Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Tracking Destination Image Across Trip Experience with Smartphone Technology.

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study is to examine changes to tourists’ image of a destination throughout a trip experience.  Using Blackberry technology, a group of Canadian student travelers to Peru were asked to record images and experience about their trip during several key moments (pre-trip, upon arrival, half-way, departure, and post-trip).  The results of this mixed methods study indicate that tourists’ destination image is dynamic and continuously evolving throughout their trip, and various incidents during the trip could impact it. Of particular importance are the impressions made upon arrival and departure, as they are powerful determinants of post-trip images.  Affective image appear to be rather haphazard during the trip whereas most respondents’ cognitive image follows a specific pattern where the subjects go through an adjustment period at the beginning of the trip (resulting in lowered scores) but then rebound in a positive direction from that point.  Further, post-trip cognitive scores tend to continue to rise significantly while affective scores tend to return to pre-trip levels.

For those that want to cite this...

Smith, W.W., Li, R., Pan, B., Witte, M., & Doherty, S.  (2014). Tracking Destination Image Across Trip Experience with Smartphone Technology.  Tourism Management.  

Monday, December 1, 2014

WestJet Makes the Nice List

I am not big on promoting commercial entities however, I must give kudos where they are indeed due.  Congratulations to West Jet on their annual Christmas miracle promotion.



They have been doing this for several years now and it has gotten even more fabulous with each and every iteration.  I love when my industry decides to truly give back. It is important for us to remember that when we bring our guests to communities that those places are not just commodities. We need to be doing more of this as an industry in order to really create true partnerships with communities.  Tourism can be a great thing when done correctly.   Congrats once again to WestJet for demonstrating leadership in this regards!