Destination image literature: 2001 – 2007

Abstract

The topic of destination image has become one of the most popular in the tourism literature. A review of 120 destination image articles published in the literature between 2001 and 2007 was undertaken to provide researchers with a reference guide to the context, method and focus of previous studies. The analysis follows a previous study by Pike (2002), which reviewed 142 destination image papers published during the period 1973 –2000. Collectively, the two analyses categorize over 260 papers from the first 35 years of published destination image research. Key issues to emerge from the current review include: the exponential increase in studies related to destination image, a continued lack of qualitative methods, lack of an explicit travel situation, and the risk of uninformed responses.

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Pike, Steven D. (2007) Destination image literature: 2001 – 2007. Acta Turistica
19(2):pp. 107-125.
Copyright 2007 Department of Tourism, Faculty of Economics University of Zagreb
Destination image literature - 2001 to 2007
Pike, S. (2007). Destination image literature: 2001 – 2007. Acta Turistica.
19(2): 107-125.
Dr Steven Pike
School of Advertising, Marketing & Public Relations
Queensland University of Technology
Room Z1030, Gardens Point Campus, 2 George St, Brisbane
Queensland 4152, Australia
Tel : +64-7-3864 2702
Fax: +64-7-3864 1811
Email: sd.pike@qut.edu.au
Abstract
The topic of destination image has become one of the most popular in the tourism
literature. A review of 120 destination image articles published in the literature
between 2001 and 2007 was undertaken to provide researchers with a reference guide
to the context, method and focus of previous studies. The analysis follows a previous
study by Pike (2002), which reviewed 142 destination image papers published during
the period 1973 –2000. Collectively, the two analyses categorize over 260 papers
from the first 35 years of published destination image research. Key issues to emerge
from the current review include: the exponential increase in studies related to
destination image, a continued lack of qualitative methods, lack of an explicit travel
situation, and the risk of uninformed responses.

Key words: destination image, travel situation, uninformed responses

Destination image literature - 2001 to 2007
Abstract
The topic of destination image has become one of the most popular in the tourism
literature. A review of 120 destination image articles published in the literature
between 2001 and 2007 was undertaken to provide researchers with a reference guide
to the context, method and focus of previous studies. The analysis follows a previous
study by Pike (2002), which reviewed 142 destination image papers published during
the period 1973 –2000. Collectively, the two analyses categorize over 260 papers
from the first 35 years of published destination image research. Key issues to emerge
from the current review include: the exponential increase in studies related to
destination image, a continued lack of qualitative methods, lack of an explicit travel
situation, and the risk of uninformed responses.
Key words: destination image, travel situation, uninformed responses
Introduction
Given the history of tourism destination development it is interesting to consider that
the published academic literature has only been around for 35 years. For example the
first regional tourism organization (RTO) is thought to have been formed at St Moritz
in 1864 (Lässer, 2000), and the first travel guidebook for Cambridge in England was
published in 1758 (Davidson & Maitland, 1997). While places have clearly held an
interest in destination image promotion during this period, John Hunt, key note
speaker at the 2000 Travel & Tourism Research Association conference, used the
metaphor of three peasant farmers breaking in a new field, to describe the 1970s

destination image research undertaken by himself, Edward Mayo and Clare Gunn. In
the 35 years since this pioneering work (see Anderssen & Colberg 1973, Mayo 1973,
Matejka 1973, Gearing, Swart & Var 1974, Hunt 1975) the topic has become one of
the most prevalent in the tourism literature. The field’s popularity should not be
surprising, given the following:
• The prominence of destinations within models of the tourism ‘system’ (see for
example Leiper 1979, Gunn 1988), in that most tourism and travel related
activities take place at destinations.
• The almost limitless number of destinations competing for consumer attention.
While no one is quite sure how many destination marketing organizations
(DMO) now exist world-wide, following input from tourism academics on the
global TRInet listserv during 2003, Professor Bob McKercher’s best estimate
was over 10,000.
• The intangible nature of destination experiences, meaning places can often
only compete via images.
• The potential substitutability of destinations, given the commonality in
benefits offered to travelers by so many destinations.
• The increasing investments being made by DMOs in destination branding and
positioning campaigns with the aim of differentiation in these competitive
markets.
Hunt’s (1975) proposition that the images held by potential travelers are so important
in the destination selection process that they can affect the very viability of the
destination has arguably become axiomatic for researchers. This proposition, also

referred to as perception is reality, originated from Thomas’ (1928) theorem: “What is
defined or perceived by people is real in its consequences” (Thomas & Thomas, 1928,
p.572, in Patton 2002). As Hunt pointed out, it is not important for DMOs to lament
whether a consumer’s opinions are right or wrong in their beliefs about a destination,
as it is to acknowledge that travelers will act on their perceptions rather than on
objective reality. Indeed, the first review of the destination image literature, by Chon
(1990), found the popular themes were the role and influence of destination image in
traveler buyer behavior and satisfaction:
The central postulates of the destination image studies are that a
destination image has a crucial role in an individual’s travel purchase
related decision making and that the individual traveler’s
satisfaction/dissatisfaction with a travel purchase largely depends on
a comparison of his expectation about the destination, or a previously
held destination image, and his perceived performance of the
destination. (p. 3)
Other commonly cited reviews have included Echtner and Ritchie (1991), Gallarza,
Saura and Garcia (2002) and Pike (2002a). Pike’s review of 142 destination image
papers, published in the literature during the period 1973-2000, produced a synthesis
of key characteristics. The aim was to provide a summary that would provide future
researchers with a useful reference guide. The purpose of this article is to extend this
work by reviewing papers published between 2001 and 2007. Combined, the two
reviews cover the first 35 years of destination image research. The key questions used
to guide the review were:

• To what extent are the studies measuring destination image in isolation, or in
relation to a competitive set?
• How many studies examined destination image for an explicit travel situation?
• How many studies used a structured approach?
• Of those studies using a structured approach, how many utilized a ‘don’t
know’ option to minimize the risk of uninformed responses?
• How many studies utilized qualitative methods in either the measurement of
destination image or in the development of attribute lists?
• What range of methods was used in the data analysis?
• Apart from measuring destination image, what other research foci or
moderating variables have been of interest?
Literature review
One hundred and twenty destination image papers published in the literature between
2001 and 2007 were collected. The focus of this paper is empirical studies of market-
based perceptions of destinations. However, a number of non-empirical papers related
to aspects of destination image were also sourced. These included:
• conceptual models of destination image (Gallarza, Saura & Garcia 2002,
Formica 2002, Tasci & Gartner 2007, Tasci, Gartner & Cavusgil 2007)
• a conceptual model of destination benchmarking (Kozak, 2004)
• analysis of frameworks for country image and destination image (Mossberg &
Kleppe 2005)

• analysis of destination images projected by television travel shows (Hanefors
& Mossberg, 2002)
• analyses of destination images projected by media (Santos 2004, Sadler &
Haskins 2005, Xiao & Mair 2006, Custodio & Gouveia 2007)
• analyses of images projected in travel guides (Schellhorn & Perkins 2004, van
Gorp & Beneker, 2007)
• analysis of images projected on postcards (Markwick, 2001)
• analysis of images projected in DMO promotional texts (Ateljevic & Doorne,
2002)
• analysis of the link between wine preferences and choice of wine tourism
destinations (Brown & Getz, 2005)
• analysis of the influence of movies on destination image (Frost, 2006)
• qualitative elicitation of salient destination image attributes (Pike, 2007a)
• analysis of perceptions of destination shopping attributes (Reisenger & Turner,
2002)
• analyses of images projected on DMO websites (Choi, Lehto & Morrison
2007, Govers & Go 2004, Stepchenkova & Morrison 2006).)
Table 1 presents a summary of the characteristics of the 89 empirical papers, where
each study has been presented in chronological order. Column A lists the number of
destinations analysed. Column B lists the number of attributes used as independent
variables in those papers that used structured methods (* denotes unclear). Column C
uses ‘Q’ to denote that qualitative methods were used with consumers, either as the
main measure of destination image or in an exploratory stage to enhance the design of
an attribute list. Column D lists the sample size. Column E denotes whether

participants were visitors to the destination, travelers at another location, consumers at
home, or intermediaries. Column F lists the main techniques used to analyse data,
which were coded as: analysis of means (A), ranking/preferences (R), repertory grid
(RG), conjoint analysis (CJ), factor analysis (F), multi-dimensional scaling (MDS),
importance-performance analysis (IPA), cluster analysis (C), Q-method (QM),
structured equation modeling (SEM), association techniques (AT), Regression (Reg),
correspondence analysis (Cs), content analysis (CA), canonical correlation analysis
(CCA), discriminant analysis (D), choice modeling analysis (CMA). The final column
denotes whether the study reported the use of a ‘don’t know’ option in a structured
study to minimize the risk of uninformed responses.
Findings
• Only 14 of the 89 studies measured destination image for an explicit travel
context, in comparison to 23 out of 142 papers in the 1973-2001 analysis.
• European destinations were the focus of 31 studies, followed by Asia (23),
North America (18), Australasia (15), Africa (6), Scandinavia (3), Oceania (1),
South America (1), Caribbean (1), Central America (1), Gulf (1). This
represents a shift away from the dominance of North American studies in the
1973-2001 period.
• Over half of the studies (54) analyzed the image of one destination in
isolation, without a frame of reference to competing places.
• The most popular type of destination continues to be countries (38), followed
by cities (27), provinces (20), resorts (8), states (8), rural areas (1), and other
(5).
• 73 of the 89 studies used structured techniques involving rating scales.

• 34 studies used qualitative techniques with consumers, either to analyse
destination image or to elicit attributes for structured questionnaires.
• Visitors at the destination were the most popular type of participants (46),
followed by consumers at home (30), practitioners (9), and travelers in transit
(9).
• The studies addressed a diverse range of interests: affect (11), positioning (9),
branding (8), satisfaction (7), visitor origins (7), familiarity (5), repeat
visitation (4), intent to visit (4), segmentation (3), choice sets (3), information
sources (3), benchmarking (2), experiences (2), push/pull (2), media (2), image
change (2), events (2), self image (2), competitiveness (2), historical districts,
postcards, mature destinations, image formation, main/secondary destinations,
visitor employed photography, netnography, destination avoidance, age,
motivation, cultural distance, word of mouth, urban tourism, projected images
and gastronomy.
• Only 3 of the 73 structured studies reported the use of a ‘don’t know’ option
alongside scale items for participants.
(INSERT TABLE 1 ABOUT HERE)
Summary
A total of 120 destination image papers from the literature during the period 2001-
2007 were reviewed, in order to provide a summary of key characteristics for future
researchers. A major role of DMOs is to develop favorable images in the minds of
consumers and intermediaries. The summary provides references to an array of

techniques that destination marketers may use to measure whether they have been
successful in this regard. For example, if a researcher was interested in applying a
specific technique such as MDS, the table provides nine references to its application.
Nomenclature is clearly an issue for researchers interested in destination image.
Those searching the literature for previous studies should not expect an explicit
mention of destination image in paper titles. Tasci, Gartner and Cavusgil (2007)
pointed to a number of studies that by their title seemingly investigated other
constructs, but which investigated destination image under another name. The
examples they cited were: destination attractiveness, destination awareness,
destination evaluation, destination perception, destination attributes, and destination
quality. Many other topic titles include elements of image analysis, such as
destination branding and destination positioning, the ‘pull’ of destinations, destination
satisfaction, personal constructions, destination choice sets, competitive advantage,
destination loyalty and repeat visitation, destination experiences, and destination
benchmarking.
In general, while the field is increasing exponentially, a number of weaknesses
remain. In this regard the table highlights research opportunities. For example, while
has been criticism in the past about the need to bring the consumer into research
design (see for example Pearce 1982, Dann 1996), there remains a lack of use of
qualitative methods in the design of structured questionnaires. Many studies rely on
the selection of attributes from previous studies in the literature, often from another
part of the world. This runs the risk of including some attributes that might not be
relevant to participants for a particular travel situation. In this regard it is interesting

that relatively few papers attempted to measure destination image for any specific
travel context, given the likelihood that the same traveler will have different
destination and attribute preferences for different types of travel. The inclusion of
potentially meaningless attributes runs the risk of stimulating uninformed responses
by participants who might be unsure about a particular attribute. Of the 114 structured
papers from 1973-2001 reviewed by Pike (2002a), only one reported the use of a
‘don’t know’ option, while only 3 studies from 2001-2007 did so. Also, over half of
the papers measured the perceptions of only one destination. Not including a frame of
reference to any competing destinations can inhibit understanding of relative strengths
and weaknesses. There also remains a lack of longitudinal studies examining i)
destination image change over time, and ii) the relationship between attitude and
behavior.
As with Pike (2002a), this review does not lay claim to be a complete comprehensive
listing of every published destination image study. However, collectively the 1973-
2000 and 2001-2007 reviews do provide a broad categorization of over 260 papers
published in the first 35 years of research in the field.

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Table 1: Summary of Destination Image Studies 2001 - 2007
Author Date Travel
situation
Region Destination A B C D Participants Data
analysis
Other interest ‘Don’t know’
option
Yuksel & Yuksel 2001a, 2001b Europe Country 7 67 Q 340 Visitors F, Reg Positioning No
Bigne, Sanchez &
Sanchez
2001 Europe Resort 2 1 - 514 Visitors SEM Return intent
Rittichainuwat, Qu &
Brown
2001 Asia Country 1 31 - 510 Visitors F Repeat visitors No
Litvin & Ling 2001 Asia Resort 1 10 - 532 Visitors,
travellers
A Repeat visitors No
Leisen 2001 North America State 1 24 - 923 Consumers F, C Segmentation No
Lennon, Weber &
Henson
2001 Europe Country 1 * - 158 Practitioners A Satisfaction No
Baloglu & Mangaloglu 2001 Europe Country 4 18 - 46 Practitioners A Affect No
Sirakaya, Sonmez &
Choi
2001 Europe Country 1 * - 326 Consumers F, Reg Familiarity No
Mykletun, Crotts &
Mykletun
2001 Scandinavia Island 1 * - 4004 Visitors Reg Segmentation, visitor
origins
No
Joppe, Martin &
Waalen
2001 North America City 1 15 - 359 Visitors IPA Visitor origins, satisfaction No
Lawson & Thyne 2001 Australasia, World Region, 19 10 Q 1703 Consumers F, MDS Choice sets, destination No

country, city avoidance
Smith & Mackay 2001 North America City, park 4 * Q 180 Consumers A Age-related differences N/A
Andsager &
Drzewiecka
2002 Africa, North
America
Country, city 2 N/A Q 194 Consumers CA, C Familiarity N/A
Gavgar & Gursoy 2002 Europe Province 13 1 - 586 Visitors A No
Orth & Tureckova 2002 Europe Country,
province, city
16 40 - 249 Visitors MDS, C,
F
Positioning No
Day, Skidmore &
Koller
2002 Australasia Province 1 N/A Q 40 Consumers Positioning N/A
Cai 2002 North America Province, city 3 6 - 1833 Consumers MDS Branding No
Chalip, Harrison-Hill
& Fairley
2002 Australasia City 1 600 Consumers MDS Positioning No
Kozak 2002 Europe Country,
province
2 * Q 1190 Visitors F Benchmarking No
Pike 2002b, 2002c,
2003
Short breaks Australasia Province, city 5 22 Q 763 Consumers,
practitioners
RG IPA,
F
Positioning, affect,
decision sets
Yes
Laws, Scott & Parfitt 2002 Australasia Province 1 * Q 70,
220,
600
Visitors RG Branding, motivation N/A
Lehto, O’Leary &
Morrison
2002 North America,
Asia, Oceania
Continent 3 23 - 850 Consumers F, D Psychographics No
Fairweather & 2002 Australasia City 1 N/a Q 66 Visitors QM Experiences N/A

Swaffield
Sonmez & Sirakaya 2002 Europe Country 1 83 - 552 Consumers F Affect No
Jensen & Korneliussen 2002 Scandinavia Country,
province
5 25 - 424 Visitors A Cultural distance No
Klenosky 2002 Spring break North America State, country N/A N/A Q 53 Consumers Push/pull relationships N/A
Kim & Richardson 2003 Europe City 1 25 - 92 Consumers F Movies, Affect No
Kozak 2003 Europe Province 2 * - 1872 Visitors F, R Satisfaction No
Iwashita 2003 Europe Country 1 * - 323 Consumers Media construction N/A
Kim & Yoon 2003 Other Country, city * 11 - 231 Travelers SEM Affect No
Rezende-Parker,
Morrison & Ismail
2003 South America Country 1 39 Q 246 Consumers F, C No
Huybers 2003 Short breaks Australasia Province,
resort, city
6 7 Q 384 Consumers CMA N/A
O’Leary & Deegan 2003, 2006 Europe Country 1 17 Q 80 Visitors IPA No
Pritchard 2003 Australasia State 1 26 - 200 Visitors F, SEM Word of mouth,
satisfaction
No
Pawitra & Tan 2003 Asia Country 1 20 - 956 Visitors A No
Vogt & Andereck 2003 North America State 1 N/A Q 748 Visitors A Image change N/A
Prentice 2004 Europe City 1 * Q 375 Visitors A Familiarity No
Richards & Wilson 2004 Europe City 1 13 - 2200 Visitors A Event impact No
Chung 2004 Asia Country 5 * - 162 Visitors Reg Information sources No
Suh & Gartner 2004 Asia City 1 * - 420 Visitors MDS Urban tourism No

Kozak, Bigne,
Gonzalez & Andreu
2004 Europe Country 5 19 - 5390 Visitors A, Cs Cultural differences No
Hsu, Wolfe & Kang 2004 North America State 1 19 - 417 Consumers A Comparative advantage No
Kastenholz 2004 Europe Rural 1 16 - 2280 Visitors F Self image, affect No
Mackay & Couldwell 2004 North America Other 1 N/A Q 136 Visitors Visitor employed
photography
N/A
Fallon & Schofield 2004 North America City 1 22 Q 467 Visitors F, R Previous visitation,
satisfaction
No
Awaritefe 2004 Africa Country 1 30 - 505 Consumers,
visitors
C, F Previous visitation No
Hankinson 2004a, 2004b,
2005
Europe City N/A N/A Q 25 Practitioners RG Organic images N/A
Fuchs & Weiermair 2004 Europe City, resort 33 19 Q 2571 Visitors CA, IPA Benchmarking, satisfaction No
Beerli & Martin 2005 Africa Resort 1 27 - 616 Visitors F, Reg Image formation No
Smith 2005 Europe City 3 * Q 309 Consumers A Sport reimaging N/A
McKercher & Wong 2005 Asia Province 1 N/A Q 3230 Visitors A Repeaters, Main/secondary
destination
No
Mercille 2005 Asia City 1 N/A Q 397 Visitors CA Media effects N/A
Mohsin 2005 Austrlasia State 1 * - 670 Consumers F Yes
White 2005 Asia Country 1 N/A Q 45 Consumers N/A
Lee, Lee & Lee 2005 Special
event
Asia Country 1 19 - 412 Visitors SEM No

Obenour, Lengfelder
& Groves
2005 Nature North America Province 1 28 - 610 Consumers D Distance No
Kim & Morrison 2005 Special
event
Asia Country 1 21 - 539 Visitors F, Cs Image change No
Kim, Chun & Petrick 2005 Golf Asia, North
America,
Australasia
Country 7 10 - 216 Visitors Cs, MDS Positioning No
Kim & Agrusa 2005 Honeymoon Asia, North
America,
Australasia
Country 7 8 - 393 Consumers Cs, MDS Positioning No
Baloglu & Love 2005 Convention North America City 5 21 Q 153 Practitioners F, MDS Affect, Positioning No
Hanlan & Kelly 2005 Backpackers Australasia Resort 1 N/A Q 21 Visitors,
Travellers
Information sources N/A
Konecnik 2005 Europe Country 1 28 - 119 Practitioners A Distance, Affect No
Kim, Guo & Agrusa 2005 Asia, Europe,
Australasia, Africa
Country 7 10 - 375 Travellers MDS Positioning No
Enright & Newton 2005, 2006 Asia Province 10 52 - 183 Practitioners IPA Competitiveness No
Bonn, Joseph & Dai 2005 North America State 1 10 Q 14205 Visitors M Country of origin No
Formica & Uysal 2006 Europe Province, city 8 * - 40 Practitioners Reg Supply factors No
Alegre & Cladera 2006 Sun and
sand
holidays
Europe Province 1 19 - 7564 Visitors F Repeaters, mature
destinations
No

Grosspietsch 2006 Africa Country 1 15 - 550 Practitioners,
visitors
A Projected and perceived
images
No
Deslandes 2006 All-inclusive
packages
Caribbean Country 1 * - 165 Visitors F Satisfaction No
McCleary, Weaver &
Hsu
2006 Asia Country 7 4 - 740 Travellers M Nationality No
Watkins, Hassanien &
Dale
2006 Europe Province 1 7 - 150 Visitors A No
Lam & Hsu 2006 Asia Country 1 * Q 299 Travellers SEM Intent to visit No
Kivela & Crotts 2006 Asia Province 1 * - 1067 Visitors F,Reg Gastronomy No
Naoi, Airey, Iijima, &
Niininen
2006,2007 Asia District 1 N/A Q 30 Consumers RG Historical districts N/A
Ekinci & Hosany 2006 Global Country 1 * Q 250 Consumers,
travellers
F, SEM Brand personality, affect No
Pike 2006, 2007b Short breaks Australasia Province 5 15 Q 523 Consumers RG, A Brand equity, decision sets,
affect
Yes
Konecnik 2006 Europe Country 1 26 - 404 Consumers F, SEM Brand equity No
Konecnik & Gartner 2007 Europe Country 1 26 - 806 Consumers F, SEM Brand equity No
Beerli, Meneses & Gil 2007 Africa, Europe,
Central America
Country, city 3 6 - 552 Consumers SEM Self-congruity No
Weaver, Weber &
McCleary
2007 Asia Province 1 4 - 476 Visitors CCA Travel experience No

Yuksel & Akgul 2007 Europe Resort 1 4 - 163 Travellers T, Reg Postcards, Affect No
Prebensen 2007 Scandinavia Province 1 N/A Q 38 Travellers AT Branding N/A
Chen & Tsai 2007 Asia Resort 1 20 - 393 Visitors F, SEM Behavioral intent No
Govers, Go & Kumar 2007 Gulf, North
America, Europe,
Asia
Country,
state, city
7 N/A Q 1102 Consumers CA Information sources N/A
Lee & Back 2007 Convention North America City 1 6 Q 245 Visitors SEM No
Woodside,
Cruickshank &
Dehuang
2007 Europe City 2 N/A Q 6 Visitors CA Netnography N/A
Hui, Wan & Ho 2007 Asia Country 1 8 - 424 Visitors R Intent to revisit No
Murphy, Moscardo &
Benckendorff
2007 Australasia City 2 20 - 464 Visitors,
travellers
T, F Brand personality No