This book opens a fresh chapter in the debate on local enterprise clusters and their strategies for upgrading in the global economy. The authors employ a novel conceptual framework in their research on industrial clusters in Europe, Latin America and Asia and provide new perspectives and insights for researchers and policymakers alike.

Governance in global value chains

This article examines the role of tourism promotion as a component of destination image formation. It reports the findings of a study in which 1,100 respondents from around the globe described their previsit perceived image of seven sample destinations, as well as the information sources they used. The findings suggest that tourism promotion does not have a major impact upon the perceptions of travelers and that other sources of information have a much greater bearing on the formation of destination image. As a result, tourism authorities need to understand that successful tourism promotion is dependent on a broad range of external influences. At the same time, the impact of marketing communication decisions on measurables such as revenue, market share, and costs must be carefully assessed.

Promoting Tourism Destination Image

This study analyzes how destination identity is projected through the use of photographic imagery and narratives in an online environment in the context of marketing a fast growing tourist destination such as Dubai. Twenty Dubai-based websites, covering various sectors of the industry, were content analyzed in terms of the photographic material and textual representations presented. Results confirm that there are, as expected, considerable discrepancies in the way the private and public players project Dubai’s identity. Private sector organizations, in particular hospitality and transport, are product oriented and projected images relate primarily to the specific facilities and tourist activities on offer. In contrast, the destination marketing organization focuses on the projection of cultural identity and heritage.

Projected destination image online: website content analysis of pictures and text.

Virtual destination image a new measurement approach

The substantial increases in the volume of tourist information available as a consequence of rapid technological change, globalization, and the blurring boundaries of competition are the main reasons that both consumers and destinations face complexity. These forces combined have caused a process that is “reengineering” the tourism industry. Particularly destination image, influenced by the proliferation of communicated destination identities, as driven by the online revolution, holds many innovation promises in terms of destination marketing and positioning. As it is difficult for tourists to form a clear image of a destination without the actual experience, the multimedia interactive nature of the Web can add a whole new dimension to destination marketing. But how are those image attributes that have the largest impact on consumer perception and therefore destination choice identified and measured? Through empirical data this article shows that the present multiattribute destination image research is inadequate in predicting destination choice behavior. A subsequent discussion of the results asserts that the deconstruction of traditional destination image theory is unavoidable. In its place, it is concluded, emerges a new information technology-based destination image measurement paradigm.

Deconstructing destination image in the information age

A survey was conducted amongst different types of consumers to measure the marketing effectiveness of the Dutch domestic tourism organisation, The Stichting Toerisme en Recreatie AVN. Specifically the purpose of the present study is to investigate how the AVN might improve its ability to manage consumer expectations and determine which attributes the organisation should devote its attention and resources to, in order to improve, meet, or exceed consumer expectations. First, the importance of attributes is being determined through a management survey. Next, the performance is measured through multiple consumer surveys. Finally, the differences between importance and performance are analysed in an effort to identify the organisations strengths and weaknesses.

Achieving Service Quality through the Application of Importance-Performance Analysis

Tourism Destination Image Formation

This chapter presents findings from a study on visitors’ experience of place in virtual environments (VEs). A Playstation game with the city of Los Angeles is used to create a sightseeing experienc ...

Place marketing and experience of place in a VE : An empirical analysis of the importance of hedonic meaning

This paper explores whether websites that offer a global audience virtual access to watering holes in game parks afford African nations opportunities to diminish their international isolation as tourism destinations. The present analysis examines a sample of almost 450 tourism websites representing Rwanda, Uganda and Mozambique. Two aspects are studied in particular: the websites’ technical and social infrastructures, including website ownership and networks, and website content, i.e. the projected destination image and opportunities to bridge the main supplier-consumer gaps in the global tourism value chain. The findings indicate that there is substantial foreign involvement in Africa’s online tourism infrastructure; furthermore, that the current projected images tend to reproduce foreign stereotypes. It concludes that the potential for upgrading branding capabilities could be sourced in indigenous African cultural attributes, both high and low culture, and in contexts of the past and the contemporary. Free Keywords tourism industry, global value chain, dynamic image formation, Rwanda, Uganda, Mozambique, upgrading Availability The ERIM Report Series is distributed through the following platforms: Academic Repository at Erasmus University (DEAR), DEAR ERIM Series Portal Social Science Research Network (SSRN), SSRN ERIM Series Webpage Research Papers in Economics (REPEC), REPEC ERIM Series Webpage Classifications The electronic versions of the papers in the ERIM report Series contain bibliographic metadata by the following classification systems: Library of Congress Classification, (LCC) LCC Webpage Journal of Economic Literature, (JEL), JEL Webpage ACM Computing Classification System CCS Webpage Inspec Classification scheme (ICS), ICS Webpage

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Projected Destination Images on African Websites: Upgrading Branding Opportunities in the Global Tourism Value Chain

Tourism represents a promising service sector that could significantly support the development of African economies. African governments targeting foreign tourists are firmly supported by international organizations. The United Nations, for example, has identified the tourist sector as a means in the “war on poverty” and will contribute towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals by 2015 (UNWTO 2005). A major barrier, however, is Africa’s troublesome image. Africa has in fact two dominant images in the outside world. In the western mass media, the continent is overwhelmingly associated with corruption, violent conflicts, hunger and disease. These media glimpses led The Economist (13–19 May 2000) to conclude that Africa is a “hopeless continent”.

Frank M. Go

Papers

Achieving Service Quality through the Application of Importance-Performance Analysis

Tourism Destination Image Formation

Place marketing and experience of place in a VE : An empirical analysis of the importance of hedonic meaning

Projected Destination Images on African Websites: Upgrading Branding Opportunities in the Global Tourism Value Chain

Website Analysis: Brand Africa