THE INITIAL DEVELOPMENT OF RURAL TOURISM DESTINATION IMAGE FROM RESIDENTS' PERCEPTIONS

Abstract

Past studies have shown that the formation of a destination image was usually perceived by tourists rather than local residents themselves. Hence, this paper aims to address the gap by demonstrating that the initial formation of cognitive and affective images of a rural tourism destination should be first investigated from its local residents' perceptions, not the tourists. In order to attain this goal, a model of destination images that place importance of the initial phase of destination image formation as perceived by its local residents was developed. A qualitative research was carried out using a sample of 100 local residents in Kampung Buntal, Sarawak, Malaysia, employing a sentence completion method, one of the projective techniques that are rarely used in mainstream destination image studies. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics and content analysis. Results indicated that the three main cognitive images of Kampung Buntal were natural environment/touristic attractions, local people and ambience, and local infrastructure. The three main positive-affective images of Kampung Buntal were pleasant, arousing, and relaxing. Using this empirical finding, tourism developers or marketers could gain better insights on the right destination images that could capture the real essence of a rural destination during promotion and marketing.