Measurement of destination brand bias using a quasi-experimental design

Image of a country as tourism destination brand can involve a biased or distorted view that is different from its objective reality. Although several destination image studies make references to negative destination images and stereotypical perceptions, bias in images of destination brands has been overlooked by researchers so far. A modified version of Gensch's methodology is used to measure three different spaces of destination image and identify potential biases in it. A quasi-experimental design is applied on three groups of students, using a promotional movie as the stimulant, representing the destination brand, Turkey, known to have a rather distorted image. The results show that the applied methodology can be used effectively in measuring the negative bias in the images of tourism destination brands. Negative bias was found in the perception of both Attractions and Basics factors of Turkey as a tourism destination brand. Managerial and theoretical implications are provided along with limitations and future research suggestions. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.