Destination Image, Awareness, and Tourism Product Characteristics

Administrative and Course Information Regarding the Queenstown Project

• Progress Overview: Several students have already begun their Queenstown group projects, while others are in the initial thinking stages.
• Presentation Details:     * The in-class presentation constitutes the final project and accounts for $15\%$ of the total grade.     * Presentations are scheduled for weeks 12 and 13.     * There are 8 groups total, with 4 lectures set aside specifically for these group presentations.     * Due to time constraints, the final lecture will be reserved for exam preparation and miscellaneous content. This leaves approximately 3 lectures for the 8 groups, meaning each lecture session will feature 2 to 3 group presentations.     * The lecturer will provide a specific schedule so groups know exactly which lecture slot they have been allocated.
• Audience Participation: There is a $5\%$ grade component allocated for asking questions during these presentations.
• Marketing Context: The project involves "getting the wagons in circles," which refers to communicating with operators, networking, managing them, and providing education for operators, with a primary focus on marketing.

The Significance and History of Destination Image

• Definition of Destination Image: It is the sum of everything an individual knows about a destination, including personal beliefs, ideas, impressions, subjective knowledge, prejudices, imaginations, and emotions. These can be individual images or commonly shared group images.
• History of Place Promotion:     * The concept has a long history, particularly in the North American "Wild West." Small towns would spring up and compete for investment, residents, and citizens.     * Approximately 150 years ago, mass tourism began in the UK and Europe, leading to competition between towns for visitors, investment, and residents.     * The industry has since evolved from informal "place promotion" to formalized "destination marketing."
• The Power of Image:     * Image is the decisive factor in choosing a holiday destination and motivates individuals to travel long distances.     * Specific Example: New Zealand's image (100% Pure, Clean & Green) is powerful enough to convince travelers from Europe to sit on a plane for long durations and pay approximately $5,000$ in airfares.
• Reinventing Places: Through carefully planned marketing processes, a destination manager can change the image of a place that is potentially polluted, expensive, or industrial into an attractive destination.

Destination Marketing vs. Consumer Product Marketing

• The Metaphor of the Toaster:     * Marketing a destination is distinct from selling a consumer product like a toaster.     * Tangibility: A toaster (from a retailer like Briscoes) is a tangible product. A customer can test the spring, buttons, and lights. A destination, however, is an intangible experience with high psychological and capital investment.     * Capital Investment: Holidays represent a significant financial and emotional commitment compared to simple consumer goods.
• Characteristics of the Tourism Product:     * Inseparability: In tourism, there is an inseparability of the tangible, the intangible, and the human element. For example, drinking in a bar involves the human service (the performance) and the tangible drink itself.     * Perishability: Tourism products vanish if not sold immediately.         * If a hotel bed night is not sold by midnight, that product has "perished."         * If a seat on a bus is not sold before the bus departs, that opportunity is gone forever.     * Heterogeneity: There is immense variety within a destination (adventure, retail, heritage, hospitality). Furthermore, the quality of the product varies based on human performance, moods (e.g., if a bungee jump operator is in a bad mood), time of day, and seasonality.     * Substitutability: This refers to the ability to swap one activity or destination for another. This varies; sometimes a traveler can substitute a different activity within a destination, and other times they must choose an entirely different market.     * Hedonarchal Element: This term refers to the most powerful element of a destination—the intangible emotional experience—which is ultimately more important than tangible assets in determining if a visitor returns.

Image Simplification and Choice Sets

• The Risk of Simplification:     * When marketers promote a destination, they "boil it down" or "squish it down" to a simplified image (e.g., Queenstown is marketed as glitz, blitz, and bungee jumps, though it functions as a normal town for locals).     * Simplification risks missing cool cultural elements or specific activities and can alienate locals if the image does not reflect their reality.
• Choice Sets in Decision Making:     * Because there are "bazillions" of destinations, consumers use choice sets to reduce search costs (time/energy).     * Inert Set: Destinations the consumer is indifferent toward.     * Evoked Set (Top of Mind): These are the destinations a traveler actually considers visiting. The destination manager's goal is to position their destination in this set.
• Competitive Advantage: A more favorable image increases the likelihood of being selected. Managers must know who their specific competitors are in the consumer's evoked set (e.g., Is Queenstown competing against Tasmania, Hawaii, or Chile?).

Gartner’s Image Formation Agents

• Context: Any destination has multiple images (e.g., Thailand evokes food, beaches, temples, but also skewed demographics like middle-aged white males or political unrest).
• Eight Image Formation Agents: These act independently or together to form an image in an individual’s mind. They vary in power, credibility, and market penetration.     1. Unsolicited Organic: Information absorbed over time without seeking it (e.g., hearing from friends or family).     2. Solicited Organic: Information sought out specifically (e.g., asking a friend who recently visited Fiji).     3. Organic (Direct Experience): The image formed from actually visiting and experiencing the destination.     4. Autonomous Information: Media reports, popular culture, or news (e.g., BBC reports on Thai political protesters blocking a queen's convoy).     5. Overt Induced I: Traditional advertising from Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs) or travel agents.     6. Overt Induced II: Information from tour operators and wholesalers.     7. Covert Induced I: "Sneaky marketing" such as TV shows featuring a holiday (e.g., the movie The Beach starring Leonardo DiCaprio acting as a hidden marketing tool for Thailand).     8. Covert Induced II: Magazine articles or newspaper features (e.g., articles in the Otago Daily Times) that feel neutral but are promotional.

Case Study: Repositioning East Timor

• The Challenge: East Timor had a negative organic image due to historical unrest, war, and poverty.
• The Study: Researchers used a word map to visualize the organic image, which was dominated by negative associations.
• Mock Branding Exercise:     * Subjects were exposed to a marketing campaign including slogans like "A welcome you'll always remember" and noting it is only one hour from Darwin.     * Results: After exposure, the negative associations were "nudged aside." New dominant words included "Friendly," "Beautiful," "Adventure," and "Diving."
• Conclusion: Even if negative images are $20$ to $30$ years old and persistent, they can be changed through appropriate imagery and modern marketing tools.

Strategies for Destination Managers

• Resource and Evaluation: Managers must constantly research the imagery they use and the various information agents competing for attention.
• Maintaining Credibility: Because marketing is often seen as "glitzy and glossy" rather than truthful, managers must emphasize neutrality and legitimacy.
• Familiarization Trips (Famils):     * DMOs bring travel agents and inbound/outbound tour operators to the destination.     * They are wined and dined so they become "best friends" of the destination, providing influential endorsements when they return home.

Questions & Discussion

• Question from Student: Are those specific locations in New Zealand (referring to a slide)?
• Instructor Response: The instructor clarified locations, mentioning a specific town that has a negative image and asked if a manager can recover its competitiveness through restructuring or "fiddling with the image."
• Question regarding Thailand images: Students mentioned "Food," "Beaches," "Temples," and "Nude live girls" as part of the image of Thailand.
• Instructor Response: The instructor noted that different imagery appeals to different demographics, noting the visitor market to Thailand can be heavily skewed toward middle-aged white males.