Matching tourism type and destination image perceptions in a country context

Purpose
– The aim of this paper is to investigate the possible options for matching country destination image with different types of tourism to explain general attributes towards specific forms of tourism, based on previous research on country of origin effects.

Design/methodology/approach
– A quantitative research design is used for the purpose of the study.

Findings
– Data analysis demonstrates that the perception of the destination image in a country context varies across various types of tourism in most of the cases investigated. Moreover, the research outcomes portray a close relationship between the match of country image – tourism type and the willingness to visit a destination.

Practical implications
– The study assists tourism practitioners and policy makers in gaining a better understanding of whether tourists conceive all forms of tourism in a specific country favourably, simply because they link favourable dimensions to that particular country, or whether they perceive only certain types of tourism favourably.

Originality/value
– This study is among the first to empirically demonstrate the effect of match/mismatch of country destination image with the type of tourism on the willingness to visit, based on specific primary travel motives.