Discriminating Perceptions of a Peripheral ‘Nordic Destination’ among European Tourists
This paper discusses tourists' abilities to discriminate between different features and images of a peripheral tourist destination based on their geographical origin. The data consist of personal interviews with 424 tourists of various nationalities visiting northern Norway (in the county of No...
| Published in: | Tourism and Hospitality Research |
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| Main Authors: | , |
| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
SAGE Publications
2002
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/146735840200300404 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/146735840200300404 |
| Summary: | This paper discusses tourists' abilities to discriminate between different features and images of a peripheral tourist destination based on their geographical origin. The data consist of personal interviews with 424 tourists of various nationalities visiting northern Norway (in the county of Nordland). The starting point of the exploratory analysis presented here is based on a section of the original data and focuses on images and features of northern Norway compared with wider Nordic/Norwegian destination levels. One of the main suggestions of this paper is that geographical and cultural distance relative to the tourists' country of origin has a negative effect on their ability to discriminate between distinct features and images of the destination to which they are travelling. This hypothesis is only partly confirmed. The analysis is based on a quantitative methodological approach. The results of this paper are assumed to contribute a useful insight into some of the perceptual factors that are important for the marketing and positioning of a peripheral destination on international markets. |
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