Hany Kim

Cultural Differences in Pictorial Destination Images Russia through the Camera Lenses of American and Korean Tourists

Destination photography communicates images that shape and reshape destination perceptions of past and potential tourists and, consequently, influence their decision-making process. Using theoretical underpinnings provided in works on culture, this exploratory study examines whether destination photographs taken by tourists and posted on social-network websites are reflective of culture to which those tourists belong. Content analysis of American and Korean photographs of Russia posted on Flickr and in Korean travel blogs, respectively, was followed by chi-square and co-occurrence analyses of destination attributes, as well as geospatial analysis of image locations using ARC GIS software. Although the core of Russia’s destination image—urban, contemporary, architecturally interesting, and spacious—is similar for both cultural groups, the study found differences in the way that American and Korean tourists represent Russia as a destination. These differences are discussed from the perspective of tourists’ respective cultures.

Segmentation for urban destination: gender, place of residence, and trip purpose: a case of Nizhni Novgorod, Russia

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine whether a priori segmentation of visitors to a large urban destination along the dimensions of gender, place of residence (domestic, former states, and international), and trip purpose (business, leisure, and VFR) is indeed commonsense for the citys DMO. Specifically, the study investigated whether gender, place of residence, and trip purpose are associated with tourists’ destination risk perceptions, evaluations of destination performance, and post-visitation behavior; that is, intention to revisit and willingness to recommend. Design/methodology/approach – The analysis used data obtained in a 2013 survey of visitors to Nizhni Novgorod, a large urban center in Russia. Findings – The results indicate that place of residence and trip purpose discriminate tourists with respect to selected variables and can serve as segmentation bases for marketing communications about the city to potential target markets. Practical implications – In view of the mega-sport e...

Grassroots Branding with Twitter: Amazing Florida

Social networks sites (SNS) and online communications have revolutionized the way people interact with each other, and these changes have important marketing implications in a number of commercial contexts. In tourism and hospitality context, SNS communications can be considered as electronic word-of-mouth about people’s travel experiences. When SNS data is taken into consideration by destination marketing organizations for branding purposes, the visitors to the destination can be regarded as agents of that destination’s branding effort, and the branding approach as “grassroots” branding. This empirical study explores a suitability of using publicly accessible data from Twitter for gaining visitors’ perceptions about Florida. It examines what positive affective states are associated with the destination and to which destination attributes these affective states are related most closely. Potentially, the study can contribute to developing a non-obtrusive, low-cost, and time-efficient approach to tap into visitors’ experiences and affective states expressed through tweeting.