The Nature of Destination Image Concept in Online Travel Reviews

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DISSERTATIONS | XINXIN GUO | THE NATURE OF DESTINATION IMAGE CONCEPT IN ONLINE TRAVEL REVIEWS | No 269

Dissertations in Social Sciences and Business Studies

PUBLICATIONS OF

THE UNIVERSITY OF EASTERN FINLAND

XINXIN GUO

The Nature of Destination Image Concept in Online

Travel Reviews

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The Nature of Destination Image Concept in

Online Travel Reviews

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PUBLICATIONS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF EASTERN FINLAND DISSERTATIONS IN SOCIAL SCIENCES AND BUSINESS STUDIES

N:o 269

Xinxin Guo

THE NATURE OF DESTINATION IMAGE CONCEPT IN

ONLINE TRAVEL REVIEWS

ACADEMIC DISSERTATION

To be presented by permission of the Faculty of Social Sciences & Business Studies, University of Eastern Finland for public online

on March 4th, 2022, at 12 noon.

University of Eastern Finland Joensuu 2022

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Punamusta Oy Joensuu, 2022

Editor-in-Chief/Sarjan vastaava toimittaja: Markus Mättö Editor/Sarjan toimittaja: Markus Mättö

Myynti: University of Eastern Finland Library/Itä-Suomen yliopiston kirjasto ISBN: 978-952-61-4482-5 (nid.)

ISBN: 978-952-61-4483-2 (PDF) ISSNL: 1798-5749

ISSN: 1798-5749 ISSN: 1798-5757 (PDF)

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Author’s address: The Faculty of Social Sciences & Business Studies University of Eastern Finland

JOENSUU FINLAND

Doctoral programme: Tourism Marketing and Management Supervisors: Professor Juho Pesonen, Ph.D.

The Faculty of Social Sciences & Business Studies University of Eastern Finland

JOENSUU FINLAND

Professor Raija Komppula, Ph.D.

The Faculty of Social Sciences & Business Studies University of Eastern Finland

JOENSUU FINLAND

Reviewers: Professor Heikki Karjaluoto, Ph.D.

School of Business and Economics University of Jyväskylä

JYVÄSKYLÄ FINLAND

Assistant Professor Jason L. Stienmetz, Ph.D.

Department of Tourism and Service Management Modul University Vienna

VIENNA AUSTRIA

Opponent: Professor Heikki Karjaluoto, Ph.D.

School of Business and Economics University of Jyväskylä

JYVÄSKYLÄ FINLAND

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7 Guo, Xinxin

The Nature of Destination Image Concept in Online Travel Reviews Joensuu: University of Eastern Finland, 2022

Publications of the University of Eastern Finland Dissertation in Social Sciences and Business Studies ISBN: 978-952-61-4482-5 (print)

ISSNL: 1798-5749 ISSN: 1798-5749

ISBN: 978-952-61-4483-2 (PDF) ISSN: 1798-5757 (PDF)

ABSTRACT

With the simultaneous development of tourism and information technology, researchers face new challenges in understanding the concept of destination image. Although earlier studies have proven the relativistic and dynamic nature of destination image, these features have not been fully explored in the context of social media. Therefore, this dissertation explores the relativistic and dynamic nature of destination image from the perspective of online travel review platforms. Specifically, this study investigates the destination image of Finland from the viewpoint of Chinese travel review platforms and Chinese tourists. In this study, two widely recognised destination image frameworks from Echtner and Ritchie (1991) and Gartner (1993) are applied. The dissertation consists of three separate sections that respectively discuss discrepancies in destination image presented by different travel review platforms, the dynamic evolution of destination image at the macro level, and how diverse travel review content affects destination image. Findings show that although destination image is relatively dynamic on online travel review platforms, its variation differs significantly from conventional destination image studies. Moreover, the

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relativistic nature of destination image exists within the same information sources. The macro-dynamics of destination image evolve rapidly and different travel review content influences destination image in various ways.

These research findings provide unique industry insights for destination marketing organisations in the maintenance, improvement, repairing, and monitoring of destination image.

Keywords: Destination image, online travel reviews, destination attributes, China, Finland

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9 Guo, Xinxin

Matkakohteen imagon luonne verkkopalveluiden asiakasarviointien perusteella

Joensuu: Itä-Suomen yliopisto, 2022.

Publications of the University of Eastern Finland Dissertation in Social Sciences and Business Studies ISBN: 978-952-61-4482-5 (nid.)

ISSNL: 1798-5749 ISSN: 1798-5749

ISBN: 978-952-61-4483-2 (PDF) ISSN: 1798-5757 (PDF)

TIIVISTELMÄ

Matkailun ja siihen liittyvien teknologioiden kehittyessä tutkijat kohtaavat uusia haasteita yrittäessään ymmärtää matkakohteen imagon luonnetta.

Vaikka aiemmat tutkimukset ovat osoittaneet, että matkakohteen imago on luonteeltaan suhteellinen ja dynaaminen luonteen, ei näitä piirteitä ole tutkittu perusteellisesti sosiaalisen median kontekstissa. Tämä väitöskirja tutkiikin matkakohteen imagon dynaamista ja suhteellista luonnetta sen perusteella, miten se ilmenee matkailijoiden asiakasarviointeja julkaisevissa verkkopalveluissa. Tarkastelun kohteena on Suomen imago matkakohteena kiinalaisten matkailijoiden ja verkkopalveluiden näkökulmasta. Tässä tutkimuksessa sovelletaan Echtnerin ja Ritchien (1991) sekä Gartnerin (1993) yleisesti tunnettuja matkakohteen imagon viitekehyksiä. Väitöskirja koostuu kolmesta artikkelista, joissa keskustellaan matkakohteen imagon ilmenemisestä erilaisissa verkkopalveluissa, matkakohteen imagon dynaamisesta kehittymisestä maatasolla, sekä siitä, miten arvioinnit vaikuttavat matkakohteen imagoon. Tulokset osoittavat, että vaikka matkakohteen imago on dynaaminen verkkopalveluissa julkaistujen

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arviointien perusteella, eri verkkopalveluiden luomat imagot eroavat toisistaan merkittävästi. Imagon suhteellinen luonne tulee hyvin esille yhdessä ja samassa tietolähteessä. Makrotasolla muutokset arviointien luomassa matkakohteen imagossa ovat yllättävän nopeita ja erilaiset arvioinnit vaikuttavat imagoon eri tavoin. Tutkimukset tulokset tarjoavat ainutlaatuisia näkökulmia matkakohteen markkinointiin ja johtamiseen.

Avainsanat: Matkakohteen imago, verkkopalveluiden asiakasarvioinnit, matkakohteen ominaisuudet, Kiina, Suomi

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

“Achievement is realised through diligence and retarded by laziness; success is accomplished through critical thinking and destroyed by conformity.” This phrase was written by a famous philosopher in ancient China, Han Yu (A.D.

768 – 824). It became the guiding principle for my doctoral study and inspired me to contemplate and make progress in tourism research.

However, the whole process of my doctoral study, from determining the research topic, collecting data, writing and revising, to finalising the manuscript, was full of doubt and pressure, but also fun. While composing this paper, like many other doctoral students, I suffered from anxiety, loss, self-doubt, and thoughts of giving up many times. Whenever I encountered negative emotions, several people always appeared by my side to encourage and assist me, allowing me to pull myself together.

First, I would like to express my sincere thanks to my supervisor Professor Juho Pesonen, who accompanied me to top international tourism conferences and provided inspiration for my research topic. It was you who patiently reviewed my manuscript word by word, providing me a huge boost in journal writing ability. You also reassured and helped me in my research when I encountered problems and felt frustrated.

I also owe much gratitude to my supervisor Professor Raija Komppula.

Thank you for accepting me as a member of your tourism research group. It is for this reason that I have transformed from a scientific layman to an explorer. Your profound knowledge of tourism and rigorous scientific attitude have greatly benefited me during my doctoral study, while your enthusiasm inspired me.

Also, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Professor Jamie Murphy and Professor Scott McCabe from Nottingham University. Thank you for providing me with guidance when I encountered problems during my research. You inspired me to find a way to break through the bottleneck.

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I want to sincerely thank my pre-examiners Professor Heikki Karjaluoto from the University of Jyväskylä, Finland, and Assistant Professor Jason Stienmetz, from Modul University Vienna, Austria. Thank you for your recognition and comments on my research. Your suggestions made my academic writing more rigorous and my contribution to tourism research more valuable.

I am also grateful for the support of the China Scholarship Council, Wille Markkanen from Kuopio-Tahko markkinointi oy, and Matkailukoulutuksen ja -tutkimuksen kannatusyhdistys ry. Your support has relieved my financial pressure and also motivated me to persevere with my research.

The support and encouragement of my family members have also been an important stimulation for me to complete my doctoral study. Thank you all for staying by me, my wife Wenjuan for taking good care of the family, and my daughter Wanyan for bringing me happiness.

Espoo, July 2021 (Revised in January 2022) Xinxin Guo

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1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 RESEARCH BACKGROUND

The theme of destination image has been one of the most discussed topics in the field of tourism research since the 1970s (Alahakoon et al., 2021). It is considered to be the sum of a person’s beliefs, thoughts, and impressions of a destination (Crompton, 1979). The importance of destination image mainly affects two groups, the tourist and the destination itself. For tourists, destination image plays a vital role in their overall travel planning and decision-making process. For the destination, recognising tourists’

perceptions of the destination helps destination management organisations and marketers to improve their planning, branding, positioning, and promotion of the destination (Marine-Roig & Ferrer-Rosell, 2018). Although the significance of destination image research is widely recognised in tourism marketing and management, many new challenges to the concept have also emerged with the development of society and technology (Kislali et al., 2016).

With the advent of innovative communication technologies, especially in the current interconnected society, the exchange of destination information through social media is unavoidable. A variety of online information sources provides tourists with a wealth of additional information to become more familiar with a particular travel destination. Of these information resources, online travel reviews are unsolicited, unbiased, and first-hand (Marine-Roig, 2017). Therefore, they can be considered trustworthy sources of destination information for tourists (Narangajavana Kaosiri et al., 2017). Travel reviews not only play a pivotal role in the formation of tourists’ impressions of a destination but have also increasingly become an opportunity for destination marketers to promote their destinations. Tourists have become active producers and transmitters of destination image through online

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travel reviews (Hidalgo Alcázer et al., 2014; Marine-Roig & Ferrer-Rosell, 2018). As a result, the destination image is moulded by travel reviews and gradually becomes the perceived image of other potential users (Marine- Roig & Ferrer-Rosell, 2018).

Therefore, incorporating online travel reviews into destination image research is a novel approach that replaces established research using conventional data, such as interview data or magazines (Lu & Stepchenkova, 2015). Understanding the nature of destination image in the context of online travel reviews provides inspiration and support for destination image study. Gallarza et al. (2002) indicated that relativistic nature and dynamic nature are the most important features of the destination image concept.

Relativistic nature refers to diverse groups of tourists or information sources contributing different perceptions or presentations of the destination image (Gallarza et al., 2002). Additionally, the formation of destination image is dynamic, due to time and space factors. Some earlier studies (Llodrà-Riera et al., 2015; Mak, 2017; Marine-Roig & Ferrer-Rosell, 2018; Pike et al., 2019;

Severt & Hahm, 2020; Stepchenkova et al., 2015) have proved the relativistic nature and dynamic nature of destination image in the context of social media. For instance, Marine-Roig and Ferrer-Rosell (2018) established the relativistic nature of destination image according to different kinds of information sources (e.g., official travel websites, blog platforms, and travel review platforms). However, it is still unknown whether this relativistic nature exists within the same category of information source, such as between different travel review platforms.

Furthermore, conventional destination image studies use surveys to collect structural data and prove dynamic nature by analysing the destination image at different points in time (Pike et al., 2019; Severt & Hahm, 2020). Compared with structural data, online travel reviews provide both large-scale repositories of information and also a consistent source of data (Wong & Qi, 2017). Through analysis of travel review content, researchers can comprehensively and continuously track the evolution of the macro destination image. There are still knowledge gaps in research into the

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19 dynamic nature of the destination image concept based on online travel reviews. These include studying from a macroscopic perspective how destination image evolves in our new connected world and investigating from a microscopic perspective how different types of travel review content influence changes in destination image.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused unprecedented challenges to the tourism industry. According to a report from the Committee for the Coordination of Statistical Activities (CCSA, 2021), this crisis has caused a 74%

drop in international tourism, with the number of visitors falling from approximately 1.5 billion in 2019 to 380 million in 2020. Moreover, it is estimated that the worldwide tourism industry will take two and a half to four years to recover to pre-pandemic levels (CCSA, 2021). This speed depends on the containment and control of the pandemic in each country, as well as the effectiveness of vaccination programmes. During this pandemic, different countries have generated varying reputations on social media because of their epidemic prevention strategies. Due to rapid and effective control of the COVID-19 pandemic, some countries have gained an enhanced status, while the reputation of other countries has suffered due to misleading information (Yang et al., 2021). Many countries will soon face the issue of how to repair or improve their destination image in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic (Ahmad et al., 2020).

Among all the major economies in the year 2020, China was the only one that displayed positive economic growth, and the growth rate was 6.5%

(Cheng, 2021). The speed of tourism recovery in China has also been rapid.

During the National Day holiday in 2020, there were 637 million domestic tourist trips, and tourism revenue was 80 billion dollars (Cui, 2021). Domestic tourism in 2020 recovered to nearly 80% of pre-pandemic levels (Cui, 2021).

Additionally, before the COVID-19 pandemic, Chinese outbound tourists were also the highest contributors to international tourism (UNWTO, 2018).

Taking Finland as an example, from 2013 to before the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of Chinese outbound tourists visiting Finland increased by 265%.

Although the destination of Finland grew rapidly in the Chinese market,

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relatively few studies have explored its image from the perspective of Chinese tourists. For Finland to maintain its attractiveness in the mind of Chinese tourists after the COVID-19 pandemic, it is necessary to have a profound understanding of the destination image of Finland from the perspective of Chinese tourists. Doing so can assist the more effective formulation of corresponding marketing strategies for Chinese tourists and develop appropriate tourism products and services. Therefore, to provide insights into the future development of tourism in Finland, as well as other Western countries, this paper selects Finland as a case study to explore its image from a Chinese perspective, as a tourist destination for the Chinese market.

1.2 PURPOSE AND RESEARCH QUESTIONS

Based on Gallarza et al.’s (2002) concept of destination image, relativistic and dynamic nature is vital to destination image study. With the development of online information technology, smart tourism has become a leading trend in the tourism industry today. However, there are no systematic and comprehensive studies that prove whether the nature of destination image is significant from the perspective of information technology, especially online travel review platforms. Therefore, the objective of this study is to explore the relativistic and dynamic nature of destination image study in the context of online travel review platforms. The main question and sub- questions are as follows:

1. How do online travel reviews reflect the relativistic nature and dynamic nature of the destination image concept?

2. How is the relativistic nature of destination image manifested in different online travel review platforms? (relativistic nature)

3. How does the dynamic nature of destination image become evident in online travel reviews at the macro destination level? (dynamic nature at the macro level)

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21 4. How is the dynamic nature of destination image reflected in the influence of online travel reviews on tourists' perceptions of a destination? (dynamic nature at the micro-level)

To answer the first question, the approach of Echtner and Ritchie (1991) in defining destination image is adopted. This explores the destination image and its functional, mixed functional-psychological, and psychological dimensions presented by different travel review platforms, thus proving the relativistic nature of the destination image concept. The second issue also uses Echtner and Ritchie’s (1991) destination image theory to extract the destination image from travel review content over a long period, thus judging the dynamic nature of destination image at the macro level. For the third point, Gartner’s (1993) approach of defining destination image is utilised, to compare the changes of tourists’ cognitive, affective, and conative images before and after reading online travel reviews, thus verifying the dynamic nature of destination image at the micro-level. The research objectives are summarised in Table 1.

Table 1. Research questions, gaps, and contributions of this dissertation

Main Research Question: How do online travel reviews reflect the relativistic nature and dynamic nature of the destination image concept?

Article Article I Article II Article III

Research Questions

Sub-question 1. How is the relativistic nature of

destination image manifested in different online travel review platforms?

(relativistic nature)

Sub-question 2.

How does the dynamic nature of destination image become evident in online travel reviews at the macro destination level? (dynamic nature at the macro-level)

Sub-question 3.

How is the

dynamic nature of destination image reflected in the influence of online travel reviews on tourists'

perception of a destination?

(dynamic nature at the micro-level)

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Research Gap Most earlier studies focused on the relativistic nature of destination image between different image formation agents, but there are few studies on the discrepancies or commonalities of destination image presented by different

information sources of the same image formation agent.

Due to the

difficulty and time- consuming nature of data collection, there are relatively few studies on the dynamic changes of destination image from a macro perspective.

Most existing studies compare the destination images between two or more time points, and their results cannot reveal continuous changes and trends.

There have been several studies on the evolution of tourists'

perceptions of destinations over time. Online travel reviews have a tremendous influence on the formation of destination image, but there is little research on how different travel reviews affect this dynamic change.

Contributions Adopt Echtner and Ritchie’s (1991) approach of

defining destination image to explore the discrepancies and commonalities of destination image presented in different online travel review platforms.

Use Echtner and Ritchie’s (1991) approach of defining

destination image, by analysing a larger amount of travel review data to explore the evolution of destination image over a long period.

Employ Gartner’s (1993) approach of defining

destination image, to compare the changes in cognitive, affective, and conative images before and after tourists read different types of online travel reviews.

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1.3 KEY CONCEPTS IN THIS DISSERTATION

Table 2 summarises the key concepts that are critical to this research.

Table 2. Key concepts in the study

Concept Definition

Tourism Destination

The definition of a tourism destination used by

researchers depends on the research environment. One view states that a tourism destination is “a demand- caused, interlinked supply network with the aim of producing a tourist good.” (Beritelli et al., 2014, p. 405).

However, this study emphasises its geographical significance, which is “a specific geographic area under one or more government authorities, that draws visitors from a substantial distance away by its attractions.”

(Vanhove, 2011, p. 21) Destination Image

(Echtner and Ritchie’s approach)

Destination image is the perception of the individual destination attributes and also the holistic impression made by that destination. (Echtner & Ritchie, 1991, p. 8) Destination

Attributes

“The destination attribute essentially refers to the attraction factor and positive or negative characteristics based on tourist destination performance.” (Echtner &

Ritchie, 1991) Destination Image

(Gartner’s approach)

“Destination images are developed by three hierarchically interrelated components: cognitive, affective, and conative.” (Gartner, 1993, p. 193) Cognitive Image What one knows about an object of the destination

(Gartner, 1993).

Affective Image How one feels about what one knows about the object (Gartner, 1993).

Conative Image How one acts based on this information (Gartner, 1993).

User-Generated Content

“User-generated content has been described as creative work that is published on publicly accessible websites

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and is created without a direct link to monetary proﬁt or commercial interest.” (Lu & Stepchenkova, 2015, p. 120) Online Travel

Review

Online travel reviews are a type of user-generated content, which is built on the premise that the information provided through text is either concrete (objective) or abstract (subjective). Concrete reviews are based on facts, evidence, and measurable observations.

Abstract reviews are based on opinions, personal

feelings, beliefs, and judgments about entities or events.

(Shin et al., 2019)

Relativism “A concept is relativistic when it is simultaneously subjective (changes from person to person) and comparative (involves perceptions among various objects).” (Gallarza et al., 2002, p. 71)

Dynamism Due to the influence of two variables: time and space, a concept appears to change rather than remain static.

(Gallarza et al., 2002, p. 71)

1.4 POSITIONING OF THE STUDY

The positioning of the research is presented in Figure 1. Most previous tourism studies considered user-generated content (UGC) to be the outcome of tourists sharing their travel experience behaviour (Lu &

Stepchenkova, 2015). Through an analysis of the output of this sharing behaviour, researchers can understand the various topics involved in the tourism process, including motivation, service quality, and destination image (Lu & Stepchenkova, 2015). Besides, user-generated content is the broad conceptualisation of online travel reviews (Zablocki et al., 2019), and the study of destination image is one of the primary topics in the field of user-generated content and tourism marketing and management (Aziz &

Zainol, 2010; Lu & Stepchenkova, 2015). The focus of this study is the overlap between the two concepts of online travel reviews and destination image.

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25 Although the positioning of the entire research is destination image exploration in the context of online travel reviews, each article focuses on a different perspective. The first article is from the viewpoint of the travel review platform, studying the discrepancies and commonalities between destination images in different platforms. Next, the second article compares the evolution of destination image presented by online travel reviews at different points in time, from the perspective of the macro destination itself.

Finally, from the perspective of micro tourism destination, the third article explains the impact of online travel reviews in the formation of and change in perceptions of a destination.

Figure 1. Positioning of the study. Adapted from Aziz & Zainol, 2010; Lu &

Stepchenkova, 2015; Zablocki et al., 2019

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2 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 SUMMARY OF DESTINATION IMAGE RESEARCH FROM 1973 TO 2021

Tourism researchers have been conducting destination image studies for almost half a century (Alahakoon et al., 2021). Although destination image research has prevailed for a long time, existing studies have not been able to reach a consensus on which approach is most suitable for measuring destination image. Therefore, the viewpoints and methods of destination image studies are diverse and constantly evolving.

To summarise the history of destination image research, in the early stage (from 1973 to 1990) of destination image study, studies focused on the significance of destination image in tourist decision-making as well as its impact on tourist purchasing behaviour (Chon, 1990). Subsequently, in the 1990s, most destination image studies used structured techniques to assess the construction of destination image, and the popularity of the segmentation and image differentiation between different groups gradually increased (Pike, 2002). After the turn of the millennium (from 2000 to 2007), the development of technology quietly changed destination image research, which at this stage mostly comprised of empirical qualitative analyses and several studies employed online web data with content analysis approaches (Stepchenkova & Mills, 2010). The main emphasis of destination image was sociocultural, general media and communications, marketing, and consumer behaviour (Stepchenkova & Mills, 2010). From 2008 to 2012, many studies centred on tourist posts on blogging platforms using various forms of computer-assisted text analysis (CATA) software to extract destination image data from blog content (Nghiêm-Phú, 2014).

From 2013 until now, destination image research using online data has become commonplace, and online data collection channels have become

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more diversified, including online travel agencies, social communities, online travel review platforms, and official travel websites (Alahakoon et al., 2021;

Li et al., 2018). Currently, the main emphasis of online destination image studies includes the importance of destination attributes (Kirilenko &

Stepchenkova, 2017; Kladou & Mavragani, 2015; Toral et al., 2018), the dissimilarities presented by comparing different online platforms (Mak, 2017; Marine-Roig & Ferrer-Rosell, 2018; Vinyals-Mirabent et al., 2019), and the influence of online information on destination image formation and tourist travelling behaviour (Assaker & O’Connor, 2020; de la Hoz-Correa &

Muñoz-Leiva, 2019; Kim et al., 2017). Compared with earlier studies, online data has opened up new themes and become dominant in the research of destination image (Li et al., 2018). The exploration of online textual data, photos, and videos provides a new domain for future destination image research.

2.2 DEFINITION AND STRUCTURE OF DESTINATION IMAGE

In tourism studies, researchers have debated the extent of the difference or association between brand and image concepts (Költringer & Dickinger, 2015). There is a view that the image of a destination is a crucial component of its brand. Therefore, improving the destination image helps to improve the competitiveness of the destination brand in the market (Stepchenkova

& Li, 2014; Tasci & Kozak, 2006). Researchers who hold this opinion believe that destination image is the brand association held in the memory of consumers and it is the consumer's perception of the destination brand (Stepchenkova & Li, 2014). Contrary to the above viewpoint, some researchers assert that destination image is a broader concept than destination brand, and that destination brand should belong to the emotional attachment component of the destination image (Ekinci, 2003). A tourist destination can have its own destination name, such as Helsinki or Beijing, but the destination does not necessarily have a brand (Ekinci, 2003).

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29 Destination image is a complex issue leading to a lack of consensus concerning its conceptual definition (Josiassen et al., 2015). Regardless, according to mainstream research on destination image, it is defined according to two perspectives. One argues that destination image is the holistic mental picture in the minds of tourists, while the other states that destination image is how tourists perceive different elements of a destination (Bricker & Donohoe, 2015). The former approach views destination image as a gestalt experience, while the latter asserts that tourists can assess a destination based on its attributes and activities.

Most studies in the first category are based on Echtner and Ritchie’s (1991, p. 8) concept that “destination image is the perception of individual destination attributes and the holistic impression made by the destination.”

The structure of destination image is composed of three continuums, including attribute-holistic, functional-psychological, and common-unique (Echtner & Ritchie, 1991, 1993). The attribute-holistic band refers to a perception of individual destination attributes or a more comprehensive impression of a place. Besides, the functional-psychological element indicates the differences between directly measurable destination attributes and intangible destination attributes. Finally, common-unique represents the scope of tourists’ perceptions from generally identified destination attributes to more uniquely identified destination attributes of a specific destination (Echtner & Ritchie, 1991, 1993). Additionally, any individual continuum of the three can also be observed within the context of the other two (Echtner & Ritchie, 1991, 1993).

Echtner and Ritchie’s approach has been widely applied in empirical qualitative studies of destination attributes (Gallarza et al., 2002). Based on earlier studies, Beerli and Martín (2004) comprehensively summarised destination attributes and divided them into nine categories: natural resources; general and tourism infrastructure; tourism leisure and recreation; culture, history, and art; political and economic factors; natural environment; social environment; and the atmosphere of the location. By combining Beerli and Martín’s classification with Echtner and Ritchie’s

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approach, destination image studies have been conducted on various types of destinations, such as lake destinations (Rodrigues et al., 2015), coastal destinations (Bigné Alcañiz et al., 2009), and the image of entire countries (Guo et al., 2021). Although there are some common attributes between destinations, each place has a unique destination attribute scale (Beerli &

Martín, 2004).

Regarding the second perspective, most studies are based on Gartner’s (1993, p. 193) concept that “destination images are developed by three hierarchically interrelated components: cognitive, affective, and conative.”

The cognitive image indicates what tourists know about a specific destination, or tourists’ perceptions and beliefs about the destination attributes (Baloglu & McCleary, 1999a). The affective image refers to how tourists feel about their knowledge of the destination, and their emotional evaluation of the destination attributes (Baloglu & McCleary, 1999a). The conative image is a behavioural element and it represents how tourists act, based on the cognitive and affective images (Gartner, 1993). Baloglu and McCleary (1999a) further suggested that destination image is the overall impression of a destination, evaluated by cognitive and affective components. Thus, the overall image component should be considered in the structure of destination image (Tasci et al., 2007).

The three-component approach from Gartner (1993) is commonly used in empirical quantitative studies of destination image (Zhang et al., 2014).

For instance, Hallmann et al. (2015) found that different dimensions of the cognitive image, such as service quality, infrastructure, and accommodation, have distinct effects on the cognitive image. Although cognitive image and affective image are causal relationships (Baloglu & McCleary, 1999a; Gartner, 1993), not all dimensions of the cognitive image have impacts on the affective image (Tan & Wu, 2016). Tan and Wu (2016) proved that destination activities do not affect the feelings of repeat tourists towards a destination.

Besides, the influence of cognitive image and affective image on the conative image has not always been recognised. Some studies maintain that the affective image is more influential than the cognitive image in tourists’

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31 travelling behaviour (Hallmann et al., 2015; Papadimitriou et al., 2015;

Stylidis et al., 2017), while some state the opposite (de la Hoz-Correa &

Muñoz-Leiva, 2019; Khan et al., 2017; Wong et al., 2019). In other cases, only the affective image contributes to the prediction of tourists’ intentions to visit (Stylos et al., 2016), while the cognitive image has no discernible influence on the conative image. (Edwin et al., 2019).

In extant studies concerning destination image, most of them applied Echtner and Ritchie’s (1991) approach or Gartner’s (1993) method. However, because the system of Echtner and Ritchie (1991) focuses on exploring distinctive destination attributes and tourists’ overall perceptions of the destination, each destination has unique attributes and overall perceptions.

Thus, it is difficult to apply this approach widely in the quantitative evaluation of all destination images. However, Echtner and Ritchie’s (1991) approach is more suitable for the comprehensive understanding of unique destination attributes and the overall perception of a destination.

Meanwhile, these attributes can be studied longitudinally to explore their evolutionary mechanism. Gartner’s (1993) approach is the conceptualisation of attitude construction (Kislali et al., 2016). It particularly emphasises the role and importance of the information source in the formation of destination image (Kislali et al., 2016). Besides, it is appropriate for investigating the influence of information sources on tourists’ destination perceptions and their travelling behaviour. Although Gartner’s (1993) method can effectively measure tourists' perceptions of individual destination attributes as well as their behavioural tendencies, it cannot profoundly comprehend the holistic perception of a destination and the mechanism of its overall evolution. Therefore, when studying the image of a destination, researchers need to find a suitable approach for their research purposes or combine them for destination image research.

Although the Echtner and Ritchie’s (1991) three continuums model and Gartner’s (1993) three components approach have been widely used in earlier destination image studies, Marine-Roig et al. (Marine-Roig, 2017;

Marine-Roig et al., 2019) proposed a new approach for the research of

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destination image using online data. They suggested that destination image can be divided into two parallel components, namely, the designative component and the appraisive component. The designative component is a person’s mental map concerning basic destination properties, such as distance, orientation, location, or spatial variations (Marine-Roig et al., 2019).

The appraisive component refers to a tourist’s evaluation and preference of destination, including general or external standards evaluation, or an evaluation from a personal emotional level (Marine-Roig et al., 2019). The designative-appraisive approach interprets the construction of destination image across ﬁve dimensions: cognitive, spatial, temporal, evaluative, and affective (Marine-Roig, 2017). Marine-Roig’s (2017; 2019) method acts as a supplement to Echtner and Ritchie’s (1991), emphasising that destination image has the characteristics of time and space. Therefore, Marine-Roig’s (2017; 2019) approach has the same shortcomings as the previous approaches. It focuses on the detailed exploration of destination attributes, but cannot be extensively used for the evaluation of the destination image from the tourists’ standpoint.

2.3 IMAGE FORMATION PROCESS

The formation of destination image is a mental process by which tourists constantly receive a large amount of formal and informal information about a destination to construct a perception of that location (Gartner, 1993).

Besides, greater amounts of information can enhance tourists’ perceptions of the destination (Baloglu, 2000; Gartner, 1993; Selby & Morgan, 1996). For tourists who have not visited a destination before, they must first become familiar with the place by searching for information, thus increasing their travel confidence and reducing their risk perception (Assaker & O’Connor, 2020). With an increase in exposure to destination information, the perception of destination image is gradually established (Jeong & Holland, 2012). However, image formation does not only occur in the process of

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33 making travel plans but is imperceptibly influenced by destination promotions or news, movies, or word of mouth (Tasci & Gartner, 2007).

Many destination information sources from the supply-side (e.g., marketing strategies and promotions), independent side (e.g., news and movies), and demand-side (e.g., experience and prior visits) have an impact on the formation of destination image (Tasci & Gartner, 2007).

According to Gunn’s (1988) research, the formation of destination image can be traced to two image formation agents, organic and induced. Images formed from organic agents are often passed through non-commercial destination information sources (Gunn, 1988). Alternatively, tourists informally and unconsciously encounter particular destination information through informal discourse, electronic word of mouth, and other non- marketing channels (Gartner, 1993). It is noteworthy that as an emerging organic image formation agent, online travel reviews are already widely recognised for their importance in the process of image formation (Assaker

& O’Connor, 2020; de la Hoz-Correa & Muñoz-Leiva, 2019; Marine-Roig &

Ferrer-Rosell, 2018). Images formed from induced agents are usually derived from commercial destination information and the marketing efforts of destination promoters (Gunn, 1988), such as advertisements, destination brochures, and marketer-generated content. Consequently, several studies suggested that organic image formation agents are more credible and significantly influence tourists’ information adoption behaviour (Chong et al., 2018; Filieri, McLeay, et al., 2018; Govers et al., 2007). In contrast, some researchers argued that induced image formation agents are more faithful in showing genuine representations of a destination (MacKay & Fesenmaier, 1997). Irrespective of the kind, in the process of destination image formation, organic and induced image formation agents are not necessarily mutually exclusive, but jointly enhance the perception of a destination (Kim & Chen, 2016; Llodrà-Riera et al., 2015; Selby & Morgan, 1996).

By altering Gunn’s (1988) organic-induced image typology, Gartner (1993) further extended the organic and induced image formation agents into a detailed eight-level continuum, including overt induced I, overt induced II,

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covert induced I, covert induced II, autonomous, unsolicited organic, solicited organic, and organic elements. From level one (overt induced I) to level eight (organic), this model represents a progressively reducing scale of destination information for destination marketers (Gartner, 1993), while the credibility of the information becomes increasingly significant for tourists (Camprubí et al., 2013; Tasci et al., 2007). Compared with Gunn’s (1988) organic-induced image typology, the obvious difference of Gartner’s (1993) classification is the integration of autonomous image formation agents (Tasci & Gartner, 2007). Autonomous agents are usually considered as intermediate information sources situated between the destination marketers’ induced information sources and tourists’ organic sources (Tasci

& Gartner, 2007), such as news reports, entertainment videos and movies, and popular culture (Gartner, 1993; Lee & Bai, 2016). At some point, exposure to the news has immeasurable consequences for the destination image (Kirilenko & Stepchenkova, 2017). For instance, Avraham (2015) pointed out that as international media continued to report on the violent attacks during the Arab Spring uprising, the destination marketers of Middle Eastern countries faced huge challenges in repairing the image of their destinations.

In addition to various destination information sources, many personal factors and information technology factors play significant roles in the formation of destination image (Baloglu & McCleary, 1999a; Kislali et al., 2016). There are two categories of personal factors that influence the image formation of a destination, including socio-demographic factors and socio- psychological factors (Josiassen et al., 2015). Socio-demographic factors consist of features such as gender, age, education, income, and nationality (Josiassen et al., 2015; MacKay & Fesenmaier, 1997). Conversely, socio- psychological factors include travel motivations, future travel intentions, familiarity with the destination, personal involvement, and risk perceptions.

(Chew & Jahari, 2014; Josiassen et al., 2015; Kim & Chen, 2016). For example, de la Hoz-Correa and Muñoz-Leiva (2019) discovered that tourists with low individualism are more willing to use various types of information sources

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35 (e.g., commercial or non-commercial websites) and have a favourable cognitive image of medical tourism destinations. However, tourists with high uncertainty avoidance prefer to obtain destination information from electronic word of mouth sources and have a favourable affective image of medical tourism destinations (de la Hoz-Correa & Muñoz-Leiva, 2019). Chen et al. (2016) also found that the stereotypes caused by political conflicts have a direct impact on the formation of cognitive and affective images. Even as intergovernmental relations gradually normalise, tourists still regard a former rival country as hostile.

Nowadays, information technology is recognised as an important factor affecting the formation of destination image (Kislali et al., 2016; McFee et al., 2019). Indeed, after the year 2000, online information technology grew rapidly in terms of innovation, extensiveness, and utility (Bronner & de Hoog, 2016). Compared with an earlier study that simply classified the internet as an induced image information agent (Beerli & Martín, 2004), various online information resources on the internet now play roles of induced (official travel websites), autonomous (online videos), or organic (online travel reviews) image information agents (Llodrà-Riera et al., 2015). Information technology has dramatically changed the way destination information is received and disseminated (Leung et al., 2013). For instance, data acquisition and processing technology support destination marketers to respond to tourists’ questions quickly and effectively, thus improving tourists’

perceptions of a location (Kim & Kim, 2017). A good website design also enhances the image of a destination (Rodríguez-Molina et al., 2015), especially the formation of the cognitive image (Kim et al., 2017). When a tourism website contains emotional triggers, it can lead to positive feelings towards the destination (Rodríguez-Molina et al., 2015).

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2.4 RELATIVISTIC NATURE OF DESTINATION IMAGE

The relativistic nature of destination image means that this concept is simultaneously subjective and comparative (Gallarza et al., 2002). From a tourist's point of view, personal factors and subjective judgements have a tremendous influence on destination perception, and each individual has a unique perception of a speciﬁc destination (Echtner & Ritchie, 1991).

Relativism is also reflected in different groups since the destination image varies between residents, past tourists, and potential tourists (Papadimitriou et al., 2018). For instance, past tourists have a better perception of a destination than non-visit tourists (Papadimitriou et al., 2018). This is because the cognitive image is the objective judgment based on a person's knowledge level of a destination, and it can fluctuate among groups with varying levels of experience (Papadimitriou et al., 2018). Tourists from different cultural backgrounds also hold different perceptions of the same destination (MacKay & Fesenmaier, 2000; Whang et al., 2016). Whang et al. (2016) realised that although popular culture affects both Russian and Chinese tourists’ perceptions of South Korea, a strong affective image enhanced the conative image of Russian tourists, but this influence did not extend to the Chinese tourist group. Stylos et al. (2017) also confirmed that the overall image of British people is more dependent on affective image than for Russians. By comparing travel photos about Russia published by American tourists and South Korean tourists, Stepchenkova et al. (2015) discovered that tourists from different cultural backgrounds have different image perceptual preferences regarding many destination attributes, including tourist attractions, leisure activities, transport and infrastructure, architecture, and political factors.

In terms of destination information sources, relativistic refers to the way various types of information sources present different destination images (Baloglu, 2000; i Agustí, 2018; Mak, 2017; Marine-Roig & Ferrer-Rosell, 2018;

Vinyals-Mirabent et al., 2019). The reason for this relativism is that the perception of certain destination attributes is influenced by several types of

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37 information sources (Baloglu, 2000). Baloglu (2000) asserted that the organic image formation agent (word of mouth) has an impact on the perception of quality of experience, the induced image formation agent (advertising) affects the perception of the destination environment, while the autonomous image formation agent (news and movies) plays a role in the perception of destination attractions. The study of i Agustí (2018) found that the destination image presented by traditional printed official tourist brochures conflicts with emerging social media (e.g., Instagram), thus leading to contradictory tourist travelling behaviour. Moreover, compared with the organic image formation agent, the destination image represented by the induced image formation agent may not cover all areas (Mak, 2017), and stablished that several destination attributes cannot be characterised using the websites of national tourism organisations, including food and beverage, transportation, and accommodation. Therefore, Marine-Roig and Ferrer-Rosell (2018) suggested that destination marketers should strive to narrow the gap between the destination image presented by induced image formation agents and organic image formation agents. Thus, tourists can enjoy a satisfactory travel experience and acquire a stronger perception of the destination image.

Although research on the relativistic nature of destination image has been conducted under different types of online information sources, few earlier studies focused on whether relativism existed within the same information source. Concerning online travel reviews in particular, due to their credibility and information quality features, images formed by travel reviews are more trustworthy and unbiased than images created by induced information agents (Filieri et al., 2015; Marine-Roig & Ferrer-Rosell, 2018).

However, it is essential to determine whether the destination image presented by different travel review platforms varies, because the destination image on distinct travel review platforms may affect destination marketers in formulating marketing strategies and positioning tourism products.

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2.5 DYNAMIC NATURE OF DESTINATION IMAGE

Due to the effect of space and time factors, the formation of destination image is temporally dynamic (Kislali et al., 2016; Tegegne et al., 2018).

Existing studies on the temporal characteristics of destination image can be divided into three elements: destination image before, during, and after the trip; destination image during a first-time visit and repeat visits; and perceptions of the same destination over time (Gallarza et al., 2002; Kim et al., 2019). Most research is based on the first two components and focuses on tourists’ perspectives. Only a few studies have explored the dynamic nature of destination image from the perspective of the destination itself (Gartner, 1986; Pike et al., 2019; Tasci & Holecek, 2007; Wong & Qi, 2017).

From the perspective of tourists, a destination image may evolve when they decide to visit that place (Chen, 2019). Generally, tourists cannot experience a destination before arrival, therefore, the formation of destination image and expectations during the pre-trip period rely solely on perceptions based on tourism information (Gartner, 1993; Smith et al., 2015).

During the pre-trip period, destination information from different image formation agents (i.e., induced, autonomous, and organic) can improve tourists’ perceptions of destination attributes (Shani et al., 2010). During the visit, tourists come into contact with local people and culture and develop their perceptions based on actual experiences throughout the trip. These experiences provide a boost for the development of the destination image.

This may contribute to the post-trip image, including an impression identical to the one before the trip, a moderately transformed image, or a largely transformed view (Kim & Chen, 2015). In the post-trip image, functional destination attributes become especially abundant (Smith et al., 2015) and psychological attributes also tend to become richer (Chen, 2019). Meanwhile, these changes are influenced by the tourists’ nationality, age, education level, and occupation (Kim & Morrsion, 2005). In a short period, the destination image may not only change before and during the trip (Kim et al., 2019;

Smith et al., 2015) but also decay over time after the trip (King et al., 2015).

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39 Psychological attributes slowly decline, while functional attributes remain relatively stable (King et al., 2015).

A positive destination image after the first visit may motivate tourists to revisit the location, thereby enhancing their perception of the destination (Chen, 2019). The destination image of a first-time visit is established based on external destination information, while the destination image of a repeat visit is dependent on tourists’ previous experiences (Fakeye & Crompton, 1991). Compared with repeat tourists, first-time tourists are more tolerant and their experiences are fresh, thus it is easier to describe their feelings about the destination attributes in detail (Chen, 2019). This phenomenon may be related to lower expectations that may, in turn, make first-time tourists more easily satisfied (Li et al., 2008). Although some studies assert that repeat visits to a destination enhance tourists’ perceptions of a destination, other researchers are sceptical about this point of view. They believe that a larger number of visits does not increase the destination familiarity of tourists or affect the perception of the destination image (Kim

& Morrsion, 2005).

Compared with temporal research into destination image from the perspective of tourists, few researchers have also considered the macro destination-level perspective (Pike et al., 2019). The reason for this lack of research is that long-term collection and storage of comparable data is time- consuming (Wong & Qi, 2017). When destination image studies involve the macro destination level, findings show that the destination image of a country or region evolves slowly over a long period (Gartner, 1986; Pike et al., 2019). Specifically, when the ecological structure or social structure of the destination is larger and more complex, the destination image remains more stable and enduring (Gartner, 1986). However, some strategies can accelerate the improvement of destination image, such as destination marketing and destination information promotion, as well as the improvement of local infrastructure and tourism facilities (Gartner, 1986;

Tasci & Holecek, 2007). Especially in the era of the network economy, organic image formation agents (e.g., online travel reviews) largely affect the

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direction of destination image evolution (de la Hoz-Correa & Muñoz-Leiva, 2019). Earlier studies on the evolution of destination image mainly employ surveys to collect structured data and compare the destination image at different points in time (Gartner, 1986; Gartner & Shen, 1992; Gartnerand &

Hunt, 2008; Moreira & Iao, 2014; Pike, 2017; Pike et al., 2019; Severt & Hahm, 2020).

Another variable that causes the evolution of the macro destination image is major international events (Gartner & Shen, 1992; Kim & Morrsion, 2005). The undesirable impact of negative international events on destination image is more significant and prolonged (Gartner & Shen, 1992;

Kim & Morrsion, 2005) and it is difficult to quickly restore the image to the original level (Gkritzali, 2017). Although positive major events can enhance tourists’ perceptions of a destination to a certain extent, the effect of the improvement is often limited by the tourists’ background, political environment, and direction of the information flow (Kim & Morrsion, 2005;

Kirilenko & Stepchenkova, 2017).

2.6 ONLINE TRAVEL REVIEWS IN TOURISM RESEARCH

In the business field, online reviews are considered electronic word of mouth and refer to a type of information created by consumers based on their experience after using a product or service (Kwok et al., 2017). Their role includes providing product or service information and recommendations to other consumers. Online travel reviews are a type of online review, but the difference is that the content of travel reviews is generated by tourists’ travel experiences (Shin et al., 2019). The content of a travel review can be either an objective description of an experience or a subjective review based on personal cognition (Shin et al., 2019). Online travel review platforms belong to third-party opinion channels, thus the information they provide is more credible for tourists than that published by official travel websites (González-Rodríguez et al., 2016). Over time, travel

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41 review platforms have accumulated a wealth of travel information, including reviews of restaurants (e.g., Dianping, Yelp), hotels (e.g., Expedia, Booking.com), and attractions (e.g., Ctrip, TripAdvisor) (Xiang et al., 2017).

Travel reviews on various online platforms are free to access, although the layout and interface of these platforms may vary according to three aspects:

evaluation characteristics, reputation characteristics, and social characteristics (Kwok et al., 2017).

With the rapid popularisation of online travel reviews among tourists, researchers are paying more attention to the study of this concept in the tourism field (Li et al., 2018). Early research on travel reviews mainly focused on how they became the primary information source when tourists made travel plans. Subsequent research concentrated on how travel reviews affected tourists’ travelling behaviour. Currently, travel review research has become more diverse, involving the various perspectives of the reviewer, tourism manager, reader, and the platform itself (Kwok et al., 2017). For instance, from the perspective of the reviewer, studies ascertained that the main motivation for tourists to share their travel experiences is altruism (Oh

& Syn, 2015). Besides, from a tourism manager’s standpoint, marketers’

responses to bad reviews cause these negative reviews to become even more effective (Chevalier et al., 2018). From the reader’s perspective, review consistency, argument quality, and review credibility all affect their information adoption behaviour (Filieri, McLeay, et al., 2018; Filieri & McLeay, 2014). From the viewpoint of the platform itself, there are substantial differences between the representations of the hotel industry on different tourism review platforms, which are embodied in language features, emotions, and practicality (Xiang et al., 2017).

With the popularity of social media in the travel industry, tourists are also involved in the creation of destination image. Therefore, the formation of destination image has become much more complicated than ever before.

Destination image is increasingly dominated by the network economy and online travel reviews have become the new channel of destination image research (Li et al., 2018; Lu & Stepchenkova, 2015). From a tourist’s

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perspective, online travel reviews are equivalent to electronic word of mouth (Astrid Dickinger & Mazanec, 2008) and travel review platforms are the most significant sources that influence a tourist’s perception of a destination (Marine-Roig, 2017). Additionally, online travel reviews serve as organic image formation agents for potential tourists (Jani & Hwang, 2011). In many cases, destination marketing attempts to project the same destination image as the image presented in travel review content (Marine-Roig, 2017).

However, it is not a straightforward process to extract the destination image through travel review content. Toral (2018) pointed out that identifying psychological destination attributes is more difficult than defining functional destination attributes using online travel reviews. Some destination image studies extracted destination attributes from a huge amount of travel review data or used sentiment analysis to capture tourists’

affective images from travel review content (Kirilenko & Stepchenkova, 2017;

Költringer & Dickinger, 2015; Marine-Roig, 2017). Another focus of travel review studies was to explore the influence of online travel reviews on destination image on a more general level (Assaker & O’Connor, 2020; de la Hoz-Correa & Muñoz-Leiva, 2019; Doosti et al., 2016; Jalilvand et al., 2012).

However, the complexity of online travel reviews and destination image structure exposed the shortcomings of extant studies. For example, these studies were unable to determine which review attributes had a decisive influence on the formation of the destination image, and how these influences occurred.

2.7 TRAVEL REVIEW ATTRIBUTES

Online travel reviews contain various aspects such as review ratings, reviewer information, review content, number of reviews, and many others.

These all make online travel reviews a complex research topic (Ukpabi &

Karjaluoto, 2018) since tourists have a diverse range of attitudes towards these different travel review attributes. For instance, tourists have varying

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43 perceptions about the value of concrete reviews and abstract reviews (Shin et al., 2019), while extremely positive or negative reviews are more likely to be helpful than moderate reviews (Park & Nicolau, 2015). Generally, these review attributes can be classified into three categories: source-based, user- based, and argument quality-based (Ukpabi & Karjaluoto, 2018).

2.7.1 Source-based attributes

Online travel review attributes in the source-based category refer to credible factors related to information sources other than tourists (Ukpabi &

Karjaluoto, 2018). This is also known as the source credibility attribute, which determines whether the information recipient believes an information source is credible and trustworthy (Chung et al., 2015). In traditional word- of-mouth research, the trustworthiness of information is regarded as a fundamental factor that affects tourist information adoption (East et al., 2008). In contrast to traditional studies, online travel reviews cannot allow face-to-face communication between tourists, thus the credibility of the review content is difficult to assess (Filieri et al., 2015). However, to make it easier for tourists to identify credible review content, many travel review platforms require reviewers to provide some simple personal information and profile pictures when registering their accounts. Moreover, some travel review platforms (e.g., TripAdvisor, Ctrip) have also added a reputation function to their websites. According to both the quantity and quality of contributions, the platform awards different badges that reflect the status of the reviewers. In this way, tourists can judge the credibility of review content. Earlier studies not only found that tourists' evaluations of review usefulness but also their travel intentions were significantly influenced by the credibility of the information (Ayeh, 2015).

2.7.2 User-based attributes

Review attributes in the user-based category indicate the characteristics of an information receiver, such as involvement, perceived enjoyment, and curiosity fulfilment (Ukpabi & Karjaluoto, 2018; Wang & Li, 2019).

The Nature of Destination Image Concept in Online Travel Reviews

Dissertations in Social Sciences and Business Studies

XINXIN GUO

The Nature of Destination Image Concept in Online

Travel Reviews

The Nature of Destination Image Concept in

Online Travel Reviews

Xinxin Guo

THE NATURE OF DESTINATION IMAGE CONCEPT IN

ONLINE TRAVEL REVIEWS

ABSTRACT

TIIVISTELMÄ

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 INTRODUCTION

2 LITERATURE REVIEW