The novel concept of destination love in tourism & marketing
Αναπτύσσοντας τη δομική, σύνθετη έννοια της αγάπης για ένα προορισμό στον τουρισμό και το μάρκετινγκ
View/
Keywords
Destination love ; Tourism marketing ; Emotion research ; Theory & scale development ; Destination marketingAbstract
The essential role of love, in tourism and marketing, has been highlighted by many scholars. In tourism, destination branding -i.e., the creation of a name, symbol, logo, word mark or other graphic that identifies a destination- ( Blain et al., 2005) has evolved as a means to support the creation of a distinct destination image that would eventually influence consumers’ destination choices. Along the various branding concepts transferred thus from Marketing to Tourism, destination brand love found a special place in the relevant literature.
Recently though, researchers are focusing on the experience of love in person–product relationships, beyond brands and images, and it is thus vital to revisit the destination-visitor experience and re-examine the concept of destination love. This doctoral dissertation aims to thoroughly investigate the concept of love for a destination and to develop the theory as well as the first measurement scale for destination love, as a universal concept that transcends specific destination brands and images. Destination love encompasses a concept that relates more to the love for the experiences lived in a destination, the interactions with its scenery, its culture, its people and its artifacts, rather than the sentiments that tourists form towards the brand elements of the destination.
To fill this research gap, this dissertation reports a series of three research efforts and develops a scale to capture the universality of destination love. Destination love is a third-order, highly inclusive construct. It features a seven-dimensional structure comprising of self-love, emotional solidarity with locals, positive emotional connection with destination, anthropomorphism, self-destination integration, long-term relationship with destination, and passionate/romantic-driven behavior towards destination. The scale shows internal consistency reliability, construct validity and nomological validity. This dissertation has valuable academic implications, since it contributes to theory and establishes destination love scale for understanding tourists’ bonds towards destinations. It also has workable implications for tourism practitioners.
Department
Σχολή Οικονομικών, Επιχειρηματικών και Διεθνών Σπουδών. Τμήμα Οργάνωσης και Διοίκησης ΕπιχειρήσεωνNumber of pages
731Language
EnglishCollections
Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as
Αναφορά Δημιουργού-Μη Εμπορική Χρήση-Όχι Παράγωγα Έργα 3.0 Ελλάδα
Αναφορά Δημιουργού-Μη Εμπορική Χρήση-Όχι Παράγωγα Έργα 3.0 Ελλάδα