IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v16y2024i11p4552-d1403135.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Urban Tourism Appeal: The Effectiveness of Communication Channels and Multimedia Formats in Creating Tourists’ Expectations

Author

Listed:
  • Ivana Skočajić

    (Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia)

  • Vladimir Pavković

    (Academy of Applied Studies Belgrade, The College of Tourism, 11070 Belgrade, Serbia)

  • Jelena Krstić

    (Economics Institute a.d. Belgrade, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia)

  • Milica Kostić-Stanković

    (Faculty of Organizational Sciences, University of Belgrade, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia)

  • Tamara Vlastelica

    (Faculty of Organizational Sciences, University of Belgrade, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia)

  • Tamara Rajić

    (Economics Institute a.d. Belgrade, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia)

Abstract

Tourists’ expectations related to urban tourist destinations, which often derive from wider concept of destinations’ images, encompass a wide range of needs, desires and anticipations that tourists develop prior to visiting a particular destination. They are formed under the influence of different factors, one of which is traditional and digital communication channels. The objective of this research is to determine whether different communication channels and multimedia formats, used by tourists in the pre-travelling phase, could shape their expectations related to tangible and intangible characteristics of urban tourist destinations. The data gathering was conducted by applying Computer-Aided Web Interviewing (CAWI) on a representative sample of 312 adult citizens residing in Belgrade, the capital of the Republic of Serbia. The findings indicate that both traditional and digital communication channels, alongside personal recommendations used prior to the trip, significantly contribute to shaping respondents’ expectations concerning tangible characteristics of urban tourist destinations. Digital communication channels and personal recommendations appeared to be more important in shaping expectations related to the intangible characteristics of urban tourist destinations. Also, different formats of online media content exhibited positive associations with expectations concerning the tangible and intangible characteristics of urban tourist destinations. The obtained results provide recommendations for tourist organizations and local government entities, valuable for developing effective communication strategies for targeting potential tourists.

Suggested Citation

  • Ivana Skočajić & Vladimir Pavković & Jelena Krstić & Milica Kostić-Stanković & Tamara Vlastelica & Tamara Rajić, 2024. "Urban Tourism Appeal: The Effectiveness of Communication Channels and Multimedia Formats in Creating Tourists’ Expectations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(11), pages 1-26, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:11:p:4552-:d:1403135
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/11/4552/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/11/4552/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jansson, André, 2018. "Rethinking post-tourism in the age of social media," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 101-110.
    2. Ekkapong Cheunkamon & Sajjakaj Jomnonkwao & Vatanavongs Ratanavaraha, 2020. "Determinant Factors Influencing Thai Tourists’ Intentions to Use Social Media for Travel Planning," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-22, September.
    3. Astrid Dickinger & Lidija Lalicic, 2016. "An analysis of destination brand personality and emotions: a comparison study," Information Technology & Tourism, Springer, vol. 15(4), pages 317-340, January.
    4. Brian Garrod & Alan Fyall, 2017. "Collaborative destination marketing at the local level: benefits bundling and the changing role of the local tourism association," Current Issues in Tourism, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(7), pages 668-690, May.
    5. Artemisia Apostolopoulou & Dimitra Papadimitriou, 2015. "The role of destination personality in predicting tourist behaviour: implications for branding mid-sized urban destinations," Current Issues in Tourism, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(12), pages 1132-1151, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Moro, Sérgio & Lopes, Rui J. & Esmerado, Joaquim & Botelho, Miguel, 2020. "Service quality in airport hotel chains through the lens of online reviewers," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 56(C).
    2. Syed Zeeshan Zahoor & A. M. Shah, 2024. "Impact of Social Media on Users’ Complex Buying Behaviour: Analysing the Mediating Effect of Perception and Moderating Effect of Extended Social Media Usage," Management and Labour Studies, XLRI Jamshedpur, School of Business Management & Human Resources, vol. 49(1), pages 119-148, February.
    3. Flávio Tiago & Pedro Correia & Victor-Alexandru Briciu & Teresa Borges-Tiago, 2021. "Geotourism Destinations Online Branding Co-Creation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-18, August.
    4. Huseyin Arasli & Maryam Abdullahi & Tugrul Gunay, 2021. "Social Media as a Destination Marketing Tool for a Sustainable Heritage Festival in Nigeria: A Moderated Mediation Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-27, May.
    5. Mohd Azhar & Sehar Nafees & Sujood & Sheeba Hamid, 2023. "Understanding post-pandemic travel intention toward rural destinations by expanding the theory of planned behavior (TPB)," Future Business Journal, Springer, vol. 9(1), pages 1-17, December.
    6. Weismayer, Christian & Gunter, Ulrich & Önder, Irem, 2021. "Temporal variability of emotions in social media posts," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    7. Sterchele, Davide, 2020. "Memorable tourism experiences and their consequences: An interaction ritual (IR) theory approach," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    8. Lidija Lalicic & Assumpció Huertas & Antonio Moreno & Mohammed Jabreel, 2019. "Which emotional brand values do my followers want to hear about? An investigation of popular European tourist destinations," Information Technology & Tourism, Springer, vol. 21(1), pages 63-81, March.
    9. Yanlong Guo & Xueqing Ma & Denghang Chen & Han Zhang, 2022. "Factors Influencing Use of Fitness Apps by Adults under Influence of COVID-19," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(23), pages 1-17, November.
    10. Tingting Fan & Zhongxuan Lin, 2022. "Toward Tourists–Media–Cities Tourism: Xi’an as a Wanghong City," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-18, September.
    11. Simović, Olivera & Rađenović, Žarko & Perović, Djurdjica & Vujačić, Vesna, 2020. "Tourism in the Digital Age: E-booking Perspective," Proceedings of the ENTRENOVA - ENTerprise REsearch InNOVAtion Conference (2020), Virtual Conference, in: Proceedings of the ENTRENOVA - ENTerprise REsearch InNOVAtion Conference, Virtual Conference, 10-12 September 2020, pages 616-627, IRENET - Society for Advancing Innovation and Research in Economy, Zagreb.
    12. T. S. Stumpf & Christopher B. Califf & Joshua J. Frye, 2020. "Technological metaworlds in travel," Information Technology & Tourism, Springer, vol. 22(2), pages 273-296, June.
    13. Sotiroula Liasidou, 2024. "Examining Cross-Industry Clusters among Airline and Tourism Industries," Tourism and Hospitality, MDPI, vol. 5(1), pages 1-12, February.
    14. Ionica Oncioiu & Iustin Priescu, 2022. "The Use of Virtual Reality in Tourism Destinations as a Tool to Develop Tourist Behavior Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-15, April.
    15. KARACA , Şükran & KEMERCİ , Murat & BARAN , Züleyhan, 2022. "The Effect Of Social Media Use And Self-Promotion On Travel Photo Sharing," Academic Review of Humanities and Social Sciences, Bursa Teknik Üniversitesi, vol. 5(1), pages 92-104.
    16. Yu, Joanne & Egger, Roman, 2021. "Color and engagement in touristic Instagram pictures: A machine learning approach," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    17. Ukrit Suksanguan & Somsak Siwadamrongpong & Thanapong Champahom & Sajjakaj Jomnonkwao & Tassana Boonyoo & Vatanavongs Ratanavaraha, 2022. "Structural Equation Model of Factors Influencing the Selection of Industrial Waste Disposal Service in Cement Kilns," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-19, March.
    18. Michael Xanthakis & Androniki Simatou & Nikos Antonopoulos & Andreas Kanavos & Naoum Mylonas, 2024. "Alternative Forms of Tourism: A Comparative Study of Website Effectiveness in Promoting UNESCO Global Geoparks and International Dark Sky Parks," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(2), pages 1-20, January.
    19. Fan, Daisy X.F. & Buhalis, Dimitrios & Lin, Bingna, 2019. "A tourist typology of online and face-to-face social contact: Destination immersion and tourism encapsulation/decapsulation," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 1-1.
    20. Vladimir Pavković & Darjan Karabašević & Jelena Jević & Goran Jević, 2021. "The Relationship between Cities’ Cultural Strength, Reputation, and Tourism Intensity: Empirical Evidence on a Sample of the Best-Reputable European Cities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-20, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:11:p:4552-:d:1403135. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.