Influences on tourism destination image beyond marketing: people, power, place

Abstract

Tourism destination image, henceforth referred to as TDI, is a concept that many researchers have studied in efforts to understand its creation, implementation, promotion and benefit. Academic researchers have forayed into these aspects of TDI in a multitude of ways, in hopes of understanding how this concept is relevant to the industry. The majority of academic research conducted in TDI has been studied from a marketing perspective, with limited consideration of additional influences on image. This paper aims to analyze the influence that non- marketing, social factors such as heritage, culture, place identity, stakeholder involvement, politics and gender play in relation to destination image. The result is a holistic model of TDI as a broad social science construct.