Introduction and Background of the Research
For three years in a row, in 2013, Melbourne once again has been voted as the “World’s Most Livable City” by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). It is widely acknowledged that Melbourne is celebrated for its cultural creativity, sports activities, stunning historical architectures, world caliber performing & visual arts centers, cafes culture and world-class meeting facilities. It is only natural if Melbourne tourism has been enjoying a boost for the past years; an average annual growth of 5.3% from 2008-2013 (Tourism Victoria 2013). However, having such assets and benefits translate into a number of challenges to the tourism marketers of Melbourne because obviously they can’t just keep everything at this stage, instead they have to keep Melbourne’s competitiveness in the global environment.
When it comes to international tourism, tourism destination must be included in the consumers’ evoked set, from which an ultimate decision is made (Cai, Feng & Breiter 2004, Dana & McClearly 1995, Leisen 2001, Tasci & Kozak 2006). This so-called evoked set is generally offered by numerous destination choices such as picturesque sceneries, quality accommodations, iconic events, wonderful architectures and/or friendly locals. As such, for a destination to remain its competitiveness, it must possess something different and unique of which will make it be selected as the final tourism destination choice. Therefore, it can be said that at this point the concept of destination branding for a destination is crucial.
As the capital city of the state of Victoria and the second most populous city in Australia, Melbourne’s well-developed infrastructure, in particular the city’s transportation systems, plays a crucial role in making Melbourne a destination choice. Tullamarine Airport, being the primary airport of Melbourne, is the second busiest airport in Australia; catering 33 domestic direct flights and numerous flights to other destinations all over the world, making Melbourne within reach to the world.
Within the city itself, getting around is effortless. Melbourne is known as the home of the largest tram network in the world. As the second major form of public transport in Melbourne, the network consists of 250 km of double track with 29 routes and 1, 763 stops (Yarra Trams 2014). Together with the extensive railway network (second largest in Australia) and bus routes, traveling the city is absolutely as simple as ABC.
But is that alone enough for Melbourne to be the preferred tourist destination compared to other cities? Or does Melbourne have other attractions up their sleeves that can be considered a proper branding for the world’s most livable city?
This research hopes that by studying on previous research about the importance of destination image and understanding (international) visitor behavior and satisfaction, the future behaviors of international visitors can be explained, of which could be used to assist Melbourne’s tourism marketers in enhancing their tourism-related services. Therefore, this research will focus on identifying Melbourne’s key destination images from the international visitor perspective and examine their impact upon visitor behavioral intention.
This project aims to investigate the role of Melbourne’s brand and image as a motivator for destination choice and provides a medium to assess Melbourne’s image held by (international) visitors.
Destination images in Melbourne play a vital role in the tourism sector taking the perspective of the international tourist. According to Tucker and Hall, (2004), tourism can be considered as an industry where imagery is a critical element; “its overriding concern is to construct, through multiple representations of paradise and imagery.” When the foreign tourist observes the images, they are able to learn different elements regarding the destination. However, the result of these images to an international tourist can be explained by some developed ideas and theories (Aramberri and Butler, 2005). According to these ideas and theories, the impact of the destination images can either be positive or negative.
Destination images are connected with the thoughts and feelings of a particular destination when an individual hears about the place. The images can, therefore, be represented as the dream perceived by the person when visiting a place. They are based upon ideas and thoughts of a place before even visiting that particular area.
The images portray either positive or negative impact on the perception of a particular destination. Some of the images communicate a negative value of tourism regarding Melbourne destination. Some of images representing Melbourne destination have faded over time, some of the images have poor resolution, and some are out-dated. The tourist could, therefore, think that the place is old-fashioned and, therefore, could lack the significant elements of modernity. As a result, this could reduce the level of tourism in the area because expectations do not reflect the reality. Thus, for an effort to build impressive and up-to-date images, the city authorities are can enhance the images by making use of the advanced technology to capture the latest scene images. The images can be clear in terms of resolution and also less complex so that the visitor can be able to interpret the images easily. With the clear and advanced images, the accuracy of the tourists’ perception about Melbourne can be increased.
Objectives
A tourist’s destination choice is no doubt influenced by the destination image. If this choice is influenced by positive destination images favorable outcomes will ensue such as satisfaction and the intention to revisit (Chen & Tsai, 2007), but if the influence is negative an unfavorable outcome will most likely ensue. Due to the ideas that determine whether the destination images have negative impacts or positive impacts on the tourism, the research objectives can be identified (Morgan et al. 2011).
The city of Melbourne has claimed to be one of the best international tourism destinations and has been ranked the most loveable city in the world. This paper is aimed towards finding out how justifiable this statement is by considering this statement in the light of results derived from previous research works and from the point of view of the international tourists.
The research project, therefore, identifies component that raise the need for the research. These components include;
Development of theoretical Conceptual Framework
Previous studies have indicated that there are several factors to be considered in order to realize the impacts of the destination images on tourism. In order to realize the impact of the destination images, these factors have to be considered. The relation between these factors and the impacts of the destination can be shown in the model below.
Conceptual framework
Before travelling to a destination, people develop the destination image and a set of expectations based on reports from others or from previously gotten experiences. Destination image has been described as an individual’s total impressions or overall perception of a particular place. It can be simply put as an individual’s mental portrayal of a particular place.
According to Arzen, Behavioral intention can be described as an indication of an individual's inclination to accomplish a given behavior. It has been anticipated to be an instant antecedent of behavior. It is established based on an individual’s attitude toward the behavior, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control, with each predictor weighted for its importance in relation to the behavior and population of interest. (Ajzen, 2002)
Destination image is made up of several attributes which has been divided into two, namely; uncontrollable attributes and controllable attributes. Destination image of an individual can influence by service attributes and environmental attributes. The environmental attributes are also regarded as atmospheric attributes; it includes infrastructure, historical attractions, landscapes, accommodation and facilities. Tourism managers make use of these to influence the destination image formation of a potential tourist.
Since destination image has been said to be formed by the gathering of information from several sources over some periods of time. Research has shown that a difference exist between the destination image that is formed by a past tourist of a particular place and a potential tourist who is yet to visit that same place. This is because the past tourists form their destination image from their own personal experience while the potential tourists form their own destination images using information gotten from word of mouth, mass media, television, advertisements, travel agencies, the internet, as well as, the past history of the location written in books or found at the educational centers. These destination images formed by the potential tourists are said to be incomplete relative to those formed by past tourists. This is because images formed from past experiences are differentiated and more complex.
There are three things that guides human behavior, they are: “control beliefs”, “normative beliefs”, and “behavioral beliefs”. The control belief is responsible for the perceived behavioral control; the normative belief is in charge of the subjective norm; and the behavioral belief is in responsible for producing an unfavorable or favorable attitude toward the behavior. The combination of the three; “perceived behavioral control”, “subjective norm”, and the “attitude toward the behavior”, is responsible for the formation of an individual’s behavioral intention. (Ajzen, 2002)
As a general rule, the more promising the approach toward subjective and behavior norm, and the greater the apparent behavioral control, the stronger the person's intent to accomplish the behavior in question should be. Finally, given a enough degree of definite control over the behavior, people are expected to carry out their intentions when the opportunity arises. (Ajzen, 2002)
A tourist’s familiarity with a particular destination influences that tourist’s perception, behavior intention and image of such a destination. A tourist’s personal experience at that destination influences and modifies the initial destination image of such a destination.
The fact that tourists usually pick the destination that has the most favorable image has made it obvious that destination image has direct impact on the behavior intention and plays a vital role in a tourist’s destination selection process.
According to the research work carried out by Dimitra Papadimitriou, Artemisia postolopoulou, and Kyriaki Kaplanidou on the influence of destination image on a tourist’s behavioral intentions. It was confirmed that there is an existing relationship between the destination personality, affective image and the overall destination image. Also, that the overall destination image is a mediator of the relationships of destination personality and affective image with tourists’ behavioral intentions, in this case the behavioral intention of the tourist considered is the intention to revisit the urban destination and intention to recommend the destination to others. The results confirm the influential role of the overall destination image on the behavioral intentions of the tourist. The sample used for this research was made up of 361 urban tourists, both past visitors and potential visitors of the urban destination under study. (2014)
In 2005, Chung-Fu Chen and DungChun Tsai made a different kind of study in which a more integrated tourist behavior model was proposed which included destination image and perceived value into the “quality–satisfaction–behavioral intentions” paradigm. In this study, investigations were carried out on the structural relationships existing between all the variables as regards the various stages of tourists’ behavior. The results derived from this study indicated that destination image have both direct and indirect influence on these tourists’ behavioral intentions. Additionally, the result from this study made evident the path “destination image “trip quality” “perceived value” “satisfaction” “behavioral intentions”. (2006)
In the study carried out by Kae-Sung Moona et al to examine the theoretical relationship that exists between the quality of event, perceived value, and behavioral intention. The result gotten suggests that although both the destination Image and behavioural Intentions were influenced by the perceived value in different directions; i.e. the latter is influenced negatively while the former is influenced positively by perceived value; the destination Image happens to play a vital mediating role in the relationship that exists between service quality and behavioral Image and that which exists between the destination image and the perceived image. (2013)
In the research carried out by Tien-Ming Chenga & Chiang-Chuan Lub, investigations were carried out on the experience of island tourism and the causal relationships between the perceived value, hedonics, novelty, destination image, and revisiting behavioral intention were studied. Structural equation modeling was employed, the results derived from the analysis showed that the destination image results in a greater perception of novelty, promotes hedonics, perceived value, and improves the behavioral intentions.
References
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