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Purpose – The purpose of the study is to examine young Australian tourists’ consumption values, perceived beneficial image and tourist’s destination choice intention towards Mauritius as a tourism destination. Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected through an intercept method of Australian consumers in a downtown shopping complex. A self-administered questionnaire was used; 408 usable questionnaires were collected, and regression analyses were used to test the hypotheses. Findings – Only emotional/epistemic, social and functional values were found to significantly influence perceived beneficial image of the tourism destination. Only social and conditional values were found to significantly influence destination choice intention. Practical implications – Communication initiatives should focus on functional and conditional values such as quality of infrastructure and personal safety benefits. Destination planners and marketers should emphasize emotional values in their programs, as these values bond with potential young Australian tourists. Originality/value – This is the first study where young Australian tourists’ perceived beneficial image, consumption values and intentions to visit Mauritius are investigated. It provides policy makers with strategies to better promote Mauritius as a tourism destination.

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This article investigates the main and interactional effects of review valence and the presence of source identity on consumer perception of credibility of an online review and initial trust of travel services being reviewed. An experimental design is developed involving 639 travel consumers. Results indicate that a negative online review is deemed more credible than a positive online review, while a positive online review leads to a greater initial trust than a negative review. These findings apply when the identity of the reviewer is disclosed. However, when the reviewer’s identity is not disclosed, there is no significant difference between positive and negative reviews either in terms of perceived credibility or impact on consumer trust. Theoretical and managerial implications, limitations and future directions are also discussed.

This paper identifies and analyzes factors that influence international student selection of universities and the role that education marketing plays in the process. The research for the paper was inspired by work done by Canterbury on education marketing, published in the Journal of Marketing for Higher Education. The study empirically tests key constructs in service marketing. According to Canterbury it is time that higher education marketing theoreticians and practitioners alike looked beyond our similarities to other applications of service marketing to understand how some of our markets and our services might differ. To this end, the current study examines the views of international students undertaking their studies in two universities, one on the east coast and the other on the west coast of Australia. It reports the findings of international students' choice factors in selecting an Australian university environment.