The formation of inaccurate cognitive destination image from a memory process perspective

ABSTRACT

People often harbour misconceptions when forming their perceptions of destinations. Via a top-of-mind association task, this paper investigates the cognitive mechanisms behind the formation of inaccurate destination images of several Chinese metropolises. The results reveal that the primary factors leading to inaccurate cognitive destination images are proximity and stereotyping. Proximity includes geographic, cultural, sensory, semantic, and phonetic similarities among mental representations; whereas, stereotyping that tends to resist change can lead to systematic biases. This paper enriches our understanding of destination image and offers novel perspectives for destination branding and management.

KEYWORDS:

• Destination image
• inaccurate image
• memory process
• cognitive psychology
• Chinese metropolis

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Humanities and Social Science Fund of Ministry of Education of China [grant number 22YJC790162]; National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number 71901072].