The Formation of a Tourist Destination's Image via Information Sources: the Moderating Effect of Culture

Abstract

The present study aims to outline the growing importance of culture in the field of tourism. More specifically, it highlights culture as a moderating variable in pre-visit tourist destination image formation, through the information sources utilized by the tourist in the selection of a holiday destination (that is, travel agencies alone vs. travel agencies together with the Internet). For this purpose primary research used a multicultural sample of 371 tourists from different European countries. The results show that the formation of a destination's pre-visit image amongst tourists, based on the information sources they use, is moderated by the level of uncertainty-avoidance of their national cultures.

The Immediate Impact of Instagram Posts on Changing the Viewers’ Perceptions Towards Travel Destinations

“…Is its content appeal enjoying trustworthiness issues such as those of DMO's? Frías, et al, (2011) noted that the use of the internet to research a destination taints the DI since the information available on the internet might be associated with the above highlighted risk, although in contrast many scholars stated that UGC is a trustworthy source of information (Marchiori & Cantoni,2015;Bastida & Huan 2014;Fernández-Cavia, et al, 2014 ;Lueng, et al, 2013;Qiang, Ye et al, 2011) and furthermore tends to enrich SNSs users' perceptions towards travel destinations. Burgess, et al (2009), for example, found that UGC can be subjective as it builds trust on the basis of real travellers sharing real experiences, yet some UGC creation has been generated by fake (robot) accounts or by users who have vested interest in the destination, therefore, bringing into question the trustworthiness of such contents.…”

“…Furthermore, future research could benefit from comparing UGC that are generated by professional bloggers/photographers or DMO with the UGC generated by regular SNS users on SNSs as there is a need to understand the differences in the information sources around DI formation, particularly comparing the role of DMO with the UGC (Frías, et al, 2011 …”

“…The arrival of SNSs has challenged companies as sole creators of marketing messages (Hautz, et al, 2014) as the marketing messages are no longer exclusively generated by organizations but equally by users, highlighting the potential relative impact of UGC towards DI formation in a travel or tourism context (Munar, 2011). In an online context, information sources available to an audience can furthermore be divided into formal sources, for example, paid advertising (Frías, et al, 2011) and informal sources of information, such as friends, family and relatives (Beerli & Martin, 2004;Crompton, 1979). UGC is considered as a third party on SNSs in a form of "text, images and videos etc."…”

Dos miradas para el diseño de la marca destino Tisaleo

“…Como se ha comentado anteriormente, la imagen de destino puede resultar decisiva para incrementar el deseo de conocerlo. Ello implica reflexionar acerca de cómo la influencia de la imagen previa del destino que se transmite al turista es decisiva en la búsqueda de información (Frías, Rodríguez, Castañeda, Sabiote & Buhalis, 2012).…”

Authenticity of the Basotho Hat: Perceptions of Weavers and Vendors

“…Cultural and heritage tourism would greatly contribute towards promoting the sustainability agenda, as the people would be the owners and drivers of the product. More importantly, cultural tourism is a destination image, which is particularly important in tourists' decisions to travel (Frias et al, 2012). The cultural attractions in Lesotho are discussed in the following sections.…”