Interactions Between Visual Appeals, Holiday Motivations, Destination Personality and the Self-Image: Implications for Destination Advertising

Abstract

The concept of brand personality has come to the forefront of destination marketing thinking in recent years and a noticeable growth has been experienced in the number of brand personality research. Reviewed literature suggests that not only direct but also processing of indirect experiences with a destination (e.g., exposure to advertisements) would trigger ascription of a brand personality and influence emotions, attitudes and behaviors toward a destination. However, only little is known about how personality is created through indirect experiences with a destination and how the way a destination depicts itself in an ad influences interactions between motivation, destination personality, affective image, self-image and belief. Results of the Structural Equation Modeling analysis show that holiday motives play a strong role in the interpretation of the personality and the more similar the interpreted personality is to the individual’s needs and the self-image, the more favorable his/her evaluations of the destination would be. In other words, when the visual information in an ad fits the individuals’ holiday motivations and the self-image, it is more likely that the individual develops stronger belief that the destination could fulfill the experience that s/he seeks. The results of the subsequent multiple group analysis demonstrates that the nature of the appeal used in a destination advertisement influences the individuals’ responses to the advertised destination, and this suggests that the visual appeals in a destination’s advertisement should be prudently selected. Implications of the study are discussed and recommendations for further research are provided.