VISITOR PERCEPTION OF

DESTINATION IMAGE:
A CASE STUDY OF PALESTINIAN
TOURISM

Introduction
Over the last fifty years tourism has grown to be one of the major industries in the world,
playing an important role in the economies of many countries, as service industries have
taken the place of other traditional industries as being the suppliers of jobs and GDP. It has
also become a social phenomenon (Page, 2009) as a result of peoples increased leisure
time, rising disposable income and the development of more efficient transport, making more
countries accessible and this has led to the point where marketing has become a complex and
crucial tool in the competitive global marketplace of tourist destinations (Echtner & Ritchie,
2003; Pan & Xiang, 2011).
Recently it has been recognised that: Destinations with strong infrastructures, sufficient
investments, positive images and different products gain much more shares from the market.
(Aksoy & Kiyci, 2011, p. 478). Destination image is a key marketing tool that can have a
powerful influence over tourists decisions about where to take vacation (Echtner & Ritchie,
2003). Several studies have been carried out in recent years and theories developed about
how far destinations can control their image and to what extent negative factors can have an
impact on the consumer travel decision process.
Research Aim and objectives:
To explore the paradox in Palestinian tourism further, this research aims to examine the
power of destination image and destination branding with regard to countries affected by
political instability.
Within this aim the main objectives of the dissertation are:
o To evaluate the impacts of destination image on the perceptions of visitors and potential
o
o
o
o

visitors to Palestine
To identify the factors that influence tourist destination choice.
To compare the opinions and perceptions of Palestine between those who have
Visited with those who have not.
To analyse the impact of the negative image of Palestine portrayed by the media on
potential visitors and identify ways of overcoming the negative views thorough creating

and promoting positive destination image

o To examine the current projected image from within Palestinian tourism agencies.
o To evaluate the potential for improving destination image of Palestine throughpowerful
branding and marketing.

Research Questions
The main consideration for the research was - Is there a difference in visitors perception of
the destination before and after the visit? This was an overarching consideration that was
threaded through the subsidiary questions:
What is the current perception and beliefs of students in the UK (age 20-30) regarding the
image of Palestine, and what are the appealing elements of the projected image? What
sources of information most affect the formation of destination image? How much does
destination image impact on tourists choice of destination?
What are the major concerns for tourists regarding destination choice? How much does
accessibility affect destination image? How can Palestine use branding to overcome negative
image and how can tourism be used as a tool for peace?
In order to answer these questions the researcher designed one questionnaires, aimed at
students in the UK .
The Literature Review
2.1 Introduction
This review will explore the work that has been carried out regarding destination image
over recent years and analyse its relevance to the particular situation with Palestinian tourism,
and finally discuss the proposals that have been made for future development of tourism in
Palestine.
It has been argued that tourists perception of a destination can be more important than its
tangible attributes and that .the tourist goes to a destination to see the image rather than
the reality (Krippendorf, 1982, p. 149). This is why destination image is such an important
part of a destination brand. When Ekinci (2003, p. 22) states that A destination that forms a
clear identity in tourists minds can be easily branded he is referring to the power of the
organic image, the branding of that destination may be easy but creating a positive image and
information to be portrayed by the destination (Aksoy & Kiyci, 2011) requires skilful use of
communication techniques and product development to build a personality for a tourist
destination (Lopes, 2011; Ekinci, 2003).
Changes and growth in the tourism sector have meant that the competition between
products and destinations has increased and the development of tourist expectations (Pike,

2009) means that tourist destinations must be managed strategically (Page, 2009). From this
point of view, image plays an important role in destination marketing (Beerli & Martin, 2004)
because it can determine the way tourists and businesses respond to a place (Kotler, Haider,
& Rein, 1993). With an increasing number of destinations to choose from (Echtner & Ritchie,
2003), marketers have to work harder than ever in order to maintain their brand with unique
appeal to the consumer, requiring careful positioning strategy (Ekinci, 2003; Pike, 2009;
Kotler, Haider, & Rein, 1993).
Hosany et al (2007) illustrate how many theorists consider brand image to be the same
thingas (or synonymous with) brand personality or character, but they conclude that in the
case of destinations, image and personality are separate but interrelated, stating: Human
behaviour is dependent upon image rather than objective reality (Hosany, Ekinci, & Uysal,
2007). Their research leads them to contend that brand personality is a component of the
more encompassing brand image, and it is this personality that is most closely connected to
the affective element of the image.
In their assessment of literature relating to these components Baloglu and McCleary (1999)
come up with two key hypotheses: that perceptual and cognitive evaluations are influenced
significantly by the variety and type of information sources while affective evaluations are
more significantly influenced by socio-psychological motivation, that is to say that cognitive
is influenced by stimulus factors and affective by personal factors.
However Ekinci (2003) argues that destination image and our attitude towards the
destination are related but different constructs in terms of the image building process because
our original attitude can be influenced by many information sources such as friends, relatives,
media or our education. These information sources are the stimulus factors which attract the
tourist to the destination and are elements over which destination managers and marketing
organisations can have some control (Lopes, 2011; Page, 2009).