| The competition among tourism destinations is not only dependent on tourist attractions, but also the image of destinations. And destination image plays a more important role. Whether a country, a region, a city or even a scenic spot, if you want to make tourism industry developing, you must shape an attractive tourism image. Different tourists hold different destination image, because of the different level of image marketing, different distance between origin and destination (O-D) and different feature of tourists. A scientific and effective measurement of tourism image is helpful for the destination to master different tourists'views and impressions on it. In addition, it can also help the destination to identify the most competitive elements and negative image. According to these, the destination can adjust image positioning in time, enhance a positive image, repair the negative image, shape a new image, and finally make a sustainable development of tourism.This paper will focus on the measurement of tourism image. In order to carry out this project, firstly we will put forward the concept of the tourism destination image clarity and establish measure indicators of image clarity based on psychology, sociology, landscape ecology and other disciplines. In this paper we define the destination image clarity as the degree of cognition to a tourism destination. If tourists know much information about the destination, and the information is various and rich, it means the tourists have a high destination image clarity. According to the degree of cognition to the destination, we divided destination image clarity into three levels:overall clarity, dimension clarity and elements clarity. Then we take Xi'an, a traditional tourist city as a case study, and measure different groups'Xi'an tourism image. The main conclusions are as follows:(1) The distance between origin and destination has impact on destination image clarity. Compared with different overall clarity, the destination image held by local residents has highest clarity. Those image vocabularies they mentioned are rich, various, specific and accurate. With the increase of distance between O-D, the clarity of destination image is declining. And the cognition to the destination is trend to scatter. Compared with different dimensions clarity, all tourists have high clarity on tourist attractions, food, history and local atmosphere. Destination residents'attentions to the local atmosphere and environment are significantly higher than origin tourists. Origin tourists are more concerned about the tourist attractions and food than the destination residents, but the clarity is lower than the destination residents. Compared with different element clarity, the number of core elements mentioned by destination residents is more than origin tourists, and the value of core elements is balanced. However, the core elements mentioned by origin tourists are not only a small number, but also a large difference in core value. The first element has a dominant position.(2) There are differences in destination image clarity between different gender groups. Compared with different overall clarity, the clarity of destination image held by female is higher than male. The number of image vocabularies mentioned by female is more than male, and vocabulary diversity index were higher than male. Compared with different dimensions clarity, both male and female are concerned about attractions, food, history, local atmosphere and environment. Among them, female know much about food, history, local atmosphere and environment than male. Male pay more attention to tourist attractions then female. Particularly, there are many differences between males and females in the orientation and place name dimension. Women tend to associate with the large area of destination, while men focus more on the destination or the adjacent area. Compared with different element clarity, the high frequency words mentioned by male and female are mostly the same and the frequency difference is small.(3) There are differences in destination image clarity among different age groups. Compared with different overall clarity, the clarity of destination image held by 24 to 35 years old group is higher than others, and the second group is 19-23 years old. The young and the elderly group's perception of the destination only focus on a small number of dimensions and elements, and the clarity of destination image is lower. Compared with different dimensions clarity,19 to 35 years old group has a higher clarity on all dimensions except historical and educational dimension.13 to 18 years old group is mainly concentrated in the attractions, food and history.36-75 years old group is mainly concentrated in the food and history, and know little about other dimensions. Compared with different element clarity, the high frequency words mentioned by different age groups are mostly the same. The low-frequency words mentioned by 19 to 35 years old group are more scattered then other groups.(4) There are differences in destination image clarity among different occupational groups. Compared with different overall clarity, Students have the highest clarity of destination image. The number of vocabularies mentioned by students is more than other groups, and vocabulary diversity index is higher than others too. The second is the company staffs, and the lowest are civil servants and commercial personnels. Compared with different dimensions clarity, students have a higher clarity on food, entertainment, education, orientation and place than other groups. The commercial personnels have a higher clarity on local atmosphere, environment and service facilities then other groups. Company staffs pay more attention to history than other groups. Civil servants pay more attention to scenic spots than other groups. Compared with different element clarity, the high frequency words mentioned by different occupational groups are mostly the same. In addition, the image held by students is more focused on a few high frequency elements, and dominance index of different dimensions are all greater than other groups.The innovations of this study are:?We put forward the concept of tourism destination image clarity, and used content analysis to measure tourism destination image. It can enrich and deepen the research of tourism destination image measurement. ? According to external influence factors and the individual factors, this study analyze four different groups' Xi'an tourism image, and reveals the characteristics of the distance attenuation of image clarity and the difference between different groups' image clarity. |
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