Exploring how perceived tourism impacts evolve over time (2009-2019) in an era of uncertainty: economic crisis, host-guest interactions, and Airbnb

Cross sectional studies focusing on a single setting are typically not sufficient in explaining how/why residents arrive at certain perceptions of impacts and attitudes towards tourism. This study aims to explore how the impacts of tourism are perceived by local residents over time (2009 - 2019), potentially shaped by the transient global and local contexts (economic crisis, Airbnb expansion); and frequency of exposure to tourists, explained via the Mere Exposure Theory (MET). MET suggests that repeated exposure to a stimulus or people, is a condition for the enhancement of the attitude towards it. Targeting Kavala residents in Greece, survey data were collected in three different points in time (2009, 2011, 2019), coupled with 21 in-depth interviews with local residents conducted in 2019. Results revealed that residents’ perceptions of tourism impacts are dynamic and fluid, greatly affected by the macro and micro economic environment; the rapid expansion of Airbnb in residents’ living areas; and the subsequent increasing interaction with tourists. Implications for theory and practice along with limitations and future research directions are also discussed

Editorial [introduction: Sustainable Place Marketing]

This special issue of the International Journal of Tourism Policy examines different stakeholders’ perspectives of a place as a tourist destination, thereby advancing existing theoretical knowledge on sustainable place marketing and offering practical insights for destination marketers and planners. Destination image refers to the sum of beliefs, ideas and impressions that a person has of a destination (Kotler, Haider and Rein, 1993). Sustainable place marketing depends to a large extent on effective stakeholder management and inclusive processes with the collaboration and agreement of a range of stakeholders such as the tourists, local residents, business operators, and local government officials (Hall, 2008). Yet, so far the vast majority of destination image studies in the tourism literature have focused on the tourists’ perspective (Chew and Jahari, 2014; Stylidis, Bellhasen and Shani, 2015a) as this group commonly stimulates economic activities for the host communities (Goeldner and Ritchie, 2009)

Explaining conative destination image through cognitive and affective destination image and emotional solidarity with residents

It is nearly impossible to consider a destination without also acknowledging its people as well as the relationship visitors have with such residents. Employing a hierarchical structure of destination image, this study examined how emotional solidarity along with cognitive and affective image explain conative image of Greece among Serbian visitors who had recently visited. Targeting Serbians living in Novi Sad, survey data were collected on-site as well as through online means, resulting in 401 completed questionnaires for analysis. Structural equation modeling revealed that five of the six proposed hypotheses were supported from the developed theoretical model. Overall, emotional solidarity, cognitive image and affective image were able to predict 70% (R2 = 0.70) of the variance in conative image. Implications for theory and practice along with limitations and future research opportunities are discussed at the close of the paper

Tourists' emotional solidarity with residents: a segmentation analysis and its links to destination image and loyalty

It is nearly impossible to consider a destination without also acknowledging its people and the relationships visitors have with such residents. Extant research on emotional solidarity has treated visitors as a homogenous group, failing to identify differences in the way people develop solidarity and perceive a destination. This study addresses this gap by clustering tourists based on their emotional solidarity with residents; and identifying whether tourist subgroups share different perceptions of the destination and levels of loyalty. Analysis was based on a sample of 400 Serbian visitors who had visited Greece. Three groups were identified with different levels of emotional solidarity, termed Appreciator, Lover, and Emotionally Distant. All groups exhibited dissimilar cognitive and affective images and diverse levels of loyalty

Is perception of destination image stable or does it fluctuate? A measurement of three points in time

This study aimed to identify variations of three types of perceived image including affective, cognitive, and overall image over three points in time and to test the efficacy of image in explaining satisfaction, knowledge, and attachment with a destination. Although previous studies used results collected through a cross-sectional survey, this study surveyed the same samples at three different times, that is before, during and after travel, to enrich our understanding of how image develops through the three key stages of a trip. The findings indicate there is significant variation in perceived image domains, extracted as a result of factor analysis, and overall image across time. To predict satisfaction, attachment, and knowledge, “vividness” of the affective image domains and “diverse tourism attraction” of the cognitive image domains showed significance on regression models. Interestingly, “developed tourism industry” was not reported being significant predictor in any model. The results suggest that future studies need to measure destination image over time in line with traveller’s movement

The role of visual media in religious tourists' destination image, choice, and on-site experience: the case of Tinos, Greece

Although visual media are known to influence the image people have of tourism destinations worldwide, only a few studies have examined their role in the context of religious tourism. This study explores the role TV news and documentaries play in religious tourists’ destination image, choice and on-site experience. Ethnographic research (31 participant observations and 38 in-depth interviews) was conducted in two organized coach trips to the sacred island of Tinos, Greece. The findings suggest that broadcasted images of the holy icon, the leading politicians, and the performing religious crowd shape the image of Tinos and influence visitation patterns. Additionally, the visual projection of religious tourists’ offerings appears to condition peoples’ on-site experience. The theoretical and practical implications of the study are also discussed

Islands and destination image: the case of Ios

This study was conducted to identify the image of Ios as a tourist destination as perceived by the visitors, in order to contribute to the formation of an effective marketing plan. The strengths and weaknesses of the image of Ios were measured and presented, accompanied with a number of recommendations. The findings revealed that Ios has a very strong destination image as a party island, with the majority of the visitors being international young students coming to enjoy the relaxing atmosphere and the party mood of the island. As a result, Ios needs to strengthen its image compared to other islands or destinations which offer the same product, by promoting its competitive advantages, such as; the nightlife, the relatively low prices, the relaxing atmosphere and the friendliness of the locals

Destination loyalty explained through place attachment, destination familiarity, and destination image

This study explores how familiarity and attachment, along with cognitive and affective image explain destination loyalty across visitors with divergent degrees of frequency of visitation (low vs. high). Serbians (n = 401) who have previously visited Greece comprised the sample population for this study and were surveyed using a self-administered questionnaire. Findings reveal that overall familiarity shapes cognitive and affective destination image, while each image component uniquely explains destination loyalty (R2 = 0.51). Differences also exist in the magnitude of the relationships tested among the two groups. Implications for theory and practice, along with limitations and research directions, are discussed

Social determinants of place attachment at a World Heritage site

While the work on place attachment is extensive, it neglects to focus on residents' and tourists' perspectives of the construct concurrently. Additionally, the role that social factors play in forging attachment to place is lacking within the tourism literature. This work focuses on whether residents' (n = 469) and tourists' (n = 461) degree of place attachment at the Osun Oshogbo Cultural Festival (Nigeria) were significantly different. Examining the psychometric properties of the place attachment scale in an international context was a second aim. The final purpose of this work was to assess whether social factors (i.e., frequency of interaction and emotional closeness) between residents and tourists could explain the resulting CFA place attachment factors. MANOVA results revealed tourists demonstrated a significantly higher degree of attachment. Each social determinant predicted the attachment factors for both samples, with the two independent variables explaining higher degrees of variance among residents