Exploring Destination Image of Outlying Island Agriculture from Service-Dominant Logic Perspective: An Abstract

Abstract

The relation between destination image and local agricultural industry has been seldom explored in research although the correlation between local agricultural products and destination is actually quite strong. In recent years, areas that rely on local agriculture as the main economic activity have been actively developing product branding and expanding distribution channels. Due to the close relation between local agricultural products and their place of origin, the place of origin may cause consumers to make positive or negative associations, which affects how consumers view products from that specific location and, in turn, influence their purchase intentions. Located in the outlying islands of Taiwan, Penghu County holds rich touristic resources such as island landscapes, diverse natural ecology, recreational, and humanities; the tourism industry has also brought several benefits to Penghu’s overall economy. However, Penghu County’s agricultural environment is relatively more restrictive compared to that of other parts of Taiwan, and it has limited industrial scale and economic value. The agricultural products of Penghu County also face many challenges. The farms in Penghu County are urgent to change their previous production models and transforming farms by inducing co-creation of value from consumers. This study takes the agriculture industry in Penghu County for case study. It uses in-depth interviews and content analysis methods to collect opinions of agricultural producers, conducts field research on how local agricultural industries incorporate service-dominant logic perspective and destination image in their operations, and explores how to construct the Penghu County’s destination image for production and distribution environment of local agriculture, as well as how to create the value of Penghu County’s agricultural experience together with consumers. This study also uses the means-end chain to verify the relevance and relation between service-dominant logic and destination image, simultaneously investigating the crucial factor relevant for the incorporation of service-dominant logic by Penghu County’s agricultural industry to develop its destination image. The following recommendations proposed to the farmers of outlying island agriculture in Penghu County with regard to marketing. Firstly, agriculture should be combined with experiential activities incorporating unique characteristics of Penghu to create a deep impression of Penghu’s destination image on tourists and trigger their intention to visit again. Penghu has unique marine and rural culture, characteristics, and attractions; therefore, it is possible to combine local agricultural characteristics with experiential activities. Secondly, since it takes time for agricultural products to grow from seed to harvest, it is difficult to complete all the farming activities from sowing seeds to harvesting within a day. Therefore, farmers can prepare the fields and provide them for tourists’ hands-on experience. Thereby it can achieve value co-creation of farmers and tourists through agricultural experiential activities and subsequently enhancing the destination image of Penghu.