Tourists often have emotional links with the destinations they intend to visit

Tourists often have emotional links with the destinations they intend to visit

Bias in tourism research is an emerging group of literature. It is a research area which offers an avenue to explore positive and negative attitudes towards a given destination. Former categorizations of these include: tourism xenophobia, tourism xenophilia, tourism animosity, and in this study tourism affinity.

The authors, Alexander Josiassen, Florian Kock, and Astrid Nørfelt, examine two types of bias: tourism affinity (TAFF), and tourism animosity (TANI). Through a sample of individuals (n = 323), respondents were asked on questions derived from both the literature on affinity, animosity, related topics, as well as some resulting from in-depth exploratory interviews (n = 14). Second, hypotheses were tested with a different sample (n = 282).

The findings showed that Tourists high on TAFF will feel sympathy, admiration, or attachment towards a given destination. TANI will drive a general intention visit and provide word-of-mouth, but is a barrier to intimate interaction in the destination. In addition, goal compatibility, relative power, and moral obligation drive TAFF while relative power drives TANI.

To read more on tourism affinity visit: https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0047287520979682

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