A Comparative Study Of The Influence Of Geographical Distance And Perceived Distance On The Image Of Tourist Destinations

Researching on tourism destination image(TDI)is a key and hot spot field in tourism research,which includes six parts,the distance is the most vulnerable part of the research on the influence of TDI.However,in the study of the influence of distance on TDI,cognitive distance is a weak part of tourism destination image research.Cognitive distance is defined as the distance estimates made by individuals based on the use of information stored in their memory and their beliefs.The effect of cognitive distance is greater than geographical distance in practical application.Therefore,it is necessary to study the influence of cognitive distance on TDI.By comparing the effects of geographical distance and cognitive distance on tourism destination image,we can find out how geographical distance and cognitive distance effect TDI,and further compare the difference between the two effects on TDI.This study can not only enhance the research on the influence of distance on tourism destination image,but also present theoretical basis for TDI precision marketing in practice.China is a vast country,the distance is a major factor affecting Chinese people's travel.How to attract the remote market is a realistic problem to be faced in the development of China tourism destination.To clearly understand geographical distance and cognitive distance impacts on TDI,is favorable to the decision maker of market segmentation based on distance,attracts the remote market,enlarges the scope of tourist market,and has an important guiding value for tourism marketing practice.Hangzhou is a veteran tourism destination in China,with high visibility,the tourist attraction is nationwide.This paper is a case study on Hangzhou,to compare geographical distance and cognitive distance impacts on TDI.Results of this study help the image of Hangzhou marketing more precision.In this study,the first-hand data were obtained through questionnaire survey,using single factor analysis,content analysis,social network analysis and other methods.This study explores the effects of geographical distance and cognitive distance on tourism destination image,compares the similarities and differences between the effects of geographical distance and cognitive distance on cognitive image,affective image and holistic image.Conclusions are as follows:(1)Both geographical distance and cognitive distance are the influencing factors on tourism destination image.However,compared with geographical distance,cognitive distance is a more important influencing factor,which has profound,comprehensive,multi-angle impacts on tourism destination image.(2)Compared with geographical distance,the influence of the cognitive distance on the cognitive image is more significant.In the five dimensions of cognitive image,geographical distance only affects four cognitive image dimensions,which are general tourist attraction,infrastructure,local atmosphere and tourism service.The recognition degree of tourists to cognitive image increases with the increase of geographical distance.Cognitive distance affects above four dimensions of cognitive image but also affects core tourist attraction dimension.The recognition degree of tourists to cognitive image decreases with the increase of perceived distance.(3)Cognitive distance has significant effect on the destination affective image,and geographical distance influence on destination affective image is not significant.In general,the farther geographical distance is,the better affective image which tourists evaluate.Affective image is divided into four dimentions:happy mood,excited mood,relaxed mood and fevered mood,cognitive distance affects the tourists' understanding of excitement and relaxation.The closer cognitive distance,the higher the evaluation of excitement and relaxation.In addition,although the effect of cognitive distance is not significant on happy mood,the tourists with close cognitive distance have a better evaluation of happy mood.(4)Both geographical distance and cognitive distance are the influencing factors on holistic image.In geographical distance aspect,the closer the geographical distance is,the more clear the tourists' understanding of holistic image of the destination is.Holistic image vocabulary mentioned by close geographical distance tourists is relatively dispersed.Holistic image formation by far geographical distance tourists prefers to depend on diffusion effect of core node vocabulary.In cognitive distance aspect,the closer the cognitive distance is,the more clear the tourists' understanding of holistic image of the destination is.Holistic image vocabulary mentioned by close cognitive distance tourists is relatively dispersed.Holistic image formation by far cognitive distance tourists prefers to depend on diffusion effect of core node vocabulary.The innovations of this research are:?The study on the influence of both geographical distance and cognitive distance on tourism destination image is carried out,which enhances the research content of tourism destination image.?A comparative analysis of the effects and differences between geographical distance and cognitive distance on tourism destination image,finds that the influence of cognitive distance to tourism destination image is greater than geographical distance,and provides a theoretical basis for the image of tourism marketing.Research prospect:In the future,the big data such as micro-blog,blog can be added to the research of comparing the effects of distance on tourism destination image in different scales and types of destinations.