Document Type

Article

Source of Publication

Journal of Destination Marketing and Management

Publication Date

12-1-2019

Abstract

Destination image has consistently been a popular theme in the tourism literature. This is due to the important role the construct can play in the intangible nature of consumers' travel decisions. However, one temporal aspect, of how destination image might change over time, has attracted little academic research attention. This manuscript attempts to make a contribution to this gap in the literature by reporting key findings from an investigation into perceptions held of one of New Zealand's most popular resort destinations, Rotorua, at three points in time over two decades. The research is narrowly focused on the perceptions of consumers in Rotorua's largest domestic market, Auckland, and for a specific travel situation, which is short break holidays by car. The research design is based on Fishbein's multi-attribute theory and Kelly's personal construct theory. The key finding was minimal changes in Rotorua's perceived strengths and weaknesses, relative to four competing destinations, in the target market, over the 20 year time period. We propose the theoretical foundations of the research design, and the efficacy of the data analysis, provide DMOs with a valid and reliable means to monitor the strengths and weaknesses of their destination over time.

ISSN

2212-571X

Publisher

Elsevier Ltd

Volume

14

First Page

100387

Disciplines

Tourism and Travel

Keywords

Destination marketing organisation (DMO), Regional tourism organisation (RTO), destination positioning, destination image, negative image, temporal, New Zealand, personal construct theory

Scopus ID

85073683184

Indexed in Scopus

yes

Open Access

yes

Open Access Type

Green: A manuscript of this publication is openly available in a repository

Download

Share

COinS