Does a highly standardized international advertising campaign contribute to the enhancement of destination image? Evidence from Turkey

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2022

Authors

Cavusgil, S. Tamer
Kucukergin, Kemal Gurkan

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Emerald Group Publishing Ltd

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Business
(2002)
We are a department that has been active for 22 years with the goal to determine the structural changes in economy and the problems of general business administration, to develop problem solving skills and to devise modelling techniques that fit our aims. Among our cornerstones are to graduate more students into administrative positions of our institutions, to help them realize their inner potential to be go-getters, to prepare them for the entrance exams for high-tier, well-respected public positions, and to help them participate graduate and doctorate degree programs at ease, nationally or internationally. In this regard, our course curriculum is constantly subject to updates. In addition, we do all in our power to graduate students that stand out, with double-major program opportunities. We make an effort to aid our students in kick-starting their professional life after completing a period of one semester at Private - Public institutions within the framework of our Cooperative Education Program.
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Tourism Management
The aim of Atılım University Department of Tourism Management is to train tourism managers who are able to compete at an international level by offering quality education opportunities. Graduates employed as managers in the fields of accommodation, travel, catering, gastronomy, transportation, congress, conference organization begin their professional life while they are still interns. The academic staff consists of faculty members who are experts in their field, as well as sector professionals. With five years of education including the preparatory English courses offered, the courses of the department are in English. The course program consists of applied and theoretical courses devised with respect to the global trends in tourism. Students perform their internship studies at hotel chains, A-Class travel agencies and professional tourism companies. Our Department is in contract with universities abroad within the scope of the Erasmus student Exchange program. With its quality of education documented by TURAK (Tourism Education, Evaluation and Accreditation Board), Atılım university Department of Tourism Management is the first undergraduate program in Turkey to hold the accreditation.

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Abstract

Purpose - Does a highly standardized international advertising campaign enhance destination image? Drawing evidence from Turkey's Home Global Image Campaign, the authors investigate this fundamental question. This would help the authors to understand whether there are significant differences in cognitive and affective image among tourist groups in Europe in a destination where there is a highly standardized international advertising campaign. Design/methodology/approach - Data collected from British, German, French and Italian tourists through the official Twitter account of the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism (TMCT) were used to carry out the quantitative analysis. Analysis of variance test was performed to assess the differences in nationalities. The Scheffe test was also applied as a post hoc comparison. Findings - Cognitive image attributes such as "good value for money," "good climate," "interesting and friendly people," "beautiful scenery and natural attractions," "interesting cultural attractions," "appealing local food (cuisine)" and "hygiene and cleanliness" are found to be less favorable in the perceptions of French tourists than those of British, German and Italian tourists. British, German and Italian tourists perceive Turkey as a more pleasant destination than French tourists. Overall, the findings suggest that a highly standardized international advertising campaign fails to boost the destination image for all nationalities. Practical implications -The TMCT officials should use the adaptation strategy in international advertising campaigns since the findings denote that the "one-size-fits all" approach is problematic. The TMCT should support and promote environmental sustainability efforts and green hotel practices to attract more tourists and use them in different communication channels. Originality/value - Assessment of affective and cognitive destination images (differences) is still an unresolved issue in the destination management and marketing literature. It seems that there is no empirical study investigating the cognitive and affective image attributes of a destination based on standardization versus adaptation approaches. This paper makes a contribution to the current literature by demonstrating that using the same image campaign in different markets is a practice that fails to achieve the intended goals.

Description

Karatepe, Osman M./0000-0003-3120-8755; UNER, MEHMET MITHAT/0000-0002-1802-2553

Keywords

Adaptation, Affective image, Cognitive image, Destination image, Standardization, Turkey Home Global Image Campaign

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9

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