Pictorial element of destination in image formation

This study integrates theories from tourism destination choice, advertising; and landscape aesthetics to examine how content of promotional visuals affects destination image construction and interpretation. Three iterative phases of visual stimuli selection, focus groups, and a questionnaire were used. Results of the study indicated three landscape perception elements and four dimensions of image were projected by visuals. Analyses of covariance results supported landscape perception elements as significant predictors of image. Familiarity with the destination was significant across all image dimensions. Focus group results associated destination familiarity with affective evaluation of visuals and lack of familiarity with cognitive evaluation. Implications are discussed for image theory, marketing practice, and future research. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.