Politeness Theory and Political Debates

The present research examines the formation of tourism destination image from visitors’ perspective; hence, the following concepts fundamental to this work need to be more closely examined.

A destination, in general, can be defined from a variety of perspectives. From a geographer’s perspective, it could be recognised as an area visited by tourists within its recognizable geographic or administrative boundaries. A destination, on the other hand, has a different meaning from an economist’s perspective – it is viewed as a place in which tourist streams have a significant effect on the economy of the area, whereas from a psycho-graphical perspective it mainly represents the reason for the trip.

Furthermore, different types of destinations exist – whole countries, regions, islands, villages, towns or cities, etc. (Manente, 2008). In the tourism marketing literature destination is seen as amalgam of tourism products/services offered at one location (Buhalis, 2000; Pearce, 1992), but despite this notion, it is also argued that the distinction between the tourism products/services and the destination itself is difficult to be made by tourists (Keller, 2000).

The destination investigated in this research is Linz - an Austrian town situated astride the Danube River, with population of 190 000 and is Austria’s third largest town (a map of Austria is provided in Appendix 18). In Chapter Four Linz’s attractions, cultural life and reasons for hosting the European Capital of Culture Event are presented in greater detail.

Upon a thorough review of existing definitions of tourism destination image Kim and Richardson’s (2003:218) definition “totality of impressions, beliefs, ideas, expectations and feelings accumulated towards a place over time”

appeared as the most appropriate one for the purposes of this research.

Tourists have been defined as: “...persons travelling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes” (WTO, 2005).

The initiator of the European Capital of Culture Event is Mrs. Melina Mercouri - a former Greek Minister of Culture and her initial purpose was to bring the European Union citizens closer together through culture (European Commission, 1985). The European Capital of Culture Event has earned itself a reputation as a “display place” of the rich cultural life in Europe and due to the enormous attention and public it attracts, the competition among

European cities to host the event is vigorous (European Commission - Culture 2008 a, b) and comparable to the competition for an Olympic Games nomination (Richards, 2000).

The nomination of Linz for the title of European Capital of Culture was submitted on 14 December 2004. The main focus of its presentation was on its attempts since 1985 to change itself, and consequently, its image, from an industrial to a high-tech cultural city. Linz’s representatives, therefore, presented the Austrian town as a creative, cultural and dynamic one, having worldwide significance (The Selection Panel for the European Capital of Culture 2009). Recently, the mixture of stable local economy, modern technology and culture has become the trademark of Linz, the most undervalued city in Austria that is often called the heart of the EU – the crossroads of Europe from east to west and from north to south (Lewonig, 2007). The panel evaluation of Linz’s nomination for hosting the European Capital of Culture Event in 2009 made a recommendation that recent history (e.g. Nazi’s past) should find a place in the programme of the event (The Selection Panel for the European Capital of Culture 2009) in contrast to Linz’s authorities’ main concern after 1945 to distance themselves from the Nazi’s culture and Hitler by highlighting their traditionally humanist cultural values (Linz Cultural Development Plan, 2000, cited in Iordanova-Krasteva et al., 2010).

Despite Linz’s diverse cultural life, the recently built museums for modern art (e.g. Lentos, Ars Electronica) and three big hallmark festivals (e.g. the “Cloud of Sound”, the “International Street Artist Festival” and the “Ars Electronica Festival”), this destination has witnessed over the past years a rather stable number of visitors (see Appendix 1) which was hoped to be improved by hosting the European Capital of Culture Event (The Selection Panel for the European Capital of Culture 2009).

1.6. Thesis Outline

This thesis is organised into nine chapters. Chapters two, three and four contain a review on the available literature.

Chapter two discusses the nature of tourism destination image and presents a thorough examination of its problematic dimensions – variety of definitions, conflicting concepts, fragmented models of destination image formation and development, and inconclusive set of determinants.

Chapter three highlights the history and selection criteria of the European Capital of Culture Event and the overall importance of cultural tourism. It also explores the links between cultural tourism and the European Capital of Culture, and provides examples of previous European Capitals of Culture and their performance during such a major event. Furthermore, past studies on the impact of similar events on tourism destination images and the profile of the modern cultural tourist are incorporated in Chapter Three.

Chapter four briefly presents the case study of Linz (Austria) and Linz09 and concludes with the key findings of Linz’s image monitoring survey conducted by its destination marketer before the beginning of the European Capital of Culture Event.

Chapter five outlines the methodology of this research. It explains and provides justification for the underpinning research philosophy and techniques used to collect and analyse primary data. It goes on to discuss its explorative and explanatory phases and the development of the open-ended and closed questions used in them. The chapter concludes with a section on reflexivity of research and research limitations wherein the clash of cultures and stereotypes experienced during the data collection in Linz reported and explained by applying Hofstede’s model on cultural differences among countries.

Chapter six presents the results of the first, explorative research stage conducted online and simultaneously discusses the key findings on Linz’s cognitive and affective destination image components. The main aim of this stage was to elicit Linz’s image as a tourism destination from the potential visitors’ point of view and integrate these results into the questionnaire used in the second stage of the research.

Chapter seven presents the results from the quantitative and qualitative data collected in Linz during the second stage of the research. It begins with a

report on the respondents’ profile and an analysis of the difference between Linz’s “a priori” and “on situ” image. The chapter then continues with an analysis of the type and degree of influence of different image determinants (e.g. country of origin, previous experience, familiarity, information sources, motivations, number of activities at Linz, socio-demographic and trip characteristics) on Linz’s “a priori” and “on situ” tourism destination image. It also goes on to significantly reveal the relationship between the level of loyalty towards Linz in terms of intention to revisit or recommend, and Linz’s overall “on situ” tourism destination image. Various techniques were employed to analyse the data at this stage – factor analysis, t-tests, ANOVAs and MANOVAs, frequencies tables, cross-tables and content analysis.

Chapter eight reveals the key findings from the quantitative and qualitative data collected in Linz and sets them in the wider context of the existing body of literature.

Chapter nine summarises the key findings of research and links them to the main thesis objectives. It also presents a conceptual framework of destination image formation and development from psychological point of view, which evolved from the key findings of this research and represents an original contribution to the existing knowledge of literature on destination image. This chapter also suggests important practical implications of this research and makes recommendations for further research based on the suggested conceptual framework of a destination image formation process.

Furthermore, a reflection on the research constraints and objective limitations is provided.

Chapter Two: Literature Review on