Open AccessUnderstanding the role of destination imagery in mountain destination choice. Evidence from an exploratory research
Author(s) -
Arthur Filipe de Araújo,
Lucília Cardoso,
Noelia Araújo,
Francisco Dias
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
european journal of tourism research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.467
H-Index - 16
eISSN - 1314-0817
pISSN - 1994-7658
DOI - 10.54055/ejtr.v22i.381
Subject(s) - favourite , destinations , tourism , exploratory research , advertising , destination image , geography , computer science , psychology , sociology , business , political science , archaeology , anthropology , law
The present study explores the imagery of mountain tourism destinations. The research is based on customer-based brand equity and destination choice models, and addresses destination imagery through the concepts favourite destination (FD) and autobiographical memory. Through an online, multilingual survey, 711 responses, consisting of words, associated by a self-selected sample of European mountain tourists to their favourite mountain destinations, were collected. Such data was subjected to a deductive content analysis, and the results suggest that the imagery of favourite mountain destinations consists mostly of functional elements. Findings reinforce previous theories regarding the concept of favourite destinations, destination imagery (DY) processing, and destination choice. Future studies should apply such analysis to other tourism products, as well as to different or more representative samples, to verify whether imagery structures differ.