Tourism Destination Image and Visit Intention: Examining the Role of Familiarity

Abstract

Tourism destination familiarity has been considered as a factor in shaping destination image and affecting tourists' behaviors. The purpose of this study was to examine the role of familiarity in the tourism decision‐making process and to examine the influences of cognitive and affective images on visit intention. A survey was conducted in Chongqing, mainland China, to examine Chongqing residents' perceptions of Shanghai in relation to their familiarity with Shanghai. The results corroborated all the hypothesized relationships using structural equation modeling. The results indicated that familiarity was positively associated with destination image and visit intention and confirmed that destination image was positively related to visitation intentions. This study has advanced the researchers' understandings of the interrelationships between familiarity, destination image, and visit intention under the background of Chinese culture. 旅游目的地的亲景度是塑造目的地形象和影响游客行为的因素之一。本文的目的是研究亲景度在旅游决策过程中所扮演的角色,以及探讨认知形象和情感形象对游览意向的影响。本文以中国重庆为研究对象并于重庆进行问卷调查,研究重庆居民感知的上海与他们熟知的上海之间的关系。调查结果证实了所有利用结构方程模型分析的假设关系。研究结果显示亲景度与目的地形象和游览意向呈正相关,同时亦证实了目的地形象与游览意向呈现正相关。作者期望本研究能够深化研究人员对中国文化背景下亲景度、目的地形象和游览意向三者的相互关系的理解。