A Distorted Destination Image? The Case of Turkey

Abstract

Abstract:Despite its Mediterranean location, Turkey has been unable to consistently achieve its tourism goals, as evidenced by fluctuating numbers in tourism earnings and a small share of the international tourism market. This discrepancy might be attributed to Turkey's image in the minds of world travelers. The main purpose of this study was to examine the role of destination image and traveler perceptions along with other behavioral variables in destination choice decisions of potential travelers. A self-administered survey was used to collect data from 552 respondents (58.6% response rate). The findings indicate that perceptions of Turkey's overall appeal, it's safe and hospitable environment, general mood and vacation atmosphere, travel experience, relaxing effect, local attractions and hospitality, authenticity of experience, social and personal communication channels, comfort/safety, and tourist facilitation are significant predictors of the likelihood of travel to Turkey. Some destination marketing strategies are suggested. Article:For several decades, researchers have studied tourist decision making within the framework of consumer choice processes (i.e., Um and Crompton 1992;Van Raaij and Francken 1984;Woodside and Lysonski 1989). Extant research of tourist decision making suggests that destination choices are influenced by both internal (i.e., images, perceptions, motives, attitudes, and beliefs) and external factors (i.e., time, destination attributes, perceived costs of tourism product, buyer characteristics, and benefits sought). Early theoretical models of tourist decision-making behavior (i.e., Mayo and Jarvis 198 1; Mathieson and Wall 1982;Middleton 1994;Moutinho 1987;Schmoll 1977;Um and Crompton 1990;Van Raaij and Francken 1984;Wahab, Crampon, and Rothfield 1976;Woodside and Lysonski 1989) as well as empirical research conducted in the same area (i.e., Ahmed 1991; Alhemoud and Amstrong 1996; Backman and Crompton 1991; Baloglu and Brinberg 1997;Chon 1991Chon , 1992Hu and Ritchie 1993;Milman and Pizam 1995;Riley 1995) suggest that travelers' perceived images of destinations account for much of the error variation in destination choice decisions. Positive images of destinations help decision makers construct -awareness‖ and -evoked‖ sets and can thus serve as differentiating factors among competing destinations. Consequently, it is safe to assume that the success or failure of the tourism industry at many destinations around the world largely depends on images held by potential travelers and the effective management of those images by the destination (Sirgy and Su 2000; Fakeye and Crompton 1991). Nearly 20 years ago, the World Tourism Organization (WTO 1979, p. 3) declared the importance of positive images for tourist destinations: -while it is important to any producer of goods or services, the notion of image is of capital importance to a country. Measuring and mastering it should be placed very high in the order of priorities for planning tour-ism promotion.‖ More than two decades later, the in...

Destination images, holistic images and personal normative beliefs: Predictors of intention to revisit a destination

“…Sönmez & Sirakaya (2002) DI is based on the tourist's expected benefits, psychological characteristics, and meanings.…”

“…Tourism destinations are central to the tourism industry (Kozak & Rimmington, 1999), with destination image critical to destination positioning (Kotler, Haider & Rein, 1993;Pike & Ryan, 2004;Sönmez & Sirakaya, 2002) and destination selection process (Chon, 1990;Hunt, 1975;Pike, 2008). However, according to Tasci, Gartner, & Cavusgil (2007), there is no systematic structure that defines and operationalizes the relationship between destination image and behavioral intentions.…”

The Image of Taiwan as a Travel Destination: Perspectives from Mainland China

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