Promising the dream: the changing destination image of London through the effect of website place

Abstract

The current study is primarily concerned with extending the current knowledge about place identity by developing a comprehensive model, revolving around on website, image, satisfaction, intention to (re)visit and recommend within the marketing discipline. In recent decades, destination image has been acknowledged as a significant aspect of enhancing tourism and destination marketing. In a context of such relentless competition between countries and their tourism industries, having a favourable website place about a specific destination carries a strategic power, which strengthens the tourism industry and influences destination image. Perceived as being at the forefront of change in the world, the UK has attracted the world’s attention and accounted for 2.9% of global arrivals in 2015. Based on UNWTO international tourist arrivals, UK ranked eighth and was in sixth place in the international tourism earnings league (down from fifth in 2014) behind the USA, China, Spain, France and Thailand according to UNWTO figures.

By examining the conceptual model which has been designed based on previous studies, this study challenges the claims for place identity as a key element of destination image, contending that attitudes towards websites can influence visitors’ motivation and intention to (re)visit or recommend the place. Despite the significance of and the attention on the relationship between place identity and destination image, little systematic research has examined the effect of the attitude towards website place on consumer evaluations of the destination image. This study aims to addresses a number of research gaps noted in the literature about the role of place branding and destination image from visitors or potential visitors’ perspective. This study adopts a mix-method research design – a predominantly quantitative approach, is supported by insights from an exploratory phase encompassing in-depth interviews and focus groups discussions. The key contribution stemming from this research is a multi-disciplinary foundation for place identity to provide a holistic perspective of the domain in place branding/image/identity/destination literature. It is hoped that future research will build on the research findings so that further avenues can be explored.

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ORCID for Tugra Akarsu: orcid.org/0000-0003-0491-3707

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