Destination Image- Ecotourism in Colombia

ABSTRACT The purpose of this dissertation is to analyse the overall image formation process in the ecotourism milieu. In this process, it will be disclosed the cognitive, affective and conative dimensions proposed by Gartner (1993) in which the research intends to study the perception, feelings a...

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Main Author: Rodriguez, Jhonnathan
Format: Dissertation (University of Nottingham only)
Language:English
Published: 2015
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/29953/
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author Rodriguez, Jhonnathan
author_facet Rodriguez, Jhonnathan
author_sort Rodriguez, Jhonnathan
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description ABSTRACT The purpose of this dissertation is to analyse the overall image formation process in the ecotourism milieu. In this process, it will be disclosed the cognitive, affective and conative dimensions proposed by Gartner (1993) in which the research intends to study the perception, feelings and attitudes towards a nature-based destination. These factors will be compared with the most influential components that affect this process such as information sources, socio-psychological and socio-demographic variables. To examine these objectives, a questionnaire about Colombia was distributed to a sample of 102 European citizens (visitors and non-visitors) with the intention to observe their perceptions, feelings and attitudes towards the country. Quantitative analysis such as factor analysis, ANOVA, T-tests and descriptive statistics were applied to observe the correlations and impacts of the variables, while qualitative analysis were used to expand and complement the study of every dimension. The empirical results suggested the cognitive and affective attributes of an ecotourism destination, which were highly influenced by culture and nature. This output was coherent with the motivations that illustrated a huge interest to natural and cultural resources, combined with the motivation to explore novelty, learn and the live unique emotions. The socio-demographic variables revealed a high importance in the ecotourism having important direct and indirect effects in the image formation process. WOM and autonomous sources of information represented critical variables in the image formation process of pre and post-visitors having important implications before and after the visit in a nature-based place. Internet usage was low and did not represent an important significance in the image formation process. The conative image was mainly affected by the organic sources of information (WOM and e-WOM), the emotional bonds and the destination personality, which were essential to discuss the level of attachment and loyalty in this nature-based place. Further implications in the sector of the industry were discussed as well as the limitations of the study.
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spelling nottingham-299532017-10-19T15:00:03Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/29953/ Destination Image- Ecotourism in Colombia Rodriguez, Jhonnathan ABSTRACT The purpose of this dissertation is to analyse the overall image formation process in the ecotourism milieu. In this process, it will be disclosed the cognitive, affective and conative dimensions proposed by Gartner (1993) in which the research intends to study the perception, feelings and attitudes towards a nature-based destination. These factors will be compared with the most influential components that affect this process such as information sources, socio-psychological and socio-demographic variables. To examine these objectives, a questionnaire about Colombia was distributed to a sample of 102 European citizens (visitors and non-visitors) with the intention to observe their perceptions, feelings and attitudes towards the country. Quantitative analysis such as factor analysis, ANOVA, T-tests and descriptive statistics were applied to observe the correlations and impacts of the variables, while qualitative analysis were used to expand and complement the study of every dimension. The empirical results suggested the cognitive and affective attributes of an ecotourism destination, which were highly influenced by culture and nature. This output was coherent with the motivations that illustrated a huge interest to natural and cultural resources, combined with the motivation to explore novelty, learn and the live unique emotions. The socio-demographic variables revealed a high importance in the ecotourism having important direct and indirect effects in the image formation process. WOM and autonomous sources of information represented critical variables in the image formation process of pre and post-visitors having important implications before and after the visit in a nature-based place. Internet usage was low and did not represent an important significance in the image formation process. The conative image was mainly affected by the organic sources of information (WOM and e-WOM), the emotional bonds and the destination personality, which were essential to discuss the level of attachment and loyalty in this nature-based place. Further implications in the sector of the industry were discussed as well as the limitations of the study. 2015-09-13 Dissertation (University of Nottingham only) NonPeerReviewed application/pdf en https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/29953/1/Ecotourism%20final%20dissertation.pdf Rodriguez, Jhonnathan (2015) Destination Image- Ecotourism in Colombia. [Dissertation (University of Nottingham only)] Ecotourism Destination image Colombia
spellingShingle Ecotourism
Destination image
Colombia
Rodriguez, Jhonnathan
Destination Image- Ecotourism in Colombia
title Destination Image- Ecotourism in Colombia
title_full Destination Image- Ecotourism in Colombia
title_fullStr Destination Image- Ecotourism in Colombia
title_full_unstemmed Destination Image- Ecotourism in Colombia
title_short Destination Image- Ecotourism in Colombia
title_sort destination image- ecotourism in colombia
topic Ecotourism
Destination image
Colombia
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/29953/