Destination Image of Selected Tourist Destinations Measurement Analysis and Implications

Abstract

Worldwide an ever increasing number of destinations have opened up and invested in tourism development tuning modern tourism into a key driver of economic growth. India also represents one of the most promising tourism markets in the world. In fact the Indian tourism and hospitality industry is the thirdlargest subsegment of the services sector in India. However despite the immense economic potential of domestic tourism it has remained an area of neglect. As a country with billion plus people we have a huge nation toshowcase ourselves; yet it has received scarce attention by policy makers academicians and practitioners alike. In addition to this despite increased attention and relevance drawn by destination image as a key aspect of destination marketing it has been an under researched area in Indian tourism academic literature as well as practitioner studies. Consequently no previous Indian research exists which provides a pragmatic and explicit approach to capture the destination image of tourism destinations in India. newlineGiven the fact that domestic tourism plays an important role in overall tourism development in the country; an understanding about the perception of domestic tourists about tourism destinations could be a valuable source for tourism planners to determine the positioning and promotion of domestic destinations. Destination image measurement therefore emerges as an area of imminent concern and attention. This study aims to measure and analyze the destination image on specific attributes of selected tourist destinations and subsequently develop insights for policy makers and practitioners.Tourism destination image has been a focal area of conceptual and empirical tourism research forthe last three decades. The importance of the tourist destination s image is universally acknowledged since it affects the individuals subjective perception and consequent behavior and destination choice Echtner and Ritchie 1991 Gallarza et al 2002 Thao and Swierczek 2008 Allameh et al 2014