ABSTRACT
The tourism industry has become one of the most profitable industries worldwide and is still
growing today. Tourists are flying further seeking new experiences hidden in unique and
authentic places around the world. This has given governments a chance to promote not only
their popularized and generic tourist attractions but also more authentic Mexican culture
destinations.
The purpose of this dissertation is to study the perceived image of Mexico as a cultural tourist
destination and compare it to a project established by the Mexican Government to promote the
cultural and historic heritage of small towns across the country, the Magical Towns Project.
The study was carried out using a multi qualitative method comprising focus groups and
projective techniques (collage techniques and word completion techniques) to study: the
importance of marketing experiences; the sources used by Spanish people during the
decision-making process; and the image characteristics attributed to Mexico and the Magical
Towns regarding their cultural and historic heritage. Four focus groups were conducted. In
order to explore and compare the value of using multi qualitative methods, two focus groups
were conducted alone (group 1) and two were supplemented with projective techniques (group
2). In total 25 participants took part in the study ranging in age from 18 – 35 years old.
The findings showed that experiences are an important active factor during the decisionmaking process of choosing a destination, and that the source participants trusted the most
was the word-of-mouth of other Spaniards, over and above that of Mexicans. Furthermore,
with regard to the image perception of Mexico and its Magical Towns, themes concerning
culture, places, people and infrastructure were found which may be used by marketing
practitioners as the foundations for understanding the actual image of Mexico and how the
Magical Towns project can be marketed internationally. From the projective techniques, a
number of important factors emerged that were understood to influence the decision-making
process of choosing Mexico as a holiday destination. The most salient factor was safety, and
violence was also found to be important. However, these concerns were not perceived as part
of the Magical Town experience.
The value of this research is the study of the characteristics that Mexico holds as a tourist
destination, and that can be used to market both the image of the country as well as the Magical
Towns project as an option for international tourists looking for personalised and unique
experiences away from home. The study offers a new methodological approach to study
experience marketing and the decision-making process tourists travelling to long-distance
cultural destinations by combining focus groups with two projective techniques (collage and
word completion).
1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 STRUCTURE OF THE DISSERTATION
The present chapter provides an introduction to the topic and the key research areas of the
dissertation. The second chapter reviews the literature that presents a conceptual framework
and discusses important studies conducted in the area. The third chapter presents the
methodology used by the researcher to gather the data of this study. The following chapter
discusses the main findings of the study in context with relevant literature. The last chapter
outlines the conclusions and limitations of this study, and presents some practical and
methodological recommendations along with suggestions for further research.
1.2 OVERVIEW OF THE NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL CONTEXT
OF CULTURAL TOURISM
Tourism is considered one of the fastest growing industries worldwide, producing 9% of the
world’s gross domestic product (GDP) (UNWTO, 2013c). International tourism growth
exceeded the forecast for this year (+2.7%), where the regions that saw a bigger growth in
tourist arrivals were Central and Eastern Europe (+7%) and South-East Asia (+12%). The
UNWTO forecast a continued growth of international tourism for the next two decades, and the
markets of emerging economies are expected to grow twice as fast (+4.4%) as those placed
in advanced economies (+2.2%) (UNWTO, 2013b).
With regard to Mexico, during 2013, the tourism sector represented 9% of the GDP (SECTUR,
2013c), and the arrival international tourists increased 8.8% compared to the previous year
(SECTUR, 2013b). Therefore, one of the Ministry of Tourism’s 2014 goals is to position Mexico
as a top-of-mind awareness destination worldwide (SECTUR, 2013c).
Within the different types of tourism (e.g. ecotourism, rural tourism), the UNWTO has
considered cultural tourism as one of the fastest growing tourism sectors in the past two
decades (ETC, 2005), and has highlighted its importance as a marketing strategy to boost rural
communities’ economic growth (UNWTO, 2012). Recently the Mexican Ministry of Tourism
announced that cultural tourism is now a priority for Mexico and, therefore, the Government
allocated this year around $1’700,000,000.00 (€106 million euros; or £80,952,380 sterling
pounds) to drive the sector nationally and internationally (SECTUR, 2013c). However,
Mexico’s interest in cultural tourism is not new, in 2001 Mexico’s Government launched the
National Program of Tourism (NPT) of which the main objective was to promote cultural and
rural tourism in the country (Morales and Mysyk, 2004: 882). Among the projects co-ordinated
by the NPT is the “Magical Towns” Project (MT), which aims to promote cultural tourism in
small towns throughout Mexico, as well as to boost the economy of those villages by building
partnerships between public and private sectors and the local communities (Morales and
Mysyk, 2004; SECTUR, 2008). A town is considered a MT “because of its symbolic attributes,
legends, stories, transcendental historic events, and ‘magic’” (SINED,2012). Therefore, those
towns that can offer national and international tourists a unique tangible or intangible
experience regarding Mexico’s cultural or historic heritage can be considered a MT. However,
even though this program has been active for over a decade, it has been suggested that the
Mexican Government and the Ministry of Tourism have not yet given MT the importance
needed within international stakeholders as a strategy for boosting Mexican cultural
destinations (Tovar and Alvarado, 2010; Mayanez-Guadarrama et al., 2012). With reference
to the evaluation made by the National System of Online Education (SINED, in Spanish), the
MT project needs to be re-evaluated, and integrated to other cultural programs that the country
has (e.g. The Gastronomic Tour), as well as to develop specific promotion campaigns for the
MT in order to highlight the uniqueness of the experiences that the project offers to national
and international tourists (SINED, 2012). Furthermore, regarding the new investment the
Ministry of Tourism is committing to cultural tourism, it has been stated that a re-evaluation of
the project will be done in order to develop simpler and more successful strategies for the MT
project (SECTUR, 2013c).
The novelty of the MT project is that it offers tourist personalized experiences (e.g. a first-hand
experience with the Mexican way of life) that will be difficult to find in other cultural destinations
in Mexico (e.g. Museums or Pyramids). Nowadays, marketing campaigns tend to focus more
and more on offering consumer experiences (e.g. Abercrombie stores); however, marketing
research is still focusing on the traditional marketing were experiences do not have an active
role during the DMP (Schmitt, 1999; Brakus, Schmitt and Zarantonello, 2009). According to
Pike (2002), there are few marketing studies that have focussed on Mexico and Latin America
in the past three decades (Pike, 2002). A more recent study that focused on Mexico’s research
in the field corroborates the above (Mayanez-Guadarrama et al., 2012), stating that the few
marketing and destination image studies related to Mexico have focused on two main themes:
the ‘drug war’ (as a country’s image and a ‘leisure destination’ (i.e. sun, beach) (as a
destination image). Furthermore, regarding Tovar and Alvarado’s research (2010) surrounding
the study of MT by the Mexican Marketing and Tourism researchers (e.g. the Centre of Tourism
Studies, CESTUR), there is only one research study related to the topic.
The MT project is still relatively unknown outside of Mexico, but the importance of studying it
has become evident for the Mexican Government and researchers. Therefore, this research
project will study and compare the images perceived of Mexico as a cultural touristic
destination and what tourists expect to experience in a MT. This will help marketing
practitioners and the Mexican Government to build an international campaign that will fit both
the promoted image by Mexico and the perceived image of tourists. Furthermore, this study
aims to contribute to the literature on experience marketing and destination image of third world
countries, by studying the importance of the experiences during the DMP of a tourist. This
study also aims to advance methodological understanding in the field about the use of
qualitative multi methods by supplementing and comparing focus groups with projective
techniques.
2 LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 INTRODUCTION
This chapter provides an in-depth discussion of literature that is deemed relevant to frame the
present research study. Some of the main issues raised by previous research in the fields of
cultural tourism, consumer behaviour, decision-making process, image formation, destination
image, and perception will be presented here. Definitions of main concepts such as cultural
tourism, branding and image will be provided and analysed in order to be able to build a
literature framework for the study. The relevant themes and concepts introduced in this section
will then be used to support, analyse interpret and contextualise the findings to come from the
research.
2.2 CULTURAL TOURISM
2.2.1 CULTURAL TOURISM PHENOMENA
Cultural tourism is not a new concept; on the contrary, it is arguably the most fundamental form
of tourism in existence (Richards, 2003). Any kind of tourism, ecotourism, leisure tourism,
religious tourism, etc., allows people to see, study, experience and understand different
cultures, as well as to enrich and reaffirm their own cultural identities (Richards, 2006).
Therefore, any travel will always encompass a cultural experience; the experience may vary
from trip to trip (McKercher, and du Cros, 2002a) and from tourist to tourist (McKercher,
2002b), but there will always be a new experience lived, something new learned (Richards,
2006).
Although cultural tourism is not a new phenomenon (Richards, 2006), there is little consensus
surrounding the definition of cultural tourism (McKercher, 2002a; Richards, 2010; Ivanov,
2011). McKercher and du Cros (2002a) state that the existing definitions about cultural tourism
fall into four categories that help classify them according to the aims and objectives of each
tourism project: experiential, operational, tourism-derived, and motivational (McKercher and
du Cros, 2002a; Richards 2005, in LAgroup, 2005.) The definitions that best suit the present
study are those related to the motivational and experiential categories, because Mexico’s MTs
project (SINED, 2012) aims to drive the tourist to travel to a specific destination within the
country (motivational) and to offer a unique cultural experience (experiential) (McKercher and
du Cros, 2002a; Richards 2005, in LAgroup). According to this, the World Tourism
Organisation’s (UNWTO) (1985) definition of cultural tourism highlights the role of motivations
as: “movements of persons essentially for cultural motivations such as study tours, performing
arts and cultural tours, travel to festivals and other events, visits to sites and monuments, travel
to study nature, folklore or art, and pilgrimage”
(as quoted in Frey, 2010: 137). Furthermore, McKercher and du Cros (2002a) highlight the
experiential element of cultural tourism, which involves the aspiration of a new experience:
“cultural tourism involves experiencing or having contact of differing intensity with the unique
social fabric, heritage and special character of places. Additionally, it is also hoped that by
experiencing culture, the tourist will become educated as well as entertained” (p. 5). In
accordance with the chosen definitions (discussed above) and the study’s objectives (stated
in the first chapter), for the purpose of the present research, cultural tourism then is understood
to encompass: the motivations that encourage the tourist to travel to cultural destinations, and
the experiences sought and learned during the journey.
2.2.2 CULTURAL TOURISM OUTSIDE THE BIG CITY
Even though cultural tourism tends to be concentrated in cities that already have the tourism
infrastructure needed to accommodate national and international tourists, there can be cultural
tourism outside the urban settlements, in rural communities and small towns (Mihailović and
Moric,
2012). Rural tourism was first considered as a branch of tourism that aims to provide a more
personalized experience to the tourist with a specific rural environment, where he (the tourist)
can participate in certain “agricultural activities and other activities, traditions and lifestyle of
local residents” (Mihailović and Moric, 2012: 268). However rural tourism is more complex than
this, it can also encompass outdoors activities (e.g. hiking), biking, extreme sports (e.g. rafting)
(Kusen, 2006), as well as cultural and historic activities (e.g. tasting local food, visiting an
archaeological site) (Hoyos and Heranadez, 2008). Therefore, Hoyos and Hernandez (2008)
offer a more comprehensive definition where they refer to this touristic activity as rural-cultural
tourism. Rural-cultural tourism offers the rural community a complementary activity of
sustainable development (territory; social, cultural and environmental resources) for
generating the local economy and well- being through developing an economic interrelation
within local producers, entrepreneurs and the rural community (Hoyos and Hernandez, 2008;
Mihailović and Moric, 2012). Thus, the objective of rural-cultural tourism is twofold. First, it aims
to attract tourists to the local communities in order to enhance the town’s self-employment and,
therefore, its economy in a sustainable way (Rojo and Llanes, 2009). Secondly, it intends to
increase the country’s cultural touristic activities by offering personal experiences to tourists
(Hoyos and Hernandez, 2008).
The UNWTO (2012) presented its Study on Tourism and Intangible Cultural Heritage in order
to invite countries to develop sustainable cultural touristic activities in rural communities where
tourism is not yet an established economic activity. In 2001, within the National Program of
Development, the Mexican Government presented the Magical Towns Project, which aims to
develop the local economy of towns by promoting the ‘Magic’ (i.e. their cultural and historic
heritage) of small towns along Mexico (e.g. a specific tradition, local gastronomy,
archaeological sites). The MT project is the result of the joint work between the Federal
Government, Local Governments, local entrepreneurs and the community itself (SINED,
2012). Even though according to the last evaluation done by the Ministry of Tourism, there are
83 MT within Mexico (SECTUR, 2013a), this project has not received much attention from the
Government (Tovar and Alvarado, 2010). An example of this is that the results of the latest
survey available online about the satisfaction of tourists that travel to Mexico for cultural
motives (CESTUR, 2003; 2006), state that one of the areas of further research for the Ministry
of Tourism was to take MT into consideration as part of this survey. Regarding the little
attention given to the MT project, Tovar and Alvarado (2010) stated that to date there has only
been one academic study of rural-cultural tourism carried out by Avila-Aldapa (2009; as quoted
in Tovar and Alvarado, 2010). Furthermore, Mayanez-Guadarrama et al. (2012), highlighted
the need to develop more market research about Mexico’s cultural destination image, as the
few studies carried out until now have focused on studying
Mexico’s image as a beach and leisure destination. Therefore, there is a need to study
Mexico’s cultural tourism in order to be able to develop a more integral and successful
marketing campaign that can address both national and international stakeholders, as well as
the cultural tourism that cities and rural communities offer (through the MT project) (see
Appendix 1).
With regard to the marketing of rural community projects, Mihailović and Moric (2012) stated
the need for developing long-term strategies with specific goals for each of the different rural-
cultural towns within the country. According to Mihailović and Moric’s experience (2012),
marketing communication campaigns for rural communities usually encompass short-term
goals and – if the Federal Government is in charge of the campaign – the strategies are
generalized to all the communities. Therefore, specific and unique characteristics of each town
(that might address different tourist’s experiences and needs), will not be considered, resulting
in the campaign leaving out an important factor that – if considered – may enhance the
uniqueness offered by these towns (Mihailović and Moric, 2012). Unlike beach and leisure
destinations, rural tourism does not depend on the season of the year as an important factor
to attract tourists to the destination (Richards, 2005); this is because apart from certain
festivities that take place at a specific time of the year (e.g. Day of the Dead), these
communities offer tourists activities that can be conducted at any point of the year (e.g. learn
the lifestyle of the community). The Chairman of the Ministry of Tourism, Ms. Ruiz-Massieu,
stated on August 2013 that the MT project will be re-evaluated to offer simpler but more
successful long-term strategies to attract tourists to these towns, and also to give MT an
international perspective (SECTUR, 2013a), which, until now, has not been addressed
(CESTUR, 2006; Tovar and Alvarado, 2010).
Therefore, the MT project offers Mexico an opportunity for sustainable tourism development
by adding a new opportunity to the already well-established beach and leisure market, for
tourists and non-tourists alike.
2.3 THE UNIQUENESS OF DESTINATION’S IMAGE
Barnhman (2010; 2009) refers to brand image as the essence of the product. He explains
that:
“essences get into our minds via a process of ‘instantiation’ – we soak them up […]” (p. 757).
Others view image as a concept that is built through the self-interpretation of both rational and
emotional valuations, and feelings seen or experienced about different sources during the
decision-making process, and later experienced and lived by the consumer (Jenkins, 1999;
Gallarza et al., 2002; Echtner & Ritchie, 1991; 1993). According to Gunn (1972), there are two
main categories of images that the consumer is exposed to: induced images; and organic
images. Induced images are those created for a specific marketing communication purpose
while organic images are created with the help all of the information that the tourist is exposed
to everyday (Gunn, 1972). Further, organic images are a combination of what Baloglu and
McClearly (1999) define as the beliefs, feelings and impressions gathered by the tourist
throughout their lifetime.
Several factors are involved in the conception of a destination image. According to Echtner
and Ritchie (1991; 1993), this image is composed of six factors that address different aspects
of the place under study. These aspects have been built into a model (Echtner and Ritchie
1991) that encompasses three dimensions. First, the unique-common dimension, which
highlights the uniqueness as well as any aspects that the destination has in common with other
places. Second, the attribute-holistic dimension, which focuses on the product attributes of the
destination, as well as the holistic impressions the individual has of the destination itself. And
finally the functional-psychological dimension, which focuses on the tangible and intangible
characteristics that make the destination recognizable from the rest (see Echtner and Ritchie,
1991; 1993; 2003).
Even though the uniqueness of products, services and places is of huge interest for marketers
and governments (Pike, 2008), it is an overlooked dimension in the destination image research
area (Echtner and Ritchie, 1993; 2003). For example, Crompton (1979) studied the different
perceptions held by Americans about Mexico depending on how close or far they lived from
Mexico. Even though his study showed that participants who lived further away from Mexico
held more positive images, the author only focused on the psychological aspects of the
destination. Hernandez-Lobato et al. (2006) also focused on the psychological and functional
attributes and characteristics held by tourists about Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo, a beach on the Pacific
coast of Mexico. However, both studies neglected to investigate the phenomenon of
uniqueness. It is also important to stress that both studies were conducted using tourists that
had already visited Mexico in the past (they already had an existing image of the country),
however no study was found on analysing the image perceived of non-tourists, which are those
purposeful future tourists for the country (Crompton, 1979; Hernandez-Lobato, 2006). One
reason the concept of uniqueness may have been overlooked is that most of the studies on
destination image carried out by marketers and tourist researchers use quantitative tools (Pike,
2002), which have been developed to focus on numerous functional and psychological
characteristics of the place under study (Echtner and Ritchie, 1991; 1993; 2003; Jenkins 1999).
To discover more unique and holistic attributes and characteristics regarding destination image
it has been stated a qualitative approach will be more effective. Laaksonen et al. (2006) used
the qualitative method of projective techniques to measure a city’s image. Instead of using
Echtner and Ritchie’s model (1993), the authors decided to use a perceptual map in order to
present the most salient aspects and characteristics of the city’s image in one figure. Projective
techniques were also used by Gonzalez-Fernandez et al. (2010), who employed the collage
technique as a methodology to study a destination’s image.
While studying functional and psychological characteristics or attributes of a destination is
important for research, for the purpose of promoting a destination, learning more about the
attributes which make that place unique is also very important (Echtner and Ritchie, 1991;
1993).
The images produced to attract people to buy a product or raise their interest in a topic are
commonly somewhat purposefully embellished to capture people’s attention. Baudrillard
(1995) identifies these images not as real images, but hyper-real (Baudrillard, 1995). The
concept of hyper-real images pertains to the common practice of customising the landscape
of the destination to fit the tourists’ stereotyped expectations of what an old city or a carnival
looks like “in reality”
(Baudrillard,
1995).
The
customisation
of
destinations
is
commonly
referred
as
McDonaldisation, Diseneyfication or Diseneysation of places. For the means of this
dissertation the term McDonaldisation (coined by Ritzer, 1983) has been adopted from here
on. The concern that the McDonaldisation of destinations will be of detriment to authentic
cultural heritage (Richards, 2005) has highlighted the need to clarify the uniqueness of cultures
by reinforcing their indigenous cultural and historic roots.
As a consequence, nowadays it is perhaps not enough for a destination to only communicate
to locals and tourists about the functional cultural heritage of the place; firstly because people
are over-saturated with this kind of information from mass media. (thus more information is
needed to make a destination stand out), and secondly because people might not be familiar
with the culture of the destination promoted. Therefore, places need to develop stories and
narratives that will help to effectively communicate to tourists and locals about the uniqueness
and holistic-imagery aspects of the place, with the aim of attracting more interest in tourism
(OECD, 2009; Richards, 2005).
Even though there have been some studies that addressed Mexico’s destination image (e.g.
Botterril and Crompton, 1987) Hernandez-Lobato, 2006; Sancho-Esper, 2010), all have
studied the image of Mexico as a leisure destination, not culture and neither the MT. Moreover,
none have studied the decision-making process of consumers deciding to book a trip to the
country for the first time (non-tourists). Furthermore, even though Sancho-Esper’s study (2010)
followed a quantitative approach to the image perceived by Spanish people, their study
focused on a specific region of Spain, an both tourists and non-tourists were considered for
the study. Botterril and Compton’s study (1987) was the only study that used a qualitative
approach, however, it only focused on the perception of one American tourist who went on
holiday to Mexico for leisure, and this was published over 20 years ago, therefore Mexico’s
situation has changed and it is likely that tourists’ images of the country may have changed
too.
2.4 EXPERIENTIAL
PROCESS
MARKETING
AND
THE
DECISION-MAKING
2.4.1 EXPERIENTIAL MARKETING
In the past three decades, there has been a shift in marketing focus from product to service to
experience (Klaus and Maklan, 2011). Hirschman and Holbrook defined experience marketing
as “those facets of consumer bahaviour that relate to the multi-sensory, fantasy, and emotive
aspects of product use” (1982: 99).
Holbrook and Hirschman (1982) were the first to study the experiential dimension of consumer
behaviour. A decade later, Pine and Gilmore presented their work Welcome to the Experience
Economy (1998), where they stated that the new competitive advantage of companies will rely
on staging experiences. However, Poulsson and Kale (2004) observed that until 2004 there
was no definition for what an experience constituted within marketing research. Klaus and
Maklan (2011; 2013) highlighted the gap between what marketing practitioners (e.g. Nike ‘Just
do it’) are doing and what marketing researchers are still focusing on: analytical, quantitative
and verbal methods and tools (Schmitt, 1999; Brakus, Schmitt and Zarantonello, 2009).
Schmitt (1999) suggests that new methods should be used (i.e. visual methods, projective
techniques, and ethnology) (Ismail et al., 2011) in order to study the consumer’s experience
and the experience decision making-process (Tynan and McKechnie, 2008). Brakus, Schmitt
and Zarantonello (2009) developed a brand experience scale that could measure the strength
of each of the experiences dimensions evoked by a brand (i.e. sensory, affective, behavioural
and intellectual) using a quantitative methodology. However, within the marketing, psychology,
and tourism research areas (which are three of the social sciences most interested on studying
experiences) qualitative methodologies are suggested when unique attributes and
characteristics of products are studied (Schmitt, 1999; Jenkins, 1999; Branthwaite, 2002;
Echtner and Ritchie, 2003; Prebensen, 2007; Wagner, 2009). This will be discussed in-depth
in the following sections of this chapter.
2.4.2 DECISION-MAKING PROCESS OF HEDONISTIC PRODUCTS –
RELEERLA!
Within the marketing communication field, the importance of studying consumer behaviour is
to understand the elements underpinning the decision-making process of each individual
(Dahlen et al., 2010; Sirakaya et al., 2004). It is already known that the decision-making
process (DMP) is highly individualistic since the environment and specific agents (such as past
experience, involvement, mood etc.) surrounding the consumer will affect the purchase
decision (Babutsidze, 2012).
Studying the decision-making process of tourists is not a new area of research within the
marketing communication and tourism fields of study (Goodrich, 1978). However, the
perspective taken in most of the studies in the area has leaned towards the use of cognitive
choice models, where the destination is seen as a functional and utilitarian product, and the
process followed by the consumer will be a step-by-step process (Decrop and Snelders, 2005;
Hernandez-Lobato, 2006). The Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) proposed by Ajzen (1991)
has been widely used by marketing and tourism researchers in order to study the decision
making process of tourists. (e.g. Quintal et al., 2010; Lam and Hsu, 2006). The TPB suggests
that decisions made by the consumer are a combination of motivational factors that influence
a bahaviour (i.e. intentions), and the consumer’s self-confidence in their ability to achieve an
expected outcome (i.e. perceived bahavioural control) (Ajzen, 1991). Even though the TPB
considers the outcomes and the internal factors (e.g. beliefs and images) during the decisionmaking process, the destination’s image is seen as a functional and utilitarian product
(Sirakaya and Woodside, 2005). This theory suggests that the attitudes towards a destination
are cognitive, since they are based on information processing (Hernandez-Lobato et al., 2006).
Until now marketting and tourism researchers have considered the decision-making process
of a holiday purchase as a cognitive process of utilitarian products (Bettman, 1979; Goodrich,
1978; Chen et al., 2010; Sirakaya and Woodside, 2005) as it is considered a high-involvement
purchase (Dahlenet al. 2010) and requires an extensive information search and problem
solving (Decrop and Snelders, 2005). Moreover, largely quantitative techniques have been
used (Sirakaya and Woodisde, 2006). Quantitative techniques allow researchers to get a better
insight of the decision-making process, however, holistic and psychological factors involved in
the process have been sparsely studied. (Jenkins, 1999; Decrop and Snelders, 2005).
Following the experience marketing literature (Pine and Gilmore, 2002; Brakus et al., 2009;
Tynan and McKechnie, 2011), when purchasing an experience (e.g. an iPad), there are several
outcomes that the consumer might acknowledge (i.e. enjoyment, entertainment) (Tynan and
McKechnie, 2008). However, experiences are not unique within the post-purchase stage of the
decision-making process as according to Tynan and McKechnie (2009) experiencing the
product or service will be part of the whole process (see Appendix 2) (Pine and Gilmore, 2002).
During the pre-purchase stage the consumer can also experience the product (i.e. imagine it,
fantasising about the experience), even if it has not been tried before (Tynan and McKechnie).
This is thought to be achieved as a result of the induced and organic information that the
consumer has received from the product in the past (Gunn, 1972; Tynan and McKechnie,
2008). Therefore, a holiday destination offers a product that will satisfy experiential and
affective desires (e.g. relaxing during holidays), and will create enjoyment for the consumer
during all the stages of the decision-making process (Tynan and McKechnie, 2009; Zhao et
al., 2011). This can be part of an affective choice model (Decrop and Snelders, 2003), where
decisions are more holistic, context dependent, consistent (both within and across individuals)
(Chang and Pham, 2013: 42), and where the outcome of the purchase (i.e. focusing on feeling
the experience) is more important (Zhao et al., 2011).
Therefore, as a holiday destination needs to fulfil both, the experience desired by the consumer
(e.g. relaxing at the beach), and also meet some utilitarian needs (e.g. the infrastructure and
price of the hotel), a combination of cognitive and affective dimensions can be used to study
the purchase of travel destination (Zhang, 2013; Bargeman and van der Poel, 2006). Within
the destination decision-making process, the characteristics that fit a utilitarian profile are
functional attributes such as weather and touristic infrastructure (Palazon and DelgadoBallester, 2013; Echtner and Ritchie, 1991). And those that follow a hedonistic profile are the
psychological characteristics and the hedonistic attributes of the destination, such as feelings
and experiences (Echtner and Ritchie, 1991).
Hernández-Lobato et al. (2006) used the TPB model to study satisfaction towards a leisure
destination in Mexico by American and Canadian tourists. The novelty of this study was that
affective and cognitive dimensions were taken into consideration. However, due to the fact that
the study followed a quantitative approach (and the TPB), the affective dimension was left as
a secondary factor that could only affect or not the main factors of the study, which were all
cognitive (i.e. entertainment, natural resources and service provided) (Hernandez-Lobato et
al., 2006).
According to Pike (2002), considering motivations (e.g. leisure, sports, culture) and the
experience searched (e.g. discover new places, learn something new) by the tourist during the
decision making process has not been studied in-depth (Sancho-Esper and Alvarez-Rateike,
2010). Although, it should be taken into consideration that Pike’s review of literature dates from
12 years ago, studies conducted after that date still favour a cognitive dimension and a
quantitative approach (e.g. Lam and Hsu, 2006; Hernandez-Lobato et al., 2007; Chen et al.,
2010; Ismail et al., 2011). Quan and Wang (2004) studied the consumer experience sought by
the tourist in contrast to their daily routine experience. The factors considered in this study
were the key experience sought by the tourist, i.e. peak touristic experience (e.g. doing
St.Jame’s Way in Spain); the basic needs of the tourist during holidays, i.e. supporting
consumer experience (e.g. eat, sleep); and the experiences that the tourist encounters during
its daily life, i.e. daily routine experiences (e.g. going to the office). The novelty of this research
was that it proposed a way of studying the contrasts sought by tourists according to their
individual experiences encountered during their day to day life; however no external factors
(e.g. accompaniment, organic and induced sources) were taken into consideration. On the
other hand, Bargeman and van der Poel (2006) researched the extensiveness of the vacation
choice model of Dutch people during their destination decision-making process, and for doing
so a qualitative approach was chosen. Even though using a qualitative approach allowed
participants to express in their own words their thoughts, the factors used in the study (i.e.,
general characteristics of the destination, level of involvement during the decision-making
process, holiday experience) followed a cognitive approach. Moreover, the interviews were
conducted after the participants had visited the destination; therefore, the decision-making
process for non-tourists was not part of the data collected for developing the decision-making
process. However, a novelty of their study was that they addressed the factors of the party
composition of a trip (e.g. family, friends, knows someone on the destination) as part of the
decision-making process (Bargeman and van der Popel, 2006).
Finally, as it has been discussed above, the study of customer’s experience of hedonistic
products has not been followed-up among marketing researchers and neither has the study of
the DMP as a cognitive-affective process instead of only cognitive process.
2.4.3 SOURCES AND PERCEPTION OF TOURISTS
It is understood that in the consumer’s mind, destinations are tied to cognitive-affective
associations such as positive, neutral or negative feelings or ‘facts’ (Chen et al., 2010; Frias et
al., 2012). As a marketing communications product, destinations are complex as there is no
single company behind its branding. Instead there are several entities such as National and
Local Governments, travel agencies, mass media, hotel magazines, hotel industry, TV shows,
traveling blogs, etc. (Jalilvand and Samiei, 2012). Therefore, it is possible that a destination
can hold positive and negative images at the same time (Oliver, 1993), as the range of
attributes that a destination holds is wide enough for the consumer to have heard many kinds
of messages about it (Jalilvand and Samiei, 2012; Frías et al., 2012). The importance given by
the individual to each of these positive, neutral and negative images will contribute to the
consumer’s decision about whether or not to go to the destination (Oliver, 1993; Baloglu and
McCleary, 1999).
The information sources to which the consumer is exposed to on a daily basis can also
influence the perceived image of the destination and, furthermore, the consumer’s final
destination choice
(Barnham, 2010; Frías et al., 2012). It is well known that word-of-mouth information (WOM) is
a well trusted source by consumers during the decision making process (Frías et al., 2012).
Jalilvand and Samiei (2010) studied the association between consumers’ trust in WOM and
regarding an Islamic destination. It was found that respondents did use WOM as a source and
that the possibility of visiting a destination related to the recommendations of friends, family
and other tourists (Jalilvand and Samiei, 2010). However, the credibility that the WOM given
by each of the sources (i.e., family, friends at the destination) was not tested in order to see
how much the tourist will trust the information given by a friend, e.g. that has visited the
destination and by a friend that is from the destination (Tynan and McKechnie, 2009).
Nowadays, the Internet has given consumers and tourists a new source to consult during the
pre-purchase stage of the decision-making process (Jiménez and Mendoza, 2013). Within the
information provided through the Internet sources, reviews posted by consumers on blogs or
websites are among the most popular ones (Frías et al., 2012; Jiménes and Mendoza, 2013).
These sources are known as e-word-of-mouth information (eWOM). Jiménez and Mendoza
(2013) found out that consumers looking to buy hedonistic products, (e.g. a holiday), assess
the eWOM by the level of reviewer agreement rather than by detailed information about the
product (Jiménez and Mendoza, 2013). Therefore, again, the outcome of the product was
found to be more important than the details during the process of using the product (Zhao et
al., 2011). However, when it comes to long distance destinations, the relevance of the WOM
and eWOM has not been studied (Pike, 2002). Yet, the image built by tourists has, and both
organic and induced sources have been found to play an important role during the decisionmaking process (Gunn, 1972).
2.5 CONCLUSION OF THE LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter has presented the main research studies within the areas of destination branding,
experience marketing, decision-making, and qualitative methods used to study marketing and
destination image (i.e. verbal methods and projective techniques). Further, this chapter has
highlighted the need to study Mexico’s image in more depth, not only as a leisure destination
but also to broaden the perspective to other areas of tourism (like cultural tourism) in both cities
and rural communities (Mayanez-Guadarrama et al., 2012). The concepts and models
highlighted in the literature will inform the present research.
2.6 THE STUDY’S AIMS AND RESEARCH QUESTIONS
The study has two main aims: first, to identify the characteristics of the images perceived and
experiences sought by Spanish non-tourists about Mexico and MT as a cultural holiday
destination and, second, to analyse the feasibility and value of using the multi qualitative
approach of verbal methods (focus groups) and projective techniques (text and image) to study
brand image, experience marketing and the DMP.
The present study will explore the following research questions stated below:
x
What are the perceived images that non-tourists have about the characteristics of
Mexico as a cultural holiday destination?
x
x
x
x
What are the perceived images that non-tourists have about the characteristics of MT
in Mexico?
What role does experience play within non-tourists destination DMP?
Which sources of information contribute to forming experiences of Mexico for nontourists?
What is the feasibility and value of using projective techniques along with focus groups
to analyse the experiences sought and the image perceived by non-tourists of a cultural
touristic destination?