A Comparison of Supply- and Demand-side Destination Images: the Case of Qingdao, China

摘要

Image promotion has been a primary focus of destination marketing. This study focuses on a Chinese tourism destination, Qingdao, and explores the relationship between the images projected by Qingdao government agencies and those perceived by residents, in an attempt to provide information on the extent to which projected images influence perceived ones. Two sources of information were used in this research: promotional materials issued by Qingdao government agencies and survey questionnaires. The data were collected in April and May 2009. Both qualitative evaluation and correlation analysis were employed to explore the projected and perceived image relationship. Our qualitative evaluation suggested that the images projected by Qingdao government agencies and those perceived by residents were consistent concerning the emphasis of certain image attributes of Qingdao; however, the degree of importance ascribed to these attributes by marketers and residents differed. Spearman's correlation tests indicated that projected images did not significantly relate to residents' cognitive images in terms of the attributes' values of quality and importance.