Understanding supply- and demand-side destination image relationships

Abstract

Image promotion has been a primary focus of destination marketing. Marketers are eager to learn whether their projected images have been transmitted to potential consumers and are incorporated into their images of the destination. This research compares the images projected by Qingdao (China) government agencies and those perceived by current visitors. The projected and perceived images of Qingdao were investigated by analyzing publicity materials and a questionnaire survey of visitors, respectively. Their relationships were explored using both a qualitative evaluation and statistical tests. The results show that the two types of images incorporated certain common image themes. However, the emphasis of the projected images did not relate significantly to what visitors considered to affect the quality of their experience. Therefore, Qingdao’s projected image was only partially delivered to and embraced by current visitors.

Keywords

Destination image destination marketing perceived image projected image promotional materials Qingdao

Introduction

With the global development of the tourism industry in the past few decades, competition among destinations for visitors has intensified throughout the world (Page and Connell, 2006). Destination marketers have developed various strategies to enhance the competitiveness of their places (Font, 1997). A primary strategy is to use an appealing projected image of the destination to inform the evaluations of potential consumers about the destination and, in turn, to influence their travel choice decisions. However, when implementing this strategy, marketers of many destinations have encountered a problem that their elaborately created projected images have not made a deep impression on the minds of the potential consumers and, therefore, have failed to influence their travel choices. This indicates a waste of both human and financial investments. In this regard, destination marketers are eager to learn to what extent their projected image plays a role in destination marketing. This requires a deep understanding of the relationship between supply- and demand-side destination images (Stabler, 1988). Such an understanding helps marketers to identify which components of the projected image are transmitted to, and accepted by, potential consumers as a basis for constructing their own images about that place or what potential consumers dislike or do not know about the projected image components. To this end, this study examines the relationships between the projected and perceived images of Qingdao, China, a destination that was selected on the basis of convenience. Specifically, this study addresses the following four questions: (1) What are the official projected images of Qingdao between 2006 and 2009, as shown in the promotional materials? (2) What are the images of Qingdao as perceived by current visitors? (3) What are the congruence and gaps between the projected and perceived images associated with Qingdao? and (4) Do information sources and previous travel experience influence the images of Qingdao as perceived by current visitors?

The results of this research indicate the performance of Qingdao’s image promotion by revealing congruence and gaps between the projected and perceived images. By identifying the attributes that visitors find meaningful, Qingdao marketers can create and project the most effective image for attracting more visitors. Additionally, the results provide statistical data (i.e. types of information sources used by visitors to form or change their images of Qingdao) that can be used as a benchmarking performance to guide and improve future destination marketing. Academically, this research enriches the body of literature by exploring the projected and perceived image relationship, which is critical to evaluating the success of a destination’s image promotion (Stabler, 1988). This research also updates the few formal studies (e.g. Andreu et al., 2000; Grosspietsch, 2006; Stabler, 1988; Thi, 2011; Young, 1999) that explore the projected–perceived image relationship, a research area that would be useful in fully understanding the phenomenon of destination image. Furthermore, this research focuses on Qingdao, China, as the study site. Very few studies of this kind have been undertaken in China, which does not have a long history of tourism marketing and, as an economy that is in transition from a centrally planned to a market-oriented economy, marketing budgets are often lower and marketing experience may be less than that of its competitors. In this regard, a case of China would provide a unique angle for understanding destination image marketing performance.

Literature review

Supply-side projected destination images

Projected images are those ideas and impressions created about a destination and that are made available for people’s consideration (Bramwell and Rawding, 1996). Kozma and Ashworth (1993) identified two types of projected images: intentional and unintentional. An intentional projected image is one created deliberately by destination agencies or organizations for marketing purposes (Andreu et al., 2000). This type of image appears in tourism advertising materials with simple, appealing pictures and slogans to showcase the uniqueness of a specific place (Bramwell and Rawding, 1996). Because of its marketing orientation, the intentional projected image may not be an objective and realistic representation of a destination; rather, it represents a subjective interpretation of a destination using recurring selected elements of that place to attract potential visitors (Albers and James, 1988). An unintentional projected image is an autonomously created image that is independent of destination marketers (Andreu et al., 2000). This type of image contains information that is less marketing oriented; it attracts people’s attention through the display of experiences that are different from those of the individuals’ daily lives (Van Gorp and Beneker, 2007). Because the unintentional projected image is shown in popular media forms (e.g. movies), it has a high level of credibility and market penetration (Gartner, 1993).

Studies on intentional projected images largely emphasize their role in destination marketing (e.g. Bramwell and Rawding, 1996; Choi et al., 2007; Getz and Sailor, 1993, Molina and Esteban, 2006; Santos, 1998; Stabler, 1988; Wicks and Schuett, 1991, 1993). By and large, these studies acknowledge the influence of the intentional projected image on tourists’ image formation and destination selection as well as the importance of the demand–supply image relationship in marketing (Ashworth and Goodall, 1988). Another group of researchers have studied image representation of places in their sociocultural contexts to identify underlying ideologies (e.g. Ateljevic and Doorne, 2002; Bandyopadhyay and Morais, 2005; Brannstrom and Neuman, 2009; Gibson and Davidson, 2004). Ateljevic and Doorne (2002), for example, examined image representation in promotional materials by comparing images marketed by the central government agency at the beginning and end of the 20th century. The results indicated that tourism (re)imaging is a political process that mirrors and strengthens the dominant ideologies of the time. A third group focuses on how place meanings are constructed or interpreted according to place identities (e.g. Brennan-Horley et al., 2007; Carter et al., 2007; Chang and Huang, 2005; Knox, 2008). For instance, Carter et al. (2007) studied residents’ perceptions of the Sunshine coast of Australia in relation to the landscape change in the region and the relationship between sense of place and place identity. The researchers found that current representations of place identity were not experienced by residents; the creation of place identity was a result of the globalizing force of development and involved social and economic geographies of power.

Studies on the unintentional projected image focus mainly on its influence on various aspects of tourism such as tourist images, visitor experience, and travel intentions (e.g. Beeton, 2001; Connell and Meyer, 2009; Frost, 2006; Hou, 2006; Hou, 2007; Lee et al., 2008; Liou, 2010; Kim et al., 2007; Kim and Richardson, 2003; Riley et al., 1998; Riley and Doren, 1992; Tooke and Baker, 1996). A common finding among these studies is that the image projected through movies, television programs, or travel guides contributes to individuals’ image formation of the destination, affects tourist behaviors, and increases tourism arrivals. Another group of research that focuses on unintentional projected images involves the frame or structure of image representational dynamics (e.g. Duncan and Duncan, 1992; Gilbert, 1999; Santos, 2004; Xiao and Mair, 2006). For example, Santos (2004) identified that two contradictory frames—traditional and contemporary—were used to portray the image of Portugal in American newspapers between 1996 and 2002.

Demand-side perceived destination images

Perceived image is a mental construct or a representation of a destination formed through the interaction among the projected image, personal characteristics, and external stimuli (Baloglu and McCleary, 1999). As the basis of image research in tourism, the conceptualization of the destination image has been explored extensively, and numerous definitions have been proposed illustrating various components, dimensions, and the formation process of the perceived image. Of all the components raised, the cognitive, affective, and overall components have been widely accepted by researchers (e.g. Baloglu and McCleary, 1999; Ji and Wall, 2011; Stepchenkova and Morrison, 2008; Stern and Krakover, 1993). According to Baloglu and McCleary (1999), the cognitive image refers to individuals’ beliefs and knowledge about the attributes of a destination. The affective image refers to individuals’ emotional evaluations about the strengths and weaknesses of a destination or its attributes. The overall image refers to a holistic or composite image that is formed based on the cognitive and affective evaluation of the destination attributes. Baloglu and McCleary and other researchers (e.g. Gartner, 1993; Stern and Krakover, 1993) have found that the cognitive image can directly affect the overall/holistic image and indirectly influence it through the affective image.

Another group of researchers conceptualizes destination image in a slightly different way. They propose that the image construct has three components: cognitive, affective, and conative (Gartner, 1993; Manstead, 1996; Pike and Ryan, 2004). Gartner, for example, studied the tourist image formation process and its influence on travel decision making. He defined the conative image as a behavioral component that indicates a transition from the cognitive and affective images to a decision about whether a destination is worth visiting. He found that the image formation process and tourist destination selection process are intertwined and the former influenced every stage of the destination selection process.

Other studies on image dimensions have also been conducted. For example, Tasci et al. (2007) create a theoretical model to clarify the relationship between the cognitive, affective, overall, and conative images. They claim that the interaction of cognitive and affective images constructs a holistic/overall image. This leads to the formation of the conative image that, in turn, contributes to the decision-making process. The cognitive and affective dimensions—and sometimes the overall dimension—have been widely employed in empirical image studies (e.g. Baloglu, 1997; Hosany et al., 2006; Kim and Yoon, 2003; Lin et al., 2007; Stern and Krakover, 1993; Vogt and Andereck, 2003; Walmsley and Young, 1998; Zhang et al., 2006). However, some conceptual issues arise and the answers to the questions are often unclear. For example, the overall image is conceptualized as resulting from cognitive or affective images or a combination of them; however, it is unknown whether this image can readily be derived from the summation of individual image attributes.

Supply- and demand-side destination image relationships

Studies seeking to understand supply- and demand-side image relationships have been undertaken from both theoretical and empirical perspectives. A few studies fall into the former category. Ashworth and Goodall (1988) addressed the marketing considerations of tourist images and pointed out that a mismatch in demand- and supply-side images impedes the potential for a destination’s tourism development. According to the researchers, a distorted image about a destination leads to a gap between fact and visitors’ perceived images and, in turn, between visitors’ holiday expectations and experiences. They stated that the more reality differs from perceived images, the more tourists are dissatisfied with the destination and the more likely they are to remove this destination from their future holiday consideration set. Govers and Go (2004) developed a model to show the relationship between cultural identity, projected image, commercialization, perceived image, and tourism experience. They suggested that the projected image is produced based on the destination’s commercialized tourism products that are built on the true place identity. Through marketing efforts, this projected image is transmitted to the demand side and forms the basis for constructing the perceived images of visitors, which is mediated by an individual’s identity and temporary environmental and situational influences—autonomous agents and word of mouth.

Empirical studies (Andreu et al., 2000; Grosspietsch, 2006; Stabler, 1988; Thi, 2011; Young, 1999) have also been undertaken to explore the projected and perceived image relationship. Researchers compare the supply- and demand-side images in relationship to certain destination attributes. A common finding is that gaps exist between the two types of images. For example, Stabler (1988) compared the services and facilities promoted by suppliers (in tourist brochures and guides) and those perceived by visitors. He found that the image projected emphasized the diverse facilities and downplayed the traditional resort activities by assigning similar weights to multiple image themes in relation to these facilities. Conversely, visitors placed particular stress on traditional resort activities. Grosspietsch (2006) examined the image of Rwanda as perceived by visitors and the image projected by tour operators. He discovered that visitors rated attributes such as safety, natural diversity of the country, and the destination’s cultural attractiveness more positively than tour operators did. He pointed out that the differences between the projected and perceived images were partly a result of tour operators’ lack of knowledge. Therefore, marketing strategies should be undertaken to catch up with the demands.

Young (1999) named the gap between the projected and perceived images ‘zone of producer surplus’ or ‘zone of consumer surplus’ in his study of the relationship between the place meaning that was promoted by the tourism industry and that which was consumed by visitors concerning the Daintree and Cape Tribulation area in Far North Queensland, Australia. The researcher found that the image was both promoted and consumed overlapping to some extent. He suggested that place managers should strive to maximize the ‘zone of consensus’ and minimize the ‘zone of producer surplus’ and ‘zone of consumer surplus’.

Andreu et al. (2000) also identified that differences existed between the projected and perceived images of Spain in the British market. They pointed out that the destination cannot control the information sources used to construct visitors’ image; marketers must pay more attention to consumer behavior to understand the factors influencing destination choice rather than being concerned only with projected images.

Based on the literature review, certain points can be made:

Research on destination images has been undertaken from two main perspectives: supply and demand. The majority of studies fall into the latter category, focusing on the images of a destination or several destinations as perceived by individuals who are visitors or potential visitors.

With regard to the perceived image studies, the main contributions of image conceptualization studies include the dimensions of cognitive, affective, and overall image or conative image (Baloglu and Brinberg, 1997; Baloglu and McCleary, 1999a; Gartner, 1993). These studies provide valuable insights for understanding the concept of image, and the frameworks developed within these studies provide the foundation for later image research (Gallarza et al., 2002).

Most researchers agree that cognitive and affective images interact to give rise to an overall image. The overall/holistic image is conceptualized as resulting from a combination of cognitive and affective images, and it is typically measured using scales ranging from ‘very positive’ to ‘very negative’. It is unclear whether this image can readily be derived from the summation of individual image attributes.

Compared to studies on perceived image, fewer researchers have explored projected image. The intentionally projected image is the main focus of early image studies, though both the intentional and unintentional projected images have been emphasized in recent years. One major purpose of projected image studies is to determine the effect of the projected image on tourists’ image formation and travel choices. Such research offers insights for destination marketing in choosing a strategy for selecting appropriate promotional material(s) and obtaining effective information transmission.

Even fewer researchers have investigated the relationships between the projected and perceived images associated with a destination. These relationships are important because they examine the conformity between the supply- and demand-side images and potentially evaluate the performance of a destination’s image promotion. Given the importance of such research and the limited number of existing studies, there are empirical justifications for undertaking further investigations.

Methods

Projected images: data collection and analysis

Promotional materials, including brochures and travel guides (Figure 1, a sample page of a brochure of Qingdao), issued by the Qingdao Municipal Government and the Qingdao Tourism Administration, were used to understand the official projected image of Qingdao. The two agencies were chosen because they are the major destination marketing organizations in Qingdao. Consequently, their promotional materials represent the official projected images of the city. The sample included all tourism brochures and travel guides issued by these two agencies from 2006 to 2009.

Figure 1.

A sample copy of promotional brochure.

A total of five brochures and one tourist guidebook were gathered in May 2009.These materials were content analyzed to identify the most frequently used image themes. The procedures for analyzing the data are as follows (Daly, 2007; Hsieh and Shannon, 2005; Neuman and Robson, 2007). First, the promotional materials’ textual information was analyzed to identify themes that portrayed Qingdao’s image. The text data in the first document were coded line by line using the exact words or phrases in the text or those created by the researcher. For example, consider the following text retrieved from the brochure entitled Qingdao: ‘The winter of Qingdao is warm with an average temperature of 0.2°C. The summer is cool with an average temperature of 23.9°C. As Qingdao is surrounded by the sea from three sides, the city is enveloped by humid air all year round’. The code, winter temperature, was assigned to the excerpt ‘the winter of Qingdao is warm with an average temperature of 0.2°C’. The code, summer temperature, was assigned to the excerpt ‘the summer is cool with an average temperature of 23.9°C’. The code, humidity, was assigned to the excerpt ‘the city is enveloped by humid air all year round’. When the codes, winter temperature, and summer temperature were created, the researcher put them under the category, temperature of the city, in the note. A new code, weather, was created based on the notes taken, and it was defined by the following categories: (1) temperature and (2) humidity. These categories, codes, and their relationships were subjected to change when further analysis occurred. For example, two more categories (i.e. rainfall and hours of sunshine) were added later to define the code, weather. When the initial coding for the second document was completed, the codes that emerged were compared with those obtained from the first document to identify any similarities, differences, and general patterns. After the comparison, codes with similar meanings were combined or reorganized by assigning a new code. The comparison process was continued until all textual documents were coded. Second, the materials’ visual information was analyzed following the same procedure. The codes identified were grouped to generate the initial themes. These initial themes were then defined and categorized again to form a higher level of themes, namely main themes. In this way, the main themes and subthemes of the projected images reflected by the textual and visual data were obtained, and their properties were then defined. The derived themes and subthemes were checked by the researcher to ensure that they were applied properly with evidence. Additionally, two Chinese professors who have been involved in tourism studies in Qingdao were asked to help to check the appropriateness of the themes and subthemes elicited. Based on their comments and suggestions, a few themes/subthemes were adjusted and renamed. Finally, the image themes were counted for their frequencies of occurrence. The most frequently used image themes (appearing at least 10 times in the promotional materials) from both the texts and the pictures across all documents, together with their frequencies, were listed in a table for subsequent analysis (i.e. the comparison of projected and perceived images). Based on the assumption that the most often mentioned words reflect the greatest concerns of the message creators (Stemler, 2001), the most frequently used image themes identified from the promotional materials are considered those that marketers in Qingdao intended to emphasize in their projected images.

Perceived images: instrument, data collection, and analysis

Questionnaire surveys were used to collect information concerning the images of Qingdao perceived by visitors. The questionnaires had five sections: (1) questions exploring the respondents’ overall images of Qingdao; (2) questions examining the respondents’ cognitive and affective images of Qingdao; (3) questions concerning information sources; (4) questions investigating participants’ previous travel experience; and (5) questions concerning respondents’ demographic information. The first section includes two open-ended questions developed by Echtner and Ritchie (1993), ‘What images or characteristics come to mind when you think of Qingdao as a tourism destination?’ and ‘How would you describe the atmosphere or mood that you would expect to experience while visiting Qingdao?’ The second section includes questions concerning cognitive and affective images. Question one includes 22 items regarding cognitive image attributes developed based on a review of Qingdao’s tourism brochures and the studies of Mi (2003), Beerli and Martin (2004), and Echtner and Ritchie (1993). Respondents were asked to indicate the level of quality of each item on a 5-point Likert-type scale ranging from very good, good, neutral, poor, to very poor. Additionally, respondents were asked to indicate the importance (yes or no) of these attributes in forming their images of Qingdao. These scales were chosen for three reasons: (1) they approximated the purpose of this research, (2) their validity and reliability were examined in the aforementioned studies, and (3) the content and face validity of these scales were confirmed by a pilot test completed by 15 university students in the Department of Tourism Management at Qingdao University and two professors who have been involved in image studies of Qingdao, China.

In question two, affective images are evaluated on a 5-point semantic-differential scale developed by Russel (1980). Respondents were asked to indicate the level of quality (e.g. extremely arousing, very arousing, neutral, very sleepy, and extremely sleepy) of four affective attributes (arousing–sleepy, exciting–gloomy, pleasant–unpleasant, and relaxing–distressing). These scales were chosen because they are adopted in a number of image studies (e.g. Baloglu and Brinberg, 1997; Kim and Richardson, 2003; Russel and Pratt, 1980; Russel and Snodgrass, 1987) and their validity and reliability were confirmed. The third section elicits information on sources used by participants to form their images of Qingdao. Nine types of information sources that might have influenced respondents’ images, based on the studies of Gartner (1993), Baloglu and McCleary (1999b), and Mi (2003), were included. These sources include tourist brochures, mass media advertising campaigns, travel agency staff, the Internet, word of mouth, guidebooks, newspaper, magazines, and documentaries and television programs. Respondents were asked to indicate the most important source that their images are based upon. In the fourth and fifth sections, participants were asked to give information on the number of previous visits they had made to the city and personal information regarding sex, age, education, and place of residence.

The survey population consisted of individuals over the age of 18 who visited any of three main tourist attractions of Qingdao: Zhanqiao Pier, Laoshan Mountain, and Qingdao Beer Museum, from June 10 to July 10, 2009. The sampling process included two stages. First, the three survey sites were purposely selected from 28 sites recommended on the Qingdao Tourism Administration’s Web site. The second stage involved interviewing a sample of 990 participants at the three predetermined tourist sites between June 10 and July 10, 2009. As a sampling frame was not available, every tenth individual who passed by the survey points within the three sites between 9:00 am and 5:00 pm was approached and asked to complete a questionnaire. The survey continued until 330 questionnaires were completed at each site. A total of 578 questionnaires were collected from visitors and are used for this analysis.

The survey data were coded and analyzed using SPSS 18. Preliminary analyses (Shapiro-Wilk tests) were conducted to investigate the quality of the data. The results showed that the 26 variables (22 cognitive and 4 affective image attributes) used in this study did not show a normal distribution: all p values were less than .05 (the significance level used in this research). The non-normally distributed data, together with the ordinal level of the 26 variables (5-point Likert-type scale), indicate that nonparametric tests are more appropriate than parametric tests for this study.

The analytical procedures are as follows. First, descriptive statistics were calculated to discover the demographic characteristics of the participants and to investigate their cognitive and affective images of Qingdao. Second, the responses for two open-ended questions concerning participants’ overall images of Qingdao were content analyzed to identify the most frequently mentioned image themes. Only those mentioned by at least 10% of respondents, together with their frequencies, were listed in a table for subsequent analysis. Third, a Mann–Whitney U test was conducted to evaluate the influence of information sources and previous travel experience on the images of participants.

Projected and perceived image relationship: data analysis

Content analysis and descriptive statistics provided information on the projected and perceived images of Qingdao, respectively. Specifically, the projected image of Qingdao was represented by the most frequently used image themes (frequency). The perceived images of visitors were represented by (1) 22 cognitive attributes (mean scores and percentage of respondents who deemed these attributes important). A new index derived from the 22 cognitive attributes was created by multiplying the mean value of a cognitive attribute by the percentage of respondents who deemed this attribute important. This new index represents visitors’ evaluation of both the quality and the relative importance of each of the cognitive attributes in one number; (2) the most frequently mentioned overall image themes; and (3) four affective attributes (mean scores).

The relationship between the projected and perceived images was evaluated in two ways. First, a qualitative evaluation was conducted by comparing the identified projected image themes (frequency and ranking) and their corresponding cognitive image (ranking based on percentage of respondents who deemed the 22 cognitive attributes important) and the overall image (percentage of respondents who mentioned the themes) counterparts. Second, Spearman’s correlation tests were used to examine the projected and perceived image relationship. Four types of information were entered into a matrix and shown as four columns: (1) projected image themes (frequency), (2) the mean values of each of the 22 cognitive image attributes, (3) the percentage of respondents who deemed these 22 cognitive attributes important, and (4) the new image index combining both the quality values and the importance values of these 22 cognitive attributes. The values of column one were compared with those of the other three columns using Spearman’s rank correlation tests. Inferences were made on the relationships between the images projected by Qingdao and those perceived by visitors.

Results

Images of Qingdao projected by government agencies

Qingdao government agencies emphasized 15 themes in the images they projected between 2006 and 2009 (Table 1). These themes focused on three aspects of Qingdao: tourism resources and products, well-established infrastructure and facilities, and high levels of development. Marketers clearly aimed to portray Qingdao as a multifunctional place suitable for visiting, living, and investment. Through this image strategy, marketers in Qingdao focused on enlarging their market segments in general, with no specific attention given to particular market segments.

Table 1.

Images projected by Qingdao and images perceived by visitors.

		Perceived image
Projected image		Cognitive image^a				Overall image
Themes	# of times appeared/ranking	Attributes	Mean/ranking	% of visitors who deemed it important/ranking	New image index (value and ranking)	Themes	% of visitors who mentioned it
Natural scenery/mountain/forest/flora	113/1	Scenery	4.36/2	32.5/4	1.42/4	Scenery/beautiful	52
Natural scenery/mountain/forest/flora	113/1	Scenery	4.36/2	32.5/4	1.42/4	Beaches/charming/ beautiful	17.3
Cultural attractions	75/2	Cultural attractions	4.20/7	23.5/5	0.99/5	Architecture/European style/charming/unique	15.8
						Unique ethnic attractions	16.8
						Cultural attractions	20.1
Special events/holding sailing events	55/3	Special events	4.29/4	38.6/2	1.66/2	Fun/festive	21.8
City landscape /skyscrapers/modern buildings	41/4					Attractive city	29.1
City landscape /skyscrapers/modern buildings	41/4					Modern/developed city	15.8
Facilities	31/5
Squares	21/6	Squares	4.25/5	8.1/17	0.34/8
Place for vacations and holidays	20/7					Good tourism destination	14.5
Place for vacations and holidays	20/7					Good summer resort	11.7
Transportation system/air routes to more than 20 countries/highway and railway networks	19/8	Highway system	3.98/12	9.8/13	0.44/7
		Public transport	3.97/13	15.4/8
		Airline schedules	3.68/21	9.0/16
Seafood	16/9	Seafood	4.45/1	40/1	1.78/1	Seafood/variety of seafood/good seafood	24.6
Place for sightseeing	14/10
Golf	14/10	Golf courses	4.07/11	5.5/20	0.22/9
Shopping	13/12	Shopping	3.90/15	14.7/9	0.57/6
Place for water sports	12/13
Weather/pleasant weather	11/14	Weather	4.25/5	34.8/3	1.48/3	Pleasant weather	17.3
High technology	11/15
		Local people^b	4.30/3	10.7/12
		Relaxing atmosphere^b	4.17/8	13.3/11
		Resorts^b	4.15/9	5.7/19
		Hygiene and cleanliness^b	4.10/10	21.8/6
		Accommodation^b	3.97/13	7.8/18
		Fashion shows^b	3.88/16	1.0/22
		Value for money^b	3.79/17	9.7/14
		Transportation cost^b	3.76/18	21.6/6
		Nightlife^b	3.72/19	9.5/15
		Football games^b	3.69/20	1.9/21
		Traffic congestion^b	3.35/22	13.5/10

^a1 = very poor, 2 = poor, 3 = neutral, 4 = good, and 5 = very good.

^bCognitive attributes that are not incorporated into the projected image.

Table 1 shows that natural scenery/mountain/forest/flora, cultural attractions, special events/holding sailing events, and city landscape/skyscrapers/modern buildings were emphasized most strongly by Qingdao government agencies, appearing 113, 75, 55, and 41 times in the promotional materials, respectively.

Special events/holding sailing events was a newly emphasized theme in accordance with Qingdao’s hosting the 29th Olympic Games sailing event and Paralympics Games. The purpose of promoting this theme was to build international fame for Qingdao as a ‘sailing city’ (QDTA, 2009). Descriptions such as ‘successfully holding the Olympic Games sailing event’ were used in the promotional materials to address this theme. Pictures of sailing boats and events and the 29th Olympic Games Sailing Centre were presented to reflect this feature. Other evidence of this emphasis on Qingdao being a sailing city is that four out of six front covers in the promotional materials used pictures of sailing events. In addition to sailing events, other local events and festivals (e.g. Qingdao International Beer Festival) were also used in projecting Qingdao’s image.

Images of Qingdao perceived by visitors

Demographic profiles of participants

The sociodemographic characteristics of the respondents are as follows. First, the sex of the participants was evenly distributed, with 50.5% males and 49.5% females. Second, the largest population demographic was the 25–44 age-group (52.4%), followed by the 18–24 age-group (25.8%) and the 45 and over age group (21.8%). Third, most respondents had attended college, university, or graduate school (80.1%), and only 19.9% had a high school or lower education. Fourth, 29.4% of participants were from Shandong Province (the province in which Qingdao is located) and 32.2% came from other areas of Eastern China. In addition, respondents who lived in Central and Western China accounted for 17.2% and 7.4% of visitors, respectively. The remaining visitors came from other Asian countries, Hong Kong and Macau (9.8%), and elsewhere (4.1%). Thus, the tourist images presented are predominantly those of a domestic clientele.

Overall images

Table 2 lists the responses provided by more than 10% of the respondents to the first open-ended question. The most popular answers were scenery/beautiful, happy/free of worry/laid back, and attractive city. Overall, respondents had a positive image of Qingdao. They focused on what to see and what to do as well as the social environment of the city. Happy/free of worry/laid back are items that reflect visitors’ feelings about staying in Qingdao, a place that provides the chance to escape from the stress of work and the routine of daily life.

Table 2.

Visitors’ responses to open-ended question one (n = 179).

Image themes	Number	Percentage
Scenery/beautiful	93	52
Happy/free of worry/laid back	67	37.4
Attractive city	52	29.1
Local people/hospitable/friendly/nice/helpful	50	27.9
Seafood/variety of seafood/good seafood	44	24.6
Fun/festive	39	21.8
Beer/good beer	37	20.7
Cultural attractions	36	20.1
Beaches/charming/beautiful	31	17.3
Pleasant weather	31	17.3
Unique ethnic attractions	30	16.8
Cleanliness/clean streets	29	16.2
Modern/developed city	27	15.8
Architecture/European style/charming/unique	27	15.8
Good tourism destination	26	14.5
Excellent service	24	13.4
Vital	24	13.4
Good public order	22	12.3
Good summer resort	21	11.7
Safe place	20	11.2
Cost/expensive	20	11.2

The second open-ended question focused on the atmosphere or mood that respondents expected to experience when visiting Qingdao. The responses given by more than 10% of the visitors are presented in Table 3. Respondents expected to experience a positive mood or atmosphere when in Qingdao. Relaxing/relaxed, fun, pleasant, and friendly were the most frequently reported responses. Again, as befits a person on holiday, respondents seemed to want to be away from pressure and stress and desired a pleasant environment conducive to relaxation and fun. Very few negative evaluations were made in response to either of the open-ended questions and in no case did more than 10% of respondents mention such an attribute.

Table 3.

Visitors’ responses to open-ended question two (n = 152).

Image themes	Number	Percentage
Relaxing/relaxed	56	34.8
Fun	50	31.1
Pleasant	44	27.3
Friendly	44	27.3
Safe	42	26.1
Peaceful/tranquil	31	19.3
Vital	30	18.6
Modern	24	14.9
Happy	22	13.7
Prosperous	20	12.4
Hospitable/welcoming	20	12.4
Fashionable	20	12.4
Harmonious	18	11.2
Romantic	17	10.6
Open	17	10.6

Cognitive images

The mean scores for the cognitive image attributes of visitors are shown in Table 1. Respondents’ ratings for all 22 cognitive attributes fell from neutral toward the positive end of the scale. Seafood received the highest score, followed by scenery, local people, and special events. Eleven attributes (e.g. seafood) fell between the good and very good categories with mean scores greater than four. The other 11 attributes (e.g. highway system) received a mean score that fell between the neutral and good categories. These results suggest that most respondents had very good images regarding what to see and what to do, and the city’s natural and social environments. Additionally, respondents had relatively neutral images concerning Qingdao’s accessibility, its infrastructure, facilities, expense, and entertainment.

Table 1 also reports the percentage of visitors who believe that cognitive attributes are important. The most frequently specified important attributes were seafood, special events, weather, and scenery. The least frequently reported important attributes were golf courses, football games, and fashion shows. The results indicate that participants gave more weight to attributes that represent Qingdao’s prominent local features. Less consideration was given to attributes such as golf courses, football games, and fashion shows because participants may not be familiar with or interested in these activities and events.

Table 1 further shows the rankings of the 22 cognitive attributes with regard to their mean scores and the percentage of participants who deemed these attributes important. Of the 11 attributes that had a mean score greater than 4, 6 attributes (e.g. seafood) were on participants’ ‘top-ten’ list with regard to the percentage of visitors who deemed these attributes important. These attributes reflect visitors’ preferences about Qingdao based on the quality and relative importance of attributes. Therefore, they are of great importance in how Qingdao markets itself to visitors. The other five attributes (e.g. local people) that also had a mean score greater than four did not receive a high ranking (ranging from 11 to 20) with regard to the percentage of participants who deemed them important. This result indicates that fewer visitors considered these attributes important in constructing their images of Qingdao, although the visitor group had a more positive image regarding these attributes.

Of the 11 attributes rated moderately, with mean values between three and four, the rankings of two attributes (e.g. shopping) ranged from 9 to 12 with regard to the percentage of participants who deemed these attributes important. Although a relatively higher number of visitors considered these two attributes important, their quality was not considered very good based on visitors’ opinions. Nine attributes (e.g. accommodation) that were also moderately rated were ranked lower with regard to the percentage of visitors who deemed them important. These attributes are of lower quality and importance in the eyes of visitors. Thus, emphasizing these attributes in the projected images for marketing Qingdao may not be necessary, but action should be taken to improve the weaknesses related to these attributes.

Affective images

The mean scores concerning the four affective image attributes showed that visitors rated Qingdao highly on all of these attributes: exciting–gloomy (4.34), pleasant–unpleasant (4.25), arousing–sleepy (4.32), and relaxing–distressing (4.35), and all mean scores were greater than four. This result indicates that the majority of the respondents had very positive feelings toward these affective attributes of Qingdao and regarded Qingdao as an exciting, pleasant, arousing, and relaxing place. These affective attributes did not have corresponding counterparts in the projected image and, thus, were excluded from the comparative analysis.

Influence of information sources and previous travel experience on perceived images

Mann–Whitney U tests showed that significant difference was found in only one cognitive attribute (i.e. football games) between those who used the Internet and those who used word of mouth. Significant difference was also found in the affective attribute of relaxing–distressing between those who used tourist brochures and those who used word of mouth. These results suggest that participants’ images of Qingdao were, to a small extent, influenced by information sources (i.e. the most important source used). Additionally, the results also indicate that images projected by government agencies did not play an important role in marketing Qingdao. This result could be partly due to the reason that tourist brochures and travel guides were considered the most important source by only 13.9% of participants to form their images of Qingdao, while other sources (i.e. the Internet, word of mouth, mass media advertising campaigns, newspaper, travel agency staff, documentaries and television programs, magazines, and other sources) were reported by 28, 17.8, 15.5, 10.7, 9.1, 3.5, 1.3, and 0.2% of participants, respectively, as the most important source used for forming their images of Qingdao.

The results indicated that first-time and repeat visitors differed significantly in their cognitive images of seafood and special events. Repeat visitors had a better image of seafood than did first-time visitors, while repeat visitors had a worse image of special events than did first-time visitors. However, as previous travel experience only had an impact on 2 out of 22 cognitive image attributes, it can be concluded that participants’ previous travel experiences in Qingdao only affected their cognitive images to a small extent.

Relationship between images projected by Qingdao and images perceived by visitors

Qualitative evaluation

Qualitative evaluation was first used to draw inferences with regard to the projected and perceived image relationship associated with Qingdao. Table 1 presents the results associated with the projected and perceived images of Qingdao. The projected images were represented by 15 themes that appeared at least 10 times in the promotional materials. The perceived images of visitors were represented by the cognitive attributes (percentage of visitors who deemed these attributes important) and overall image themes (mentioned by more than 10% of participants) that are counterparts of the 15 projected image themes. Of the 15 identified projected image themes, five were both considered important by more than 10% of visitors as cognitive image attributes and mentioned by at least 10% of visitors in their overall images of Qingdao (Figure 2). These themes (e.g. natural scenery/mountain/forest/flora) were the overlapping parts of images projected by Qingdao and those perceived by visitors. For example, natural scenery/mountain/forest/flora was the projected image theme that appeared most frequently (113 times) and, thus, the theme most emphasized by marketers. Respondents deemed this theme the fourth most important cognitive image attribute of Qingdao. Additionally, 52% of respondents mentioned scenery/beautiful and 17.3% mentioned beaches/charming/beautiful when describing the images or characteristics of Qingdao. The results indicate that scenery was highly emphasized in both images projected by Qingdao and those perceived by visitor respondents. The degree of importance ascribed to this attribute or the number of times that both groups mentioned it cannot be compared directly, although the rankings assigned by the different groups suggest that marketers and visitors gave different weights to this attribute.

Figure 2.

Congruence and gaps between the projected and perceived images associated with Qingdao.

Two projected image themes (city landscape/skyscrapers/modern buildings and place for vacations and holidays) and four themes (squares, transportation system/air routes to more than 20 countries/highway and railway networks, golf, and shopping) were either mentioned by visitors in their overall images of Qingdao or included in the visitor questionnaires (Figure 2). They also represented aspects of Qingdao for which the projected and perceived images converged. Other image themes emphasized by the promotional materials (e.g. facilities) did not have direct counterparts in the images perceived by visitors. These themes were not included in the visitor questionnaires and, as a result, their importance to visitors is unknown.

Spearman’s correlation test

Table 1 shows that 9 out of 15 projected image themes have cognitive attribute counterparts. Spearman rank-order correlations were calculated to examine the relationship between projected image themes and the three groups of values regarding visitors’ cognitive images. No significant correlations were found between the projected image themes and the three groups of values regarding visitors’ cognitive images. The results indicate that the emphasis of the projected images of Qingdao does not relate closely to what visitors consider to be of quality or importance, or both. In other words, the image projected by marketers may not have been successfully transmitted to or accepted by visitors to construct their images of Qingdao. However, a more qualitative evaluation suggests considerable congruence between the projected and perceived images.

Table 1 also shows that 11 attributes used to evaluate visitors’ cognitive images were not incorporated into the projected images. Of all 11 attributes, 6 (e.g. accommodation) were perceived as important by less than 10% of visitors. These attributes were the weaknesses of Qingdao based on the views of visitors. As such, the results may not require strong action on the part of marketers unless they wish to address niche markets related to these items.

Discussions and implications

This research explored destination images. It focused on supply and demand in terms of image relationships in the Chinese context. The findings provide a current picture of Qingdao’s destination image marketing performance. The research has practical, methodological, and conceptual implications.

From a practical perspective, the findings shed some light on Qingdao’s tourism marketing and for destinations in general. First, image themes emphasized by Qingdao government agencies (i.e. natural scenery, cultural attractions, special events/holding sailing events, and city landscape/skyscrapers/modern buildings) display a variety regarding the tourism products and functions of the city. This image strategy may help Qingdao marketers to diversify their visitor source market; however, it may add to the difficulty for the projected image to impress potential visitors because no distinct image themes are presented. Therefore, marketers should work on building a strong and unique brand image of Qingdao that can be used to differentiate the city from its competitors.

Second, the rating of the cognitive attributes pinpoints Qingdao’s strengths and weaknesses. Specifically, seafood, scenery, local people, and special events received higher scores than other attributes by visitors of Qingdao. This suggests that these four attributes have a greater impact on visitors’ images of Qingdao than other attributes and should be used as projected image themes in the near future. In contrast, attributes (e.g. traffic congestion) that received lower scores by visitors than other attributes may represent the weaknesses of Qingdao and its tourism products due to their inability to result in participants’ satisfaction. Although these issues may not be unique to Qingdao, consideration should be given to them to reduce consumers’ least favorable images of Qingdao. This should involve improving these attribute-related aspects of the tourism product as well as repositioning Qingdao’s communications to evoke an image change with regards to these attributes in the target markets. Only when current visitors’ images of these attributes are improved can their overall images of Qingdao be improved. Alternatively, some of these items may relate to products that Qingdao does not wish to emphasize.

Third, seafood, special events, weather, and scenery were considered important by more visitors when compared to other attributes. These four attributes are the salient features of Qingdao in the minds of the participants and are thus critical for their image formation. Accordingly, these attributes should be considered together with those attributes that received higher ratings by marketers to aid in the construction and promotion of Qingdao’s projected image. In this case, seafood, special events, and scenery, which were both rated high and considered important by relatively more participants, should be given great consideration by marketers in their future image design. Conversely, the attributes that were both rated low and considered important by relatively fewer participants (e.g. fashion shows) did not seem to be critical to Qingdao’s marketing and should be excluded from projected images for the next few years until there is evidence of changes in market priorities. Another important aspect deserving of attention is that few attributes received low ratings, but they were considered important by relatively more respondents (e.g. transportation cost). Since these attributes are critical to constructing the respondents’ images of Qingdao, these attribute-related aspects and tourism products should be improved in order to reduce negative impacts on respondents’ overall evaluations of the destination. For example, actions such as discounting visitors’ transportation fees could be taken to resolve concerns about transportation costs.

Fourth, the results of the correlation tests indicated that although both the projected and perceived images of Qingdao included the same nine themes/attributes, the degree to which these themes were emphasized in the two types of images did not agree with each other. These findings provide more detailed information on the projected and perceived image relationship when compared with those from qualitative evaluations; that is, Qingdao’s current image projection may not be appropriate with regard to the weight assigned to the various image themes. This point is also supported by the finding that visitors had the highest preference for Qingdao’s coastal characteristics (seafood) with regard to both quality and importance. These two attributes did not receive the same level of attention in the projected images of the city, with rankings of 9 based on the number of times they appeared in the brochures. Marketers in Qingdao may deliberately devalue this attribute in their projected image design because this characteristic may not help to position Qingdao to gain a competitive advantage over other coastal destinations. As one possible solution, marketers can combine the coastal characteristic with other tourism products to create a new feature of the city.

Methodologically, most researchers would agree that it is unwise to impose prefabricated frameworks in image data, whether projected or perceived. However, if this is not done, then the ability to compare the two is made more difficult, even frustrated. In this study, information concerning the images of Qingdao as perceived by visitors was obtained through interviews requiring the rating of predetermined cognitive and affective attributes as well as content analysis of responses to open-ended questions regarding the overall image. It was found that certain attributes used in the scale questions, for example, local people, were evaluated differently when mentioned in the responses to the open-ended questions (i.e. hospitable/friendly/nice/helpful). Additionally, certain descriptors mentioned in the free responses (e.g. safe) did not appear in the scaled items. Furthermore, a considerable number of participants did not answer the open-ended questions. This suggests that some participants, if not most, had a weak image of Qingdao. Perhaps this is not surprising in the case of tourists who only spend a short time in the destination. These findings support Echtner and Ritchie’s (1991) assertion that the chosen measurement methods influence the ability to capture different elements of an image construct. In this sense, various methods (both structured and unstructured) should be employed to measure destination image. The inclusion of the qualitative evaluation in exploring the projected and perceived image relationship is consistent with the approach adopted by some researchers (e.g. Andreu et al., 2000; Young, 1999). However, this research goes a step further by presenting the level of importance of an image theme considered by both marketers and visitors.

The desirability of incorporating both qualitative and quantitative information within a single study, particularly when there is a desire to compare images as in the present study and a concurrent research design is adopted, creates major challenges for the rigorous use of statistical techniques which are not easy to overcome. This is an aspect of image research that requires further investigation.

Methodologically, in contrast to the concurrent research design adopted in this study, a sequential research design could be used to aid in understanding the relationship between projected and perceived images. With this type of design, projected images associated with a destination could be explored first. The image themes obtained from the analysis of promotional materials could be used as image attributes in the second research stage in which perceived images are examined. This would address a deficiency of the current study (a few identified projected image themes were not assessed by the research participants because they were not included in the predetermined attribute list) and allow for a more extensive image comparison. However, the fact that projected and perceived images are not amenable to measurement in the same way is likely to remain a thorny problem that complicates comparison.

Conceptually, in comparing only the projected and perceived images, this study examined only a small part of the information that is pertinent to marketers. Ultimately, there is an interest in the ability of projected images to attract new customers and to encourage existing visitors to return, leading to the creation of a loyal clientele. Thus, there is a need to link information on promotion and perceptions with visitor behavior, as well as to segment the market in useful ways. Furthermore, this research investigated the images of Qingdao perceived by current visitors that represent only one of the consumer groups. Other groups such as potential consumers are also of great importance to the destination. However, these were beyond the scope of the present study and are opportunities for further research.

Limitations

This research has several limitations. One major limitation relates to the sampling approach taken for the surveys. As mentioned previously, the three survey sites were purposely selected. However, it is never easy to ensure that a sample is truly representative when there is no single point of entry or exit and visitors are distributed across a very large area, particularly when little information is available on the tourism population that can be used for comparative purposes.

Another major limitation is associated with the selection of attributes to measure perceived images using a concurrent research design. Although the attributes were chosen based on an examination of Qingdao tourism brochures and a review of existing studies, they did not cover the entire list of projected image themes elicited from the content analysis of promotional materials. As a result, the research participants could not assess several identified projected image themes (e.g. high technology), leading to a small gap in the research results. This problem could have been reduced by undertaking the analysis of the projected image prior to undertaking the visitor surveys, and using the former as input to the survey design. However, this would have required more time.

A third limitation relates to the coding of image themes. The quality of coding is largely dependent on the researchers’ experience and skills. Additionally, the coding criteria might differ due to researchers’ subjective understanding and interpretation of a phenomenon. Therefore, the coding themes used by the researchers of this article may not be considered appropriate by others, that is, no affective image attributes were elicited from the projected image of Qingdao.

Footnotes

Funding

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

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