The Relationship of Residents' Image of Their State as a Tourist Destination and Their Support for Tourism

Abstract

While a number of studies have measured or determined the images that potential visitors have of tourist destinations (Crompton 1979; Embacher and Buttle 1989; Gartner 1989; Gartner and Hunt 1987; Gartner and Shen 1992; Goodrich 1978; Hunt 1975; Reilly 1990), few have looked at the tourism image that local residents have of the destination area. It might be expected that the image that the host population has of its home area would be important because of its relationship to two aspects of tourism development: (1) it may influence political support for efforts to promote and develop tourism, and (2) it may influence the organic image developed in potential visitors via the information provided by host residents to friends, relatives, and business associates.