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Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management

ISSN: 1936-8623 (Print) 1936-8631 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/whmm20

Destination Marketing and Visitor Experiences:The Development of a Conceptual Framework

Yang Yang Jiang, Haywantee Ramkissoon & Felix Mavondo

To cite this article: Yang Yang Jiang, Haywantee Ramkissoon & Felix Mavondo (2015):Destination Marketing and Visitor Experiences: The Development of a Conceptual Framework,Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management, DOI: 10.1080/19368623.2016.1087358

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19368623.2016.1087358

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Destination Marketing and Visitor Experiences: The Development of a Conceptual Framework

Yang Yang Jiang a, Haywantee Ramkissoonb, Felix Mavondo a

a Department of Marketing, Faculty of Business and Economics, Monash University, Australia

b School of Marketing, Curtin Business School, Curtin University, Australia; and Behaviour Works Australia, Monash Sustainability Institute, Monash University, Australia

When confronted with increasingly experienced, demanding and sophisticated visitors, destination marketers may find it problematic to succeed in destination marketing. This paper attempts to address this challenge through the exploration of the relationship between destination image and two critical indicators of successful destination marketing (visitor delight and place attachment). It integrates disparate themes in destination marketing and recognises the relationships between marketing stimuli, customer experiences and marketing outcomes. A comprehensive and coherent theoretical model is established to explain the complexities involved in the formation of important destination marketing outcomes. This article critically examines fun and customer orientation as two key concepts of visitor experiences and proposes them as principal mechanisms that mediate the relationship between destination image and visitor responses (visitor delight and place attachment). The paper’s theoretical contributions, limitations and practical implications for tourism authorities and destination marketers are discussed.

KEYWORDS destination image, fun, customer orientation, visitor delight, place attachment, mediation effect

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INTRODUCTION

The development of tourism is accompanied by growing diversification and fierce competition

among tourism destinations (UNWTO, 2015). How to succeed in destination marketing has

caught both practical and academic attention (Park & Gretzel, 2007; Pike & Page, 2014).

Destination marketing is emerging as an important subject of leisure tourism research with a

substantially increasing number of studies (Wang & Pizam, 2011). Nevertheless, it’s still in the

early stages (Fyall, Garrod, & Wang, 2012; Middleton & Clarke, 2012).

Place attachment is an important indicator of successful destination marketing as it predicts

customer loyalty (Prayag & Ryan, 2012; Yuksel, Yuksel, & Bilim, 2010) and reciprocation

behaviours such as ambassadorship and advocacy to a commercial setting (Debenedetti,

Oppewal, & Arsel, 2014). Although scholars suggest that the multi-dimensional consideration of

place attachment can result in a better understanding of its relationship with other constructs than

a general measure (Ramkissoon, Smith, & Weiler, 2013a), studies in destination marketing have

fallen short of integrating different dimensions into one model; hence further investigation for

the application of sub-constructs of place attachment in tourism research is warranted (Lee &

Shen, 2013; Ramkissoon et al., 2013a; 2013b).

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Delighting visitors is a strategic marketing objective for tourism destinations (Baker &

Cameron, 2008; Buhalis, 2000). Both marketing practitioners and scholars have realised that

customer satisfaction does not necessarily translate into customer loyalty or positive word-of-

mouth (Abubakar & Mavondo, 2014; Chitturi, Raghunathan, & Mahajan, 2008). Academic focus

has moved from merely satisfying customers to delighting them (Arnold, Reynolds, Ponder, &

Lueg, 2005; Bowden & Dagger, 2011; Torres & Kline, 2006). However, research on customer

delight in the tourism literature is scarce (Magnini, Crotts, & Zehrer, 2011; Torres & Kline,

2006), the majority of which is qualitative, merely focusing on delighting hotel guests (e.g.,

Magnini et al., 2011; Torres, Fu, & Lehto, 2014; Torres & Kline, 2013).

When confronted with increasingly experienced, demanding and sophisticated visitors, it

remains a problem for destination marketers to achieve these favourable marketing outcomes.

Despite the demand from practitioners to address this issue, relevant academic research is

deficient. First, there is a lack of a holistic approach that incorporates both the supply and

demand sides; hence the need to think conceptually of integrating “the disparate topics into a

more cohesive destination marketing paradigm” (Pike & Page, 2014). Pike and Page (2014)

point out that a key challenge in destination marketing research is building a structure that

embraces the variety of themes in the destination marketing arena. Second, academic opinions

about the influence of destination marketing on visitor responses are fragmented and

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disorganized, calling for more research investigating the links between destination marketing and

visitors’ responses. In a nutshell, this paper aims to establish a comprehensive theoretical model

to explain the complexities involved in the formation of positive destination marketing

outcomes.

The framework starts with destination image, an element that can be manipulated and

controlled by destination marketers. Tourism destinations primarily compete on the basis of the

perceived image (Michaelidou, Siamagka, Moraes, & Micevski, 2013). So tourism destinations

invest heavily on image promotion and marketing communications to build a favourable

destination image (Govers, Go, & Kumar, 2007). Although a substantial amount of research

agrees on the positive impact of destination image on a visitor’s decision to visit a particular

destination (e.g., Choi, Tkachenko, & Sil, 2011; Lin, Morais, Kerstetter, & Hou, 2007;

Ramkissoon, Uysal, & Brown, 2011), academic opinions pertaining to the influence of

destination image on marketing outcomes are inconsistent and even contradictory. Many scholars

argue that destination image improves visitor satisfaction (e.g., Bigne, Sanchez, & Sanchez,

2001; Chi & Qu, 2008), while others contend that favourable destination image may exert a

negative impact on visitor satisfaction (e.g., Chon, 1992; Jamrozy & Walsh, 2008; Santos, 1998)

since it raises expectations that may be difficult to live up to. Hence the correlation between

destination image and favourable marketing results is yet to be confirmed.

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In this paper we argue that one of the principal mechanisms linking destination marketing

stimuli to destination marketing outcomes is the visitor experience. Sufficient evidence exists in

recent studies showing the relationships among marketing stimuli, customer experiences and

marketing outcomes. Retail marketing, both online and offline, is associated with the creation of

customer experiences, which in turn gives rise to performance outcomes (Grewal, Levy, &

Kumar, 2009; Rose, Clark, Samouel, & Hair, 2012). Customer experiences of a brand are evoked

by brand-related stimuli (Brakus, Schmitt, & Zarantonello, 2009). Customer experiences of

service influence customers’ feelings, satisfaction and attitudes toward the service brand (Grace

& O'Cass, 2004). Customer experiences in a shopping mall are informative upon the customer’s

patronage frequency and purchase amount (Tsai, 2010). The effect of product design benefits on

the customer’s post-consumption emotions and customer loyalty is influenced by customer

experiences (Chitturi et al., 2008). Based on the pre-existing theories of customer experiences, it

can be predicted that customer experiences transmit the benefits of marketing stimuli into

marketing outcomes.

Research on customer experiences, especially in the service context, is encouraged by

scholars in marketing (Brakus et al., 2009). Tourism is a focal domain of the experience

economy (Oh, Fiore, & Jeoung, 2007). In the tourism industry, visitor experience is a dynamic

interactive process between visitors and the travel system (Ek, Larsen, Hornskov, & Mansfeldt,

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2008). The visitor experience has increasingly caught the attention of destination marketers

(Oppewal, Huybers, & Crouch, 2015) but generally remains under-researched (Larsen, 2007;

Tasci & Ko, 2015). This paper focuses on two themes of visitor experiences, namely, fun and

customer orientation.

Fun is a crucial element in visitor experiences (Bakir & Baxter, 2011; Chan, Way, &

Hinkin, 2013; Kao, Huang, & Wu, 2008). Fun reflects the hedonic dimension of consumption

because it relates to experiential, aesthetic and enjoyment-associated benefits (Holbrook &

Hirschman, 1982; Kim, Kim, & Wachter, 2013; Tasci & Ko, 2015). It is a critical consideration

especially for leisure research “as any meaningful attempt to model pleasure-oriented

consumption must pay attention to its hedonic components” (Holbrook & Hirschman, 1982,

p.135). However, research on the concept of fun is scarce and limited in its conceptualisation and

operationalisation (Bakir & Baxter, 2011; Tasci & Ko, 2015). Fun is used to explain customer

behaviour, but not treated as a real construct in most cases (e.g., Kim & Kim, 2014; Kim et al.,

2013; Sörensson, 2012). The research of Tasci and Ko (2015) makes the first step toward a

definition and measurement of fun, but doesn’t go further to investigate the relationship between

fun and other important themes in marketing. The present study addresses this research gap by

exploring the concept of fun in the tourism context and incorporating it in the conceptual

framework.

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Customer orientation is advocated as central to all business practices (Deshpandé, Farley, &

Webster Jr, 1993) especially tourism (Grissemann, Plank, & Brunner-Sperdin, 2013). Despite the

recent academic interest in customer orientation in tourism and hospitality studies, a considerable

amount of literature investigates the concept as a business strategy (e.g., Grissemann et al., 2013)

or a predisposition of the service employee (e.g., Lee, Song, Lee, Lee, & Bernhard, 2013) from

“the vantage point of the seller” (Deshpandé et al., 1993). Much is to be unearthed about

customer orientation from the customer’s perspective (Blocker, Flint, Myers, & Slater, 2011).

Because customers are the target audience for marketing efforts, investigating customer

orientation as experienced by customers themselves is probably more critical than examining it

only from the organisation’s or the employee’s perspectives (Kim, 2009; Nasution & Mavondo,

2008). Albeit service quality management with the customer focus has been extensively studied

in tourism and hospitality studies (e.g., Chen & Chen, 2014; Kim, 2011), the association between

customer orientation and favourable marketing outcomes such as visitor delight and place

attachment has been largely ignored. The role of customer orientation as a mediator in achieving

visitor delight and place attachment has received limited attention. In an attempt to bridge these

gaps, this paper develops a conceptual model with customer orientation from the visitor’s

perspective as a mediator that links destination image with destination marketing outcomes.

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LITERATURE REVIEW

The following sub-sections provide a rationale for each relationship included in the framework.

Each sub-section reviews literature about the conceptualisation of constructs, namely, destination

image, visitor delight, place attachment, fun and customer orientation.

Destination Image

Destination image is defined as an attitudinal construct representing the sum of beliefs, ideas and

impressions people hold of a particular setting (Baloglu & McCleary, 1999; Crompton, 1979;

Kim & Perdue, 2011). Destination image is considered by some literature as a multi-dimensional

construct including both the cognitive and affective components (Chew & Jahari, 2014). The

former refers to an individual’s knowledge and beliefs about a destination’s functional

characteristics while the latter reflects an individual’s feelings toward the destination (Kim &

Perdue, 2011). This study focuses on the cognitive destination image for three reasons. First, the

majority of empirical research in the tourism discipline emphasizes the cognitive dimension of

destination image (Ramkissoon et al., 2011; Wang & Hsu, 2010). Second, research has found

that emotional and overall destination image build upon the cognitive image (Wang & Hsu,

2010). Third, a better understanding of the attribute-based dimension is critical to allocating

destination resources in an effective way.

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On the basis of previous literature, destination image in this study is analysed using the

multi-attribute approach (Kim & Perdue, 2011; Lin et al., 2007; Ramkissoon et al., 2011).

Destination attributes can be analysed from three aspects, including destination attractions,

destination support services and people-related factors (Vengesayi, Mavondo, & Reisinger,

2009). The destination attraction is a critical determinant of tourism destination competitiveness

(Moreira & Iao, 2014). It includes cultural attractions, natural attractions, events, recreation and

entertainment (Goeldner & Ritchie, 2006; Middleton & Clarke, 2012). People-related factors

encompass the social interaction between visitors and local residents (Smith, 2012), as well as

between visitors and service personnel (Wright, Dunford, & Snell, 2001). Destination support

services comprise accommodation, transportation, cuisine, etc., which help to nurture the

destination and satisfy daily living needs of visitors (Lee, Huang, & Yeh, 2010).

Destination image has been found to positively impact perceived service quality, positive

affect of visitors (Lee, Lee, & Lee, 2005), visitor satisfaction (e.g., Assaker & Hallak, 2013;

Prayag & Ryan, 2012) and visitor loyalty (Zhang, Fu, Cai, & Lu, 2014). The variety and taste of

wine, together with great food sampling trigger visitor delight at a food and wine festival (Crotts,

Pan, & Raschid, 2008). In the hotel industry, exceptional food and beverage (Torres & Kline,

2013), customer service, cleaniness (Magnini et al., 2011) and the corporate culture all foster

customer delight. Hence, the following proposition:

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Proposition 1: Destination image positively influences visitor delight.

The image of a commercial setting comprised by the atmosphere, furniture, decoration and

spatial features stimulates the customer’s emotional attachment to the place (Debenedetti et al.,

2014). Destination image is also evidenced to positively influence place attachment among

international visitors to different tourism destinations (Chen, Chen, & Okumus, 2013; Prayag &

Ryan, 2012). Consequently, the next proposition is developed.

Proposition 2: Destination image positively influences place attachment.

Leiper (1990) suggests that the destination attraction itself has the power to impact visitor

perceptions, experiences and behaviours. Visitors can get involved in active destination

attractions such as adventures (Wu & Liang, 2011), through which visitors experience fun

(Dickson & Dolnicar, 2004). Visitors can also derive fun from shopping (Yüksel, 2007), which is

considered as one element of the destination attraction (Moscardo, 2004; Murphy, Moscardo,

Benckendorff, & Pearce, 2011). As the tourism destination sets the stage for fun, it can be

postulated that well trained staff and support facilities at the destination enable visitors to have

fun. Fun-enabling staff is among the elements leading to fun for theme park visitors (Bakir &

Baxter, 2011).

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Implementation of the marketing concept is accomplished through individual service

employees and their interactions with customers in the service industry (Donavan, Brown, &

Mowen, 2004). Professionally trained staff tend to place the customer at the centre of their

activities (Pettijohn, Pettijohn, & Taylor, 2002) and be more capable in meeting customers’

needs for service quality. Service employees’ technical and social skills are critical components

of the customer orientation in the service industry (Hennig-Thurau, 2004). Destination support

services help to create an environment for visitors to get around freely and enjoy the destination

better (Vengesayi et al., 2009), which creates superior value for visitors. Quality facilities and

services, such as a convenient transportation network, satisfy visitors through utilisation benefits

and contribute to a visitor-friendly destination, which is a customer oriented concept (Anuar,

Ahmad, Jusoh, & Hussain, 2012).

Destination image is closely associated with visitor experiences (Trauer & Ryan, 2005). The

more favourable the impression of a tourism destination in the visitor’s mind, the more

favourable the predisposition, and the easier for the visitor to get excited, experience fun and

positively perceive the service provider’s commitment. It has been found that a favourable

destination image has a positive impact on the visitor’s evaluation of the experience at the

tourism destination (Chi & Qu, 2008; Prayag & Ryan, 2012).

In line with the above discussion, the following propositions arise.

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Proposition 3: Destination image positively influences visitors’ experience of fun.

Proposition 4: Destination image positively influences visitors’ experience of customer

orientation.

Destination Marketing Outcomes

Visitor Delight

Visitor delight represents customer delight in the tourism context. It is recognised that delight is

usually connected with emotions including arousal, joy and pleasure that can be intensified by

surprise (Loureiro & Kastenholz, 2011; Torres et al., 2014) which perhaps explain why

delightful experience is more memorable than its satisfactory counterpart (Berman, 2005;

Magnini et al., 2011).

Customer delight is closely associated with hedonic benefits. Chitturi et al. (2008)

emphasize that hedonic benefits fulfill promotion goals (goals desired to be achieved, such as

“looking cool” or “be sophisticated” (Chitturi, Raghunathan, & Mahajan, 2007; Chitturi et al.,

2008; Higgins, 1997) and engender emotions of cheerfulness and excitement. These high-arousal

feelings are primary antecedent feelings of delight (Chitturi et al., 2007, 2008).

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In this paper, visitor delight is used to represent the highly-aroused pleasure of visitors to

the tourism destination (Crotts et al., 2008; Magnini et al., 2011). Visitor delight can result from

the satisfaction of certain human needs (Arnold et al., 2005; Torres et al., 2014; Torres & Kline,

2006, 2013). Self-esteem is often regarded as the most important need to be fulfilled to delight

customers (Schneider & Bowen, 1999). In the hotel industry, taking care of the customer’s needs

is ranked as the most essential service attribute for evoking visitor delight (Torres & Kline,

2013). More specifically, commitment (Torres & Kline, 2006), friendliness, professionalism and

problem-solving skills of service staff positively influence hotel customer delight (Torres et al.,

2014; Torres & Kline, 2013).

Place Attachment

Place attachment represents positive bonds to physical and social settings (Brown, Perkins, &

Brown, 2003). It is recognised to originate from the attachment theory (Ramkissoon et al.,

2013a, 2013b; Ramkissoon, Weiler, & Smith, 2012). This paper builds upon previous academic

work on the multi-dimensionality of place attachment (e.g., Kyle, Graefe, & Manning, 2005;

Williams & Vaske, 2003; Yuksel et al., 2010) and uses the factor structure developed by

Ramkissoon et al. (2012). Four sub-dimensions of place attachment are considered and reflect

the range of feelings individuals hold when linked with a particular place (Ramkissoon, Smith, &

Kneebone, 2014).

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Place dependence is the “functional attachment to a place” (Yuksel et al., 2010, p.275). It

represents the bond between an individual and the physical functions of a setting (Ramkissoon et

al., 2012). Accessibility to the place and physical conditions such as hiking paths and camping

facilities are examples of functions that increase place dependence (Alexandris, Kouthouris, &

Meligdis, 2006; Williams & Vaske, 2003).

Based on the self-congruity theory, there should be congruence between tourism destination

personality and visitors’ self-concept (Aaker, 2012; Usakli & Baloglu, 2011), which leads to

place identity. An individual gets attached to a place when it offers opportunity to both express

and affirm the self-concept (Budruk, Thomas, & Tyrrell, 2009; Kyle et al., 2005). In tourism

research, the physical and social attributes of a tourism destination might cause a strong sense of

place identity due to its uniqueness from other places (Gu & Ryan, 2008; Ramkissoon et al.,

2012).

Affect plays the central role in person-place connection (Scannell & Gifford, 2010a). Place

affect represents the emotional or affective connection with a place (Yuksel et al., 2010), in other

words, love for a place (Ramkissoon et al., 2012; Tuan, 1977). Strong emotive ties have been

manifested to exist between people and various commercial settings including tourism

destinations (Debenedetti et al., 2014), for example, affective connection with the natural setting

spawns a sense of psychological wellbeing for park visitors (Ramkissoon et al., 2012).

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Place attachment is also socially driven (Scannell & Gifford, 2010a, 2010b; Tumanan &

Lansangan, 2012) and socially constructed (Wynveen, Kyle, & Sutton, 2010, 2012). Place social

bonding is another important sub-construct of place attachment that demands more attention

(Kyle & Chick, 2007; Ramkissoon et al., 2012). An individual may develop attachment to a

place because it helps to maintain and promote interpersonal relationships (Scannell & Gifford,

2010a, 2010b) and group belongingness (Hammitt, Kyle, & Oh, 2009). In both commercial

settings (e.g., restaurants) and non-commercial settings (e.g., residential settings), social ties

generate the sense of belonging that provokes place attachment (Debenedetti et al., 2014; Lenzi,

Vieno, Pastore, & Santinello, 2013).

Visitor Experiences

Fun

The playful, social or amusing nature of fun is emphasized by literature on fun at work

(Lamm & Meeks, 2009). Research focus on fun in the marketing discipline derives from the

academic recognition of the experiential aspects of consumption with the pleasure principle

aimed at hedonic response (Holbrook & Hirschman, 1982; Pura, 2005). Fun, as a crucial element

of the hedonic phenomena, is particularly important for leisure research (Tasci & Ko, 2015). Fun

represents the hedonic experience derived from leisure activities or aesthetic enjoyment in a

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travel-related context (Holbrook, 2006). Tasci & Ko (2015) conceptualise fun at the macro

tourism product level and define it as “a component of the hedonic value of an object resulting in

desired sensory results for the consumer” (p.2).

In the tourism context, fun is considered as an essential experiential quality of theme parks;

it is positively influenced by attractiveness of scripts, charm of the setting and planning of

activities and in turn positively impacts experiential satisfaction of theme park visitors (Kao et

al., 2008). Fun, enjoyment in life and excitement serve as the highest underlying personal values

for visitors who travel slowly overland, stay longer, seek quality over quantity (Dickinson,

Lumsdon, & Robbins, 2011; Kim, Lee, & Uysal, 2013). Usakli and Baloglu (2011) show that fun

is a salient characteristic in the perceived destination personality of Las Vegas. While these

studies contribute to the theorisation of fun in a tourism setting, the notion of fun requires more

serious research in tourism (Bakir & Baxter, 2011; Tasci & Ko, 2015).

Previous research in marketing has found that superior hedonic benefits offered by the

product enhance visitor delight (Chitturi et al., 2008). Fun at a theme park generates happiness

and enjoyment for visitors (Kao et al., 2008). Füller and Matzler (2008) emphasize that it is the

excitement factors (party and fun) that surprise and delight visitors to a ski resort. Experienced

fun at work creates a contagious “fun mood”, thereby delivering happy workers (Bolton &

Houlihan, 2009; Choi, Kwon, & Kim, 2013). Higher playfulness related with experiential

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behaviour leads to a more positive mood (Tasci & Ko, 2015). The preceding review of literature

and the conceptualisation of fun inform the following proposition.

Proposition 5: Fun positively influences visitor delight.

Fun at a destination may enable visitors to develop functional attachment to the setting as

fun is functional to people (Ford, Newstrom, & McLaughlin, 2004). Specifically, for alleviating

strain and combating stresses, fun is effective and important (Choi et al., 2013; Tews, Michel, &

Stafford, 2013). Greater levels of experienced fun result in lower emotional exhaustion and

emotional dissonance (Karl, Peluchette, & Harland, 2007). Fun experiences may also facilitate

the development of emotional bonds with a destination. Visitors develop an affection for a

destination that offers fun experiences because fun is valued by people (Holbrook & Hirschman,

1982; Kim & Kim, 2014; Pura, 2005).

Tourism destinations set the context for shared experiences and communal bonds (Hibbert,

Dickinson, & Curtin, 2013). Podilchak (1991) emphasizes the interactional nature of fun and

depicts it as the active social-emotional interaction through which an individual establishes the

social-human bond. Fun at a destination may allow for social bonding among visitors as fun

fosters social relationships (Tews et al., 2013). Fun may also enhance family ties, for example

parents like watching their children enjoying themselves at theme parks (Bakir & Baxter, 2011).

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Similarly in the workplace, fun impacts employee turnover through constituent attachment

(Tews, Michel, & Allen, 2014), which reflects an employee’s attachment to key constituents in

the workplace such as coworkers (Maertz & Griffeth, 2004).

The preceding review of literature informs the following proposition.

Proposition 6: Fun positively influences place attachment.

Customer Orientation

The marketing concept lays the philosophical foundation for customer orientation (Brady &

Cronin, 2001). Customer orientation means putting customers’ interest first (Deshpandé et al.,

1993), knowing their needs (Kohli & Jaworski, 1990) and offering better solutions to their

problems (Bagozzi et al., 2012). Customers experience customer orientation of an organisation

or service employees through high service quality (Bagozzi et al., 2012; Brady & Cronin, 2001).

The concept of customer orientation is adopted in this study to represent the level of commitment

of a destination service provider (Susskind, Kacmar, & Borchgrevink, 2007), both at the

organisational level and the individual employee level, in meeting the visitor’s needs and

expectations.

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By “acknowledging the customer’s perspective, importance and rights” (Schneider & Bowen,

1999, p.41), customer orientation makes an individual feel acknowledged, valued, and special

(Torres & Kline, 2013) and helps to maintain and enhance an individual’s self-image (Schneider

& Bowen, 1999), thereby fulfilling the customer’s self-esteem needs. Based on the preceding

discussion on visitor delight, the following proposition is developed.

Proposition 7: Customer orientation positively influences visitor delight.

The notion of customer orientation is central to the concept of relationship marketing (Kohli &

Jaworski, 1990). Specifically, customer orientation results in a more enjoyable relationship from

the customer’s perspective (Kim & Ok, 2010). Positive personal connection via enjoyable

interactions between a service provider and a patron engenders positive patron emotional

attachment in the restaurant (Hyun & Kim, 2014). Familiarity with and recognition by service

employees evoke social benefits that lead to place social bonding (Kim, 2009). Care and support

from the service environment causes the experience of security that leads to an emotional bond

with a commercial setting (Debenedetti et al., 2014). Schwepker Jr (2003) suggests a connection

between customer orientation and customer trust. Customer orientation leads to faith in the

trustworthiness of service employees (Kim, 2009). Trust in the social exchange process (Nunkoo

& Ramkissoon, 2012; Nunkoo, Ramkissoon, & Gursoy, 2012) can generate place attachment

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(Debenedetti et al., 2014; Vlachos, Theotokis, Pramatari, & Vrechopoulos, 2010). The preceding

review of literature informs the following proposition.

Proposition 8: Customer orientation positively influences place attachment.

CONCLUSION

Theoretical Contributions

Based on a critical and extensive literature review, and the exploration of the associations

between destination image, visitor experiences and destination marketing outcomes, a

comprehensive theoretical model (Figure 1) not currently found in the literature is developed. In

this conceptual model, it is postulated that destination image exerts a direct and positive impact

on visitor delight and place attachment; it also positively influences visitors’ experiences of fun

and customer orientation. Fun and customer orientation are further posited to both have a direct

and positive influence on visitor delight and place attachment. Thus visitors’ experiences of fun

and customer orientation are proposed to be principal mechanisms that mediate the effect of

destination image on visitor responses (visitor delight and place attachment). In doing so, this

conceptual paper makes a theoretical contribution to future research. Despite all direct

relationships in the framework having evidence in extant literature as reviewed above, the

indirect effects have yet to be explored in the tourism and marketing literature. The present study

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goes beyond the conception of direct relations by examining mediators, thus offering a clearer

and more precise depiction of the links between predictors and outcome variables (Ramkissoon

& Mavondo, 2015).

This paper takes an experiential view and expands the knowledge of customer experiences,

particularly in relation to its antecedents and outcomes. Lemke, Clark, and Wilson (2011) point

out the deficiency of investigation into the consequence of customer experiences. This paper

addresses this weakness by incorporating destination marketing outcomes in the framework.

Other theoretical contributions of this study relate to the investigation of specific constructs. This

paper lays the theoretical foundation for the fun construct. It develops the conceptualisation of

fun based on the fragmented and scattered literature. It further establishes the importance of fun

as a mediator that converts destination marketing stimuli into favourable marketing results. This

study also benefits research in hedonic consumption because fun is a critical factor of the

hedonic experience.

A review of literature demonstrates that place attachment lacks mature research in destination

marketing. By encompassing place dependence, place identity, place affect and place social

bonding, this framework further consolidates the factor structure developed by previous literature

(Ramkissoon & Mavondo, 2015; Ramkissoon et al., 2014) in a new research context. The

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consideration of different dimensions offers a deeper understanding of the relationships between

place attachment and other constructs in destination marketing.

This paper facilitates the reconciliation of contradictory arguments concerning the effect of

destination image on favourable marketing outcomes by examining its direct impact on visitor

delight and place attachment; as well as potential mediators between destination image and

favourable marketing outcomes. This paper also extends the body of knowledge on customer

delight by investigating its antecedents in the tourism context. It contributes to the

conceptualization of customer orientation from the visitor’s perspective; as well as to the

deficient research on the correlation between customer orientation and favourable marketing

outcomes (visitor delight and place attachment) and on the mediating role of customer

orientation in the relationship between destination image and favourable marketing outcomes.

In sum, it is hoped that scholars will benefit from an empirical testing of the conceptual

framework proposed in this paper. Future research can thus invoke the proposed framework as a

theoretical basis for investigations in different research contexts. For instance, scholars suggest

that Chinese visitors might have preferences and perceptions distinct from those of their western

counterparts (Johanson, 2008; Li, 2008; Packer, Ballantyne, & Hughes, 2014). But conventional

destination marketing wisdom is mainly derived from research and practice with western visitors

(Li, Lai, Harrill, Kline, & Wang, 2011). Thus the application of this framework to Chinese and

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other non-western visitors will potentially make an interesting and meaningful contribution to the

existing destination marketing literature.

Practical Implications

The proposed framework, although yet to be empirically tested, has potential practical

implications for tourism authorities and destination marketers striving to succeed in destination

marketing. It could offer important insights for destination marketers in understanding the

importance of customer experiences of fun and customer orientation at a destination in delighting

visitors and making them attached to the destination. Since experiential view and experiential

marketing have yet to be adequately harnessed in the tourism and hospitality industry (Tasci &

Ko, 2015), these inquiries might help to improve experiential marketing practices at tourism

destinations. The framework may also enable tourism authorities and destination marketers to

identify destination attributes that are most valuable in creating and enhancing fun and customer

orientation experiences, the knowledge of which is critical to allocating destination resources in

an effective way. It can potentially provide tourism authorities and destination marketers with

insights into the impact of destination marketing on favourable outcomes, thereby assisting in

directing investments into the most profitable marketing activities. The above benefits for

tourism authorities and destination marketers could result in a more rewarding and enjoyable

experience for visitors.

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It is hoped that once tested empirically, the findings would be of use to tourism authorities and

destination marketers in fostering visitor delight and place attachment. To exemplify, destination

marketers in the western world have limited experience with the increasingly larger, important

and sophisticated group of Asian visitors. Thus, testing the proposed model among these visitors

to a typical western destination would offer western tourism authorities and destination

marketers insights into their preferences, travelling experiences and ways to better serve their

needs and wants through value delivery.

Limitations and Future Research

This paper has some limitations in spite of its theoretical contributions and practical implications.

First, it does not empirically test the framework and the emerging propositions. A second

limitation relates to the construct of customer delight. Although customer delight is treated as an

important destination marketing outcome in this framework, marketing practitioners need to

approach customer delight carefully and assess the costs/benefits before investing into its

achievement; because delighting customers may lead to higher expectations, making it harder to

achieve customer delight in future transactions (Arnold et al., 2005; Magnini et al., 2011).

Readers should also be cautioned that the framework has to be seen in light of the type of

destination and would not necessarily apply to all tourism settings. For instance, pilgrims who

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take on a pilgrimage tour to the Holy Land might not value the fun experience. Further, in leisure

tourism, visitors to some cultural heritage destinations may focus more on authenticity instead of

fun.

This paper only takes into account some important elements in destination marketing and visitor

experiences. Future researchers should integrate other factors into the framework. The

conceptual framework focuses on visitor’s emotional and cognitive responses (visitor delight and

place attachment) instead of their behavioural intentions or actual behaviours. Although it has

been found that visitor delight and place attachment both exert a positive impact on loyalty

behaviours and reciprocation behaviours, cognitions and emotions are poorer measures of

behaviours than behavioural intentions and behaviours themselves. Thus it should not be taken

for granted that destination image would necessarily translate into behavioural intentions or

behaviours favoured by destination marketers. Future research can consider extending the

framework further to include such dependent variables as positive word-of-mouth intentions or

revisit behaviours for a more complete comprehension of the destination marketing stimuli-

visitor experiences-destination marketing outcomes chain of relationships.

Despite the limitations, this paper has integrated “disparate” themes in destination marketing to

establish a conceptual framework underpinned by the pre-existing theories. It is acknowledged

that testing the conceptual framework implies a post-positivist paradigm, adaptation of existing

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scales in marketing and management disciplines, as well as quantitative data collection and

analysis methods. This paper offers a framework with the potential to deliver valuable theoretical

and practical insights for academics and destination marketing practitioners.

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FIGURE 1 Conceptual Framework

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