Destination networks and induced tourism image

Destination networks and induced tourism

image

Raquel Camprubı´, Jaume Guia and Jordi Comas

Abstract

Purpose – The aim of the paper is to develop a conceptual model of the process by means of which the

induced tourism image of a destination is created. The model focuses on the role tourism agents’

relational networks play in this process and particularly on the effects of the links with external actors –

i.e. tour-operators – on the destination’s induced image.

Design/methodology/approach – Based on Gartner’s definition of image formation agents, it is

assumed that there are tourism agents that use the tourism image as a pull factor to influence the buying

behaviour of potential visitors. Basically, these agents are: internal actors, located within a particular

tourism destination, and external agents – i.e. tour-operators – which are not normally associated with

any particular destination, but have stakes in the travel decision process of potential visitors. In parallel,

it is assumed that the tourism destination is a web of relational networks where the agents are connected

by means of collaborative links that facilitate the supply of a tourist product or experience to the visitors.

Findings – In this paper two potential gaps in the induced tourism destination image formation process

are found, and that the position of relevant actors in the network and the structure of the network are two

determinant factors of the emergence – or inhibition – of these gaps. It is also suggested that these

gaps and the lack of collaborative links among internal and external actors would affect the coherence of

the supplied tourist products and the satisfaction with the tourist experience.

Originality/value – The relevance of the paper lies in a new approach to the induced tourism image

formation process focusing on the destination’s relational network and, in particular, the network of

relations with external agents (i.e. tour-operators).

Keywords Tourism management, International relations, Knowledge management,

Competitive strategy

Paper type Conceptual paper

Introduction

During the last 30 years, the analysis of the tourism destination image has increasingly

gained relevance in the academic literature. The perspectives with which the tourism image

is analysed are diverse and multidisciplinary. One of the elements that has been paid more

attention is the study of the capacity of the tourism image to influence the destination

selection process. Authors such as Baloglu and McCleary (1999), Echtner and Ritchie

(1991), Jenkins (1999) and Yu¨ksel and Akgu¨l (2007) have taken this particular perspective.

The tourism destination image can be defined as the sum of beliefs, ideas, and impressions

that a person has of a place (Crompton, 1979; Kotler et al., 1994). These images are based

on the knowledge of a place and a series of perceptions of emotional and affective nature

(Galı´ and Donaire, 2005). In fact, we can state that a tourism destination image is a kind of

knowledge. This issue is highlighted in the definitions made of this term by authors such as

Markin (1974), who establishes that a tourism image is ‘‘our own personalized, internalized

and conceptualizing understanding of what we know’’. This tacit knowledge has necessarily

passed through a process, where it has been first acquired, then assimilated, later

transformed and finally exploited.

DOI 10.1108/16605370810883941 VOL. 63 NO. 2 2008, pp. 47-58, Q Emerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN 1660-5373 j TOURISM REVIEW j PAGE 47

Raquel Camprubı´, Jaume

Guia and Jordi Comas are

all based in the Business,

Management & Product

Design Department

(OGEDP) at the Faculty of

Tourism, University of

Girona, Girona, Spain.