (and transmitted) image becomes a projected image by the eWOM effect and contributes to closing the circle of tourist destination image (TDI) formation from a holistic perspective [12]. Therefore, the main objective of this article is to build a theoretical and methodological framework for the mass analysis and measurement of the TDI projected by OTRs through search engines.…”