An assessment of beneficial image of a country for vacation destination

Abstract

The aims of this study were: (1) to investigate the destination image which influences Australian potential tourists' decision to visit Thailand and the USA as vacation destinations, and (2) to apply a category-based (prototype-based) approach for operationalising the beneficial image. To achieve Aiml, the so-called 'beneficial image' framework, building upon the marketing image concept of Kotler and Barich (1992) and the consumption value theory of Sheth et al. (1992), was developed. This beneficial image framework was based on five values including functional, social, emotional, epistemic, and conditional. The model provided the basis for understanding destination images and how such images influenced tourists' vacation destinations. To accomplish Aim 2, the development of destination image measurement based on the category-based approach has been undertaken. The author was convinced that by using the category-based approach, destination images which were stored in prototype form can be assessed. The central idea of this approach is that an individual is able to compare the incoming data with prior information or schema stored in memory in evaluating products or things. Therefore, destination image can be assessed by comparing or matching incoming information and image stored in tourists' minds. Based on this assumption, proxy or dummy prototypes of five consumption values were developed from preliminary survey and then compared with tourists' existing beneficial images of those destinations. This methodological framework was applied to 247 subjects, who are students of Victoria University of Technology, and who have never visited the studied countries before. To operationalise this process, five statements representing these proxy prototypes were developed, then subjects were asked to freely express their congruence/discrepancy with these prototypes. On the basis of this matching process, the beneficial images of the two destinations were assessed