Innovative global tourism research project completed

The central research objective was to test a new innovative methodology for assessing peoples' perceptions of places that they have never visited. The study was part of a PhD project that will be defended in Rotterdam towards the end of this year.

During fall 2004, visitors to the virtual travel community Travellerspoint.com were invited to participate in the research project. However, in this study, instead of presenting participants with the traditional lists of 'agree-disagree' statements, respondents were asked to report their thoughts in free-text story format. The large amount of qualitative data of the 1,100 useable responses was content analysed using artificial neural network software. The use of neural network based computerised content analysis software facilitated a thorough and objective analysis of the qualitative data, at the same time allowing for quantification and the application of statistical procedures. To maximise response rates, all participants were automatically eligible to win a grand prize raffle draw: a free holiday to Dubai, courtesy of KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and Jebel Ali International Hotels. In December last year, Ionela Ciuhrii, a 29-year old female consultant from the Republic of Moldova, was announced the winner, thanks also to the support received from other virtual travel communities such as MeetURplanet.com, Trekshare.com, Mytripjournal.com, and iTravelnet.com who joined in the promotional effort during the project.

Although it is assumed that the reported images are not representative for a global population, the methodology proved to be successful. Some findings confirmed expectations. For instance, the images of Wales and Flanders are positioned closer together, as are those of the Canary Islands and Florida, while Singapore and Dubai stand out more uniquely, although they share characteristics of modernity as rapidly developing city-states. The Canary Islands and Florida compare to Dubai as see, sun & sand destinations, while Morocco compares to Dubai as an exotic destination with Arabian heritage and desert habitat. The obvious references to Dubai relate to its different culture and climate, modern architecture, the desert, shopping, Arabian heritage and wealth. The warm climate, and hence its attractiveness as a see, sun and sand destination with exclusive hospitality and shopping facilities is an image of Dubai that particularly dominates in Europe. For Flanders, the most common references relate to it being part of Belgium and the 'centre of Europe'. Also historic buildings and architecture, chocolates, the local culture and history, cobbled, narrow and winding streets, shopping, beer, café's and friendly local people are common image components.

Other results are less obvious and of interest to the marketing organisations promoting these destinations. For instance in the case of Dubai, over 14% of respondents, particularly in the America's and Europe, made reference to the position of women in Muslim / Arab societies. Several misperceptions seem to exist, such as: the need for women tourists to cover their hair in Dubai; or women not being allowed to drive cars; or the idea that one will not see many women in the streets and public places in Dubai. Also in the case of Dubai, 21% of respondents made comments along the lines of "I have never been there or to that region / never visited / never heard of". The same was found for the destinations of Flanders and Wales. This seems to indicate a general lack of knowledge about the destinations, the comments made being an excuse for not being able to provide much detail about the places in question. Surprisingly, with reference to Flanders, respondents also commonly referred to the French language, while in fact Flanders is the Dutch speaking northern part of Belgium.

The initiator of the project, Robert Govers, is currently employed as Tourism Economics Research Coordinator at the Flemish Centre for Tourism Policy Studies, which is funded by the Flemish minister for tourism. The Centre is part of the University of Leuven; the oldest and largest university in Belgium with over 28,000 students. As a former lecturer at the Emirates Academy of Hospitality Management, Dubai, Mr. Govers has been working on the project for several years. Bewetour Professor Dr. Frank M. Go of the Centre for Tourism Management (CTM) in the Netherlands, supervises the project together with Professor Dr. Kuldeep Kumar from Florida International University, Miami. Both professors are associated with the Rotterdam School of Management, which, according to Business Week, is one of the premier non-US business schools in the world. Mr. Govers and Professor Go, who has also been affiliated with universities in the US, Canada and Hong Kong, are delighted with the results and the enthusiastic support that they have received from the visionary hospitality and tourism industry organizations that have been involved with the project.