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This study aims to investigate how feelings for a country influence visitation to conflict-ridden destinations. It also examines the moderating effect of communications – news about terror or pictures of the place’s attractions – and whether the pictures counteract the damaging news.

This study examines the influence that feelings for a country have on visitation intentions, via the destination’s perceived risk and overall image. Furthermore, an experimental design is used to test the moderating influence of two communications stimuli. The sample consists of 309 individuals from the USA who were randomly exposed to various stimuli.

The findings confirm that feelings for the country shape risk perceptions, overall destination image and visitation intentions. Communications moderate the influence of these emotions. In addition, pictures of the destination’s attractions mitigate the adverse effect of negative news.

The investigation focuses on Turkey, a popular tourist destination, despite being subject to biases due to its geopolitical situation and ongoing armed conflict. The findings suggest that conflict-ridden destination managers should understand and use emotions, distinguishing between country and destination, while emphasizing the place’s attractions with visual communications to counter negative country reports.

This research contributes a comprehensive model that explains the impact that feelings for a country have on visitation decisions, highlighting the mediating role of risk perceptions and destination image. Furthermore, the study underlines the moderating role of communications, both positive and negative, that shape the effect of the emotions on the studied variables.

As one of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization initiatives, the creative cities network (CCN) declares the cities that are creative in the contexts of music, gastronomy, design, etc., with the aim of promoting cooperation amongst the member cities and maintaining sustainable urban development. This study aims to identify the destination food image of Gaziantep in Turkey, which is a member gastronomy city of the CCN since 2015. Identified destination food image elements were connected to the common targets of the CCN to show how the city may contribute to the network objectives.

A two-stage research process was used in the study. First, qualitative approach was adopted for the clarification of projected and perceived destination food image elements. Projected image elements were derived from a content analysis performed on a totally 113 official, semi-official and unofficial online documents in Turkish and English. Perceived destination food image elements were identified by face-to-face interviews, conducted on 10 participants. As a result, 18 projected and 20 perceived destination food image elements were obtained. These were then grouped under 4 main and 22 sub-categories. At the second stage, destination food image elements were matched with common targets of the CCN.

Destination food image elements, obtained by two qualitative studies, are grouped under 4 main and 22 sub-categories as follows: gastronomic identity (with sub-categories of destination’s identity and local culinary culture); diversity of the destination (with sub-categories of attractiveness of the local food, ease of promotion and high brand value); gastronomic attractions (with sub-categories of restaurants and cafes, culinary museums, farmer markets, orchards, gastronomy tours, gastronomy events (e.g. festivals, competitions), culinary education, books on gastronomy, certification systems, organizations, street foods and vendors and handmade or homemade foods); and qualified workforce and stakeholders (with sub-categories of expert chefs and cooks, specialist suppliers, service personnel, locals and local authorities). These are then connected to the common CCN targets (e.g. cuisine, tourism and festivals; extension of the creative value chain; fostering cultural creativity; and sustainability).

This is one of the early research attempts in examining a member gastronomy city’s food image elements and the role that they played in the success of the CCN’s common targets. Moreover, the study contributes to the literature on the identification of (projected and perceived) destination food image by using content analysis.

This research investigates how foreign tourists' revisit intentions are influenced by their local food consumption (LFC) value by emphasizing their attitude towards the local food and the corresponding destination food image. It will also reveal the foreign tourists' food consumption value and explore its influences on the destination's food image.

The data collection was performed from 433 foreign tourists who visited Delhi, India, using a structured survey instrument and chief constructs were measured as the first-order reflective variables. The 39 items associated with the LFC value underwent both exploratory and confirmatory evaluations. The authors employed partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The model's discriminant and convergent validity, consistency and overall fit were evaluated using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA).

The findings revealed that “tourists' attitudes and behaviors toward the local cuisine” had a significant and positive influence on their “intention to visit/revisit” and “intention to recommend”. Also, “destination food image” significantly and positively influenced the “intention of tourist to visit/revisit”; however, it negatively and insignificantly influenced the “intention of tourists to recommend”.

This research used five variables related to LFC—quality, health/nutrition, emotion, prestige and price—that impact tourists' attitudes and behaviors toward local foods in Delhi. However, in addition to these constructs, other factors or constructs may be involved that could affect the tourists' attitudes and behaviors. Future studies might explore and include these constructs to provide a more comprehensive image of Delhi's LFC value.

Understanding tourists' food-linked behaviors is critical for effective market conduct. However, the interrelations between travelers' destination food image, LFC value, their perceptions of the local cuisine and behavioral intentions are still unknown, and this will be one of the first attempts to discuss these behaviors.

The purpose of this study is to add new insights into the discussion of how a city’s destination marketing organization (DMO) can apply operant resources to act upon its operant resources to create, market and manage a unique brand over time.

The study uses an abductive approach to advance understanding of how to execute a branding strategy that evolves over time while strategically curating its unique and valued resources. This understanding is based on an in-depth review of Louisville’s branding journey, including written documents and interviews with people involved in building the branding strategy.

This paper presents a model to help destinations focus on how to create, market and manage the delivery of a branded ecosystem that capitalizes on its resources. The study adds new insights into how DMOs can curate a destination’s resources into an ecosystem that delivers its brand promise over time.

The study introduces the idea of ecotopes to expand an understanding of tourism ecosystems, it presents the concept of a customer journey to depict a destination’s branding strategy, incorporates Barney’s Resource Based Theory (Barney & Clark, 2007) into the process of creating a destination’s brand and applies Barnard’s (1938) classic Acceptance Theory of Authority to explain how DMOs can execute a destination’s branding strategy.

The purpose of this study is to add new insights into the discussion of how a city’s destination marketing organization (DMO) can apply operand resources to act upon its operant resources to create, market and manage a unique brand over time.

This study uses an abductive approach to advance understanding of how to execute a branding strategy that evolves over time while strategically curating its unique and valued resources. This understanding is based on an in-depth review of Louisville’s branding journey, including written documents and interviews with people involved in building the branding strategy.

This paper presents a model to help destinations focus on how to create, market and manage the delivery of a branded ecosystem that capitalizes on its resources. This study adds new insights into how DMOs can curate a destination’s resources into an ecosystem that delivers its brand promise over time.

This study introduces the idea of ecotopes to expand an understanding of tourism ecosystems, presents the concept of a customer journey to depict a destination’s branding strategy, incorporates Barney's resource based theory (Barney and Clark, 2007) into the process of creating a destination’s brand and applies Barnard’s (1938) classic acceptance theory of authority to explain how DMOs can execute a destination’s branding strategy.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the analysis of the potential contribution of festivals in generating a destination image through social media (particularly Twitter).

This study follows a multi-method approach by recollecting, analyzing and mixing quantitative and qualitative techniques. The authors focus on the case of Vic (Spain), analyzing the destination’s image as projected by different users (administration, private sector, particular users, residents) on Twitter in relation to an international musical festival, El Mercat de Música Viva de Vic (the Vic Live Music Market).

From a theoretical perspective, the study’s results advocate a reconsideration of the role of social media in the processes of creating a destination’s image. It is important to take into account the need to perform a specific analysis for each platform and consider how it operates and which stakeholders prevail by weight, by the clusters they pertain to and by their elicited descriptions. In the particular case of Twitter, the image-formation continuum generated by different actors through different sources is present here on one single platform.

This study is limited in terms of being based on only one social media site, and it would be very interesting to complement it by analyzing other relevant social media platforms.

From a practical point of view, this presents a challenge to destination managers to learn how to work on each specific platform in order to oversee the different destination visions and their resources.

From the results, the authors affirm that destination-branding analyses now need a platform-specific approach as well as an in-depth stakeholder analysis, since it is no longer possible to separate producers and consumers in brand image creation. Branding is becoming a more inclusive and collaborative process.

In the context of integrated promotion, it is essential to promote destination images consistently across multiple digital channels. This study aims to examine the consistency of online destination images projected through the official tourism websites and the Instagram accounts of five main destinations in Southeast Asia.

Previous studies have used correspondence analyses to measure the relationship between categorical variables. In the present study, a Spearman’s rank-order correlation was performed after the correspondence analyses to cross-check the results.

Destinations in Southeast Asia tend to project images that are similar to each other. The correspondence analyses and Spearman’s correlation found that only one country in the area projected relatively consistent destination images. By contrast, the other destinations tend to promote inconsistent images through their official websites and Instagram accounts.

Previous studies have assessed the consistency of projected destination image by comparing communication channels managed by government/public organisations with channels of private sector organisations. This was achieved by comparing printed materials with digital channels. By contrast, this study highlights the importance of assessing a destination’s online projected image consistency across different digital platforms (official tourism websites and official Instagram accounts) within the perspective of integrated promotion.

This research aims to assess the dimensions of local gastronomic image by identifying the vital gastronomic image traits utilised by foreign tourists for their evaluation of local foods while investigating any perceived disparities in the gastronomic image among Eastern and Western tourists.

It combined mixed-methods research involving 17 in-depth interviews with restaurant stakeholders in Fiji and analysis of responses from 221 foreign tourists using multivariate and descriptive statistical methodologies. A total of 25 local gastronomic image traits were assessed to understand tourists’ perceptions, which were further refined into foundational constructs through exploratory factor analysis.

Results highlighted that dishes like Kokoda, Palusami and Lovo are top favourites among both Eastern and Western tourists due to their less spicy nature. Findings also revealed that tourists positively evaluated four cognitive/perceptual dimensions of local gastronomic image: taste and freshness, culture and food authenticity, emotional food image, and quality and price value. Among all constructs, “freshness and taste” most significantly impacted foreign tourists’ satisfaction with their gourmet/culinary experiences, while “digestibility and nutritional value” showed the least value.

This research contributes to understanding how a destination’s gastronomic image influences tourists’ perceptions and how it can be effectively utilised to showcase the cultural uniqueness of destinations like Fiji.

This paper aims to explore the influence of e-reputation, destination image and social media marketing efforts (SMME) on the intention to visit among tourists. The relationships are examined through the lens of the stimuli-organism-response (S-O-R) theory.

The responses were recorded from 209 domestic and international tourists who stayed in five-star hotels at Khajuraho, a UNESCO world heritage site in India. PLS-SEM was used to test the proposed hypotheses.

The findings revealed a significant positive relationship between SMME, e-reputation and destination image. The results also indicated that destination image fully mediated the relationship between e-reputation, destination image, SMME and visit intention.

The research would enables tourism organizations to develop strategies and reap benefit from the information posted and shared by tourists on various social media platforms and gain a competitive edge over competitors.

Testing the relationship between e-reputation and destination image as a mediator between SMME and intention to visit is a relatively novel idea. Previously, no attempt had been made to measure the influence of e-reputation related to destination image and intention to visit as supported by the S-O-R theory. This study provides empirical information on destination image and e-reputation building and the role of social media. It helps tourism managers create social media marketing strategies.

This study developed an extended model of self-congruity by integrating destination image, destination personality, self-congruity, revisit intention and gender.

Surveys were conducted with 645 Chinese tourists visiting New Zealand. Partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was performed to estimate linkages between destination image, destination personality, self-congruity and revisit intention. To compare effects on revisit intention across male and female Chinese tourists, PLS-Henseler's multigroup analysis and PLS-permutation test were conducted to analyse gender as a moderator in the proposed framework.

Our results revealed positive direct effects among destination image, destination personality, self-congruity and revisit intention. Our findings indicated a highly significant difference in the effects of destination personality on ideal self-congruity across male and female Chinese tourists. The association between destination image and self-congruity identified through this model represents a crucial contribution to the tourism literature. This study also enriches tourism research by comparing male and female Chinese tourists' intentions to revisit New Zealand, having identified crucial heterogeneity within female tourists.

The practical implications from our research can improve destination marketing organization (DMO) officials' awareness of one-time and repeat Chinese tourists' experiences, which strongly trigger subsequent visits.

This paper is the first to examine the direct correlations among destination image, destination personality, self-congruity and revisit intention by considering whether gender might moderate these factors. Our study innovatively adopted PLS-SEM along with several advanced analytical approaches, such as multigroup analysis (MGA) of women and men, to examine our research model.