Destination Image Components and Word of Mouth Intentions in Urban Tourism: A Multigroup Approach
The purpose of this study was to explore differences among three distinct groups, namely local residents, past tourists, and prospective tourists, in their perceptions of cognitive, affective, and overall image of a city destination and their future behavior. Analysis of data generally confirmed previously established structural relationships of cognitive and affective image, overall destination image, and word of mouth intentions. However, differences were identified among the three groups in terms of their destination image perceptions and their behavioral intentions to engage in word of mouth communications. Specifically, residents who engaged in word of mouth were primarily influenced by the cognitive and affective destination image components, while tourists relied on overall image perceptions.