Destination image is acknowledged as a key factor in destination choice and visitor satisfaction. However, despite thirty years’ research from a variety of perspectives into destination image and image formation, the impact of actual visitation has been largely neglected and understanding of the processes involved in that change is therefore limited. Visitor experience is increasingly recognised as being unique to the individual, leading to calls for research strategies taking into account the visitor’s perspective. This study uses a phenomenological approach to investigate visitor-destination interactions, capturing visitors’ lived experience as expressed in their holiday narratives. Applying a double hermeneutic approach to analysing interview data, this study outlines the elements of destination experience and shows how the meaning encapsulated in the individual’s destination image is mediated by his/her stock of knowledge, the particular combination of predispositions, motivations and characteristics, as well as by their in-destination interactions and encounters with people and place. It develops the ideal typifications of Gourmet, Grazer and Gourmand to help explain the complex and dynamic interaction between visitor characteristics and behaviour and extends our understanding of the role of other tourists in destination experience by illuminating tourist-tourist interactions and revealing the compromises necessitated by the presence of other tourists. By generating insight into the complex and dynamic interaction between anticipations, motivations and predispositions, and the way in which this interaction affects the visitor’s experience of people and place in a destination, the study has demonstrated the utility of the phenomenological approach in understanding visitor interactions. It has also resulted in a model which explains the processes whereby the visitor makes sense of his/her experience and transmits that experience to others. This can be used by academics and practitioners to further understand the benefits and attractions of existing destinations and to predict the attraction of potential destinations, as well as to promote greater understanding of tourist-host interactions among destination industry providers.

This thesis has established exchange students as a particular group of tourists and a segment in their own right. The purpose of the study was to find out to what extent a study abroad destination’s role as a tourism destination affects exchange students when they choose where to study abroad. The study was conducted through an online survey answered by exchange students of multiple nationalities and study abroad destinations. The study found that although there were clear individual differences in the degree of motivation, tourism affects the choice of study abroad destination to a great extent and the vast majority of exchange students choose to study in what they view as a tourism destination.

Die fünf Publikationen dieser Dissertation beschäftigen sich mit dem Destinations-auswahlprozess von aktiven Sporttouristen in Mittelgebirgsregionen. Dabei werden zunächst aktive Wintersporttouristen im Erzgebirge untersucht, danach mit Winter-sporttouristen im Schwarzwald und abschließend mit aktiven Sommersporttouristen im Erzgebirge verglichen. Es zeigt sich, dass einige Typen von Sporttouristen in Mittelgebirgen bezüglich ihrer Destinationsauswahl mit Sporttouristen in anderen Destinationstypen vergleichbar sind. Gleichzeitig lassen sich jedoch auch mittelge-birgsspezifische Typen von Sporttouristen identifizieren. Wintersporttouristen ver-schiedener Mittelgebirge unterscheiden sich deutlich, während Sommer- und Win-tersporttouristen, welche die gleiche Destination wählen, annährend vergleichbar sind. Zukünftig sind deshalb destinationsspezifische und zugleich saisonübergrei-fende Marketingstrategien zu empfehlen. / The five publications of this dissertation deal with the destination-choice-process of active sports tourists in highlands. Firstly, active winter sports tourists of the Erzge-birge are investigated. Afterwards these active winter sports tourists are compared with tourists of the Schwarzwald. Finally, active summer and winter sports tourists of one highland are compared with each other. The results show, that some types of active winter sports tourists of highlands are comparable with sports tourists in other destinations. However, there are also highland specific winter sports tourists. At the same moment, there are more differences between winter sports tourists of different highland destinations than sports tourists in summer or winter within one destination. Destination-specific and all-year marketing strategies can be recom-mended to destination management organizations as a consequence of this work.

Social media platforms have the potential to influence destination choice among potential travellers.Before potential travellers embark on a trip, they are faced with decision-making processes on whereto go, what to do, the best time to go, how to get there among other things. These pre-travel planning decisions can be influenced by their expectation of the experiences they will encounter at the destination and based on their perception of the destination. Their perception of destinations isusually informed by information found on social media platforms or passed on by family and friendswho have encountered similar travel experiences. Using Crompton’s model of destination choice set,this study explores the roles of social media platforms on destination choice among international students in the Umea university.

With the distinguished natural and cultural tourism resources, Tibet is undoubtedly a desirable travel destination both domestically and internationally. With the newly opened Qinghai-Tibet railway to Lhasa in July 2006, Tibet tourism development was boosted markedly due to the increased accessibility and affordability. This study evaluates the impacts of the increased accessibility achieved through the Qinghai-Tibet railway on tourist travel decisions for, and experiences in, Tibet from travelers’ perspectives. The relative importance of the train journey in comparison with the destination experience at Tibet is also examined. A destination choice framework is proposed based on a review of previous literature. It is applied in this study to understand tourists’ travel destination choice of Tibet. A questionnaire survey was designed as the major primary data collection method to collect travelers’ perceptions on the train journey and Tibet tourism. Conducted on the train to and from Lhasa of Tibet, a total of 187 questionnaires were collected, including 82 for the pre-visit sample and 105 for the post-visit sample. Important destination choice factors for Tibet are identified in this study. The findings also support the importance of the railway on tourists’ destination choice of Tibet and in the overall travel experience of Tibet. Expectations and satisfactions with the destination are also compared to indicate possibilities for further destination development in Tibet. This study improves the understanding of both the supply and demand sides of the tourism industry in Tibet. Both practical implications and academic implications are presented based on the major findings of this study. Contributions of this study and future research opportunities are discussed.

With the distinguished natural and cultural tourism resources, Tibet is undoubtedly a desirable travel destination both domestically and internationally. With the newly opened Qinghai-Tibet railway to Lhasa in July 2006, Tibet tourism development was boosted markedly due to the increased accessibility and affordability. This study evaluates the impacts of the increased accessibility achieved through the Qinghai-Tibet railway on tourist travel decisions for, and experiences in, Tibet from travelers’ perspectives. The relative importance of the train journey in comparison with the destination experience at Tibet is also examined. A destination choice framework is proposed based on a review of previous literature. It is applied in this study to understand tourists’ travel destination choice of Tibet. A questionnaire survey was designed as the major primary data collection method to collect travelers’ perceptions on the train journey and Tibet tourism. Conducted on the train to and from Lhasa of Tibet, a total of 187 questionnaires were collected, including 82 for the pre-visit sample and 105 for the post-visit sample. Important destination choice factors for Tibet are identified in this study. The findings also support the importance of the railway on tourists’ destination choice of Tibet and in the overall travel experience of Tibet. Expectations and satisfactions with the destination are also compared to indicate possibilities for further destination development in Tibet. This study improves the understanding of both the supply and demand sides of the tourism industry in Tibet. Both practical implications and academic implications are presented based on the major findings of this study. Contributions of this study and future research opportunities are discussed.

In this thesis, I have made use of Consumer Strategic Procedure of E-K-B model to study Leisure Farm Tourists ¡V their tour motivation as well as factors that influence their choice of place ¡V to enable the owners of these leisure farms to make suitable changes in order to attract more tourists. Thus, the main purpose of this study is to discuss and analyze the effect of ¡§tour motivation¡¨ and ¡§choice evaluation¡¨ on ¡§tour motivation¡¨, ¡§information search behavior¡¨, and ¡§choice evaluation norm¡¨ respectively ¡V their characters and differences. The questionnaire design for this study is targeted toward grown up individual. A total of 301 valid questionnaires have been collected. Using statistical analysis methods such as Factor analysis, Discriminant analysis, Cluster analysis, One-way ANOVA and Chi-square method, I have examined the data collected and have reached the following conclusions: Ø The frequency of tourists visiting leisure farms during the past 2 years was very low, plus the duration of stay in these places almost never exceeded 2 days. Ø From the result of Factor Analysis on Tourist¡¦s tour motivation we have generated the following 5 compositions ¡V ¡§Human Relationship and Ability Development¡¨, ¡§Physical and Psychological Relaxation and Recuperation¡¨, ¡§Continuous Learning and Development¡¨, ¡§Individual and Spiritual Quest¡¨ and ¡§Relationship Building¡¨. From Information Search Behavior we generated another 3 composition ¡V ¡§Fanatic Information Gatherer¡¨, ¡¨Experience Guided¡¨ and ¡§Last minute gatherer¡¨. From Source of Information we have ¡V ¡§Mass Media¡¨, ¡§Consultants¡¨, and ¡§Professional tour guide¡¨. From Choice Evaluation Norm we generated another 5 compositions ¡V those who care about the environment, those families who enjoy nature and outings, those who like to stay away from the crowd, those who loves danger and excitement, and finally those who love to experience new lifestyle. Ø Depending on tour motivation of the tourist we have dissected the leisure farm tourist into 3 group, and according to their nature we have named them as thus: ² High tour motivation type: this type of tourists has displayed high degree of motivation in all type of compositions and their degree of motivation is significantly higher than those of the other two types. ² Moderate tour motivation type: this type of tourists didn¡¦t display any type of strong dislike or like to any of the above-mentioned compositions. ² Low tour motivation type: this type when compared with other two types of tourists has shown low degree of tour motivation. Ø According to tourists¡¦ degree of loyalty towards the choice of destination, we have divided them into four groups: ² Unconcerned Type: this type of tourist doesn¡¦t show much interest to the attractive features of destination. ² Environmental Type: this type of tourists pays attention to environmental factors, facilities available, family entertainment and natural beauty. ² Scrutinizing Type: this type of tourists is very particular about each and every aspect of the attractive features of the destination. ² Daring and adventurous Type: needless to say this type of tourists are all out for a different lifestyle and seek danger and adventure. Ø Even in searching for information, source of information and selection criteria, the three groups under the Tour motivation category exhibit substantial difference - the High tour motivation type pays a lot more attention to the quantity of information collected, reliability of source of information and attractive features of choice of destination than the other two types. But in case of demographic distribution and tour behavior there aren¡¦t any notable differences between the three groups. The four group under the selection norm category shows differences when analyzed statistically in factors such as tour motivations, information search behavior, sources of information, age, family life cycle, individual income, etc. ¡V those tourists under the Daring and adventurous Type are younger, single or married but doesn¡¦t have any children and not so high income earner. As for those tourists under the Environmental Type, they are more matured, married and have children 6 years or older and monthly income is more than 50,000 NTD. There isn¡¦t any notable difference in

abstract: Destination image has been explored by studying various aspects of the process of forming a perception about an area and choosing to visit or not. This study uses a variety of theories from previous research which has focused on subsets of factors which influence the overall process to create a model to organize the perception formation and decision making progress into one continuous and interrelated progression. Online questionnaires using Likert scale statements and questions were distributed to participants through Facebook in order to measure and test the model. A total of 266 questionnaires were completed and analyzed using t test, ANOVA, regression, factor analysis, and cluster analysis. The original model from the beginning of the study transformed with the removal of some variables and the alteration of others. The factors that were shown to influence perception of the destination were tourist type and knowledge of the country. Tourists who were more likely to seek new environments and had a higher level of knowledge of the country used in the marketing video had a better perception of the destination before and after the video. Obstacles for deciding to visit the destination were found to be long distances traveling and substitution of alternative destinations. The results show that marketing videos do create a positive change in the perception of the destination, but this alone is not likely enough to influence the decision to visit the destination. Marketing agencies should consider more ways of informing consumers of the destination in addition to commercials so that overall knowledge of the area can be improved. In addition, marketing agencies should target consumers that are interested in visiting new environments by using travel magazine subscriptions, international airline agencies and hotels, and social media groups. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Community Resources and Development 2014

In this thesis, authors’ main goal is to test two hypotheses to compare if the tourists are more likely to make their destination choice based on user generated photographs on social media, as well as, tourists’ sustainable destination choice based on photographs with sustainable green content. The quantitative research method was used to conduct the survey with experimental design. It was aimed to compare the tourist’ trust in different photo types, the consumers’ trust was expected to be measured by three dimensions: first impression, intention, and persuasiveness, recommended by previous studies. However, the findings revealed that the tourists are not more likely to trust user generated content on social media to make their destination choice.

Die fünf Publikationen dieser Dissertation beschäftigen sich mit dem Destinations-auswahlprozess von aktiven Sporttouristen in Mittelgebirgsregionen. Dabei werden zunächst aktive Wintersporttouristen im Erzgebirge untersucht, danach mit Winter-sporttouristen im Schwarzwald und abschließend mit aktiven Sommersporttouristen im Erzgebirge verglichen. Es zeigt sich, dass einige Typen von Sporttouristen in Mittelgebirgen bezüglich ihrer Destinationsauswahl mit Sporttouristen in anderen Destinationstypen vergleichbar sind. Gleichzeitig lassen sich jedoch auch mittelge-birgsspezifische Typen von Sporttouristen identifizieren. Wintersporttouristen ver-schiedener Mittelgebirge unterscheiden sich deutlich, während Sommer- und Win-tersporttouristen, welche die gleiche Destination wählen, annährend vergleichbar sind. Zukünftig sind deshalb destinationsspezifische und zugleich saisonübergrei-fende Marketingstrategien zu empfehlen. / The five publications of this dissertation deal with the destination-choice-process of active sports tourists in highlands. Firstly, active winter sports tourists of the Erzge-birge are investigated. Afterwards these active winter sports tourists are compared with tourists of the Schwarzwald. Finally, active summer and winter sports tourists of one highland are compared with each other. The results show, that some types of active winter sports tourists of highlands are comparable with sports tourists in other destinations. However, there are also highland specific winter sports tourists. At the same moment, there are more differences between winter sports tourists of different highland destinations than sports tourists in summer or winter within one destination. Destination-specific and all-year marketing strategies can be recom-mended to destination management organizations as a consequence of this work.