The international journal of tourism research tập 13, số 04, 2011 07 + 08

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TOURISM RESEARCH
Int. J. Tourism Res. 13, 307–309 (2011)
Published online in Wiley Online Library
(wileyonlinelibrary.com) DOI: 10.1002/jtr.858

Editorial

Marketing Innovations for
Sustainable Destinations
The genesis of this special issue arose from
papers presented at the third Advances in
Tourism Marketing conference held in Bournemouth, UK, in September 2009. This conference,
which built on the previous successes of the first
and second conferences held in Mugla, Turkey,
and Valencia, Spain, in 2005 and 2007 respectively, set out to explore, analyse and evaluate the
state of the art in tourism marketing from an
international perspective and bring together
academic researchers, policy‐makers and practitioners from around the world. This was
achieved with over 160 delegates present at the
conference including representation from the
private and governmental sectors as well as a
number of leading publishers in the field of
tourism. With papers submitted to the conference covering a considerable breadth of thematic
areas, this special issue seeks to bring together a
select number of papers that offer specific insight
into innovative aspects of marketing and the
means by which such activity leads to the greater
sustainability of destinations. It is hoped that the
papers selected for inclusion in this special issue,
and that successfully navigated a second round

of blind peer reviews, help raise levels of
awareness of issues not traditionally associated
with the management and marketing of destinations and evoke critical insight into what we
consider to be innovative marketing themes.
In view of the above, the first paper by
Alvarez and Campo focuses on Turkey as a
destination and the determination of the effect

of controllable and uncontrollable sources of
information on the country and destination
image as two separate constructs. Their paper
establishes the greater influence of the controllable sources (promotional video) as opposed
to the uncontrollable ones (news video) via the
selection of a pre‐post experimental design,
with a control group. Therefore, the study
findings demonstrate that tourism promotional
information improves Turkey’s destination
image and its preference in terms of visitation,
in contrast to the news, which does not affect
the image in any significant manner.
The second paper by Kimbu offers many
interesting insights into the development of
tourism in the Central African sub‐region
generally and the particular issues and challenges being faced by those trying to develop
tourism in Cameroon more specifically. Although sub‐Saharan Africa has performed well
of late vis‐à‐vis tourism growth during the last
five years, with average growth rates of +12% in
2006 and +6% between 2007 and 2010, there
remains considerable diversity in the rates of
growth of the individual countries with a

number falling well behind the rates of growth
being experienced by countries located in
Eastern and Southern Africa. Many of the
problems attributed to the likes of Cameroon
have been put down to an inability to position,
promote and market the wider destination in a
manner commensurate with the demands of the
international marketplace and the consequent
Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


308
expectations of tourists. Finding resources to
properly fund the development of tourism has
been challenging, whereas the overall political
commitment to tourism more broadly has been
inconsistent at best. By drawing on an in‐depth
knowledge of the country and its particular
context, Kimbu offers an insightful paper, which
brings home the considerable challenges that
exist for those wishing to successfully market
such destinations and for the myriad of public
and private sector stakeholders that are eager to
move the destination forward and so reach its
potential in what clearly is a very challenging
and difficult marketplace.
Coles and Fenclova offer a very different
paper in that they focus their attention on the
means by which low‐fares airlines contribute to
the development of destinations where they

exercise their rights to fly. By taking a very novel
and innovative stance, Coles and Fenclova
examine the charity component of corporate
social responsibility activity among low‐fares
airlines flying to and from the UK rather than
focusing on the well‐trodden path of the actual
business model itself. As a concept, responsibility is now an accepted dimension in the
governance and management of tourism destinations. In an increasingly neoliberal political
context where the state is either unwilling or
unable to regulate and fund travel and tourism,
voluntary relationships among stakeholders are
viewed as more important than ever in serving
to mediate the sustainable development of
destinations. As a key destination ‘citizen’,
low‐fares airlines have a crucial and increasingly responsible role to play in the development of
destinations. As such, this engaging paper
offers some very valid insights into how low‐
fares airlines interact with local ‘destination’
communities and citizens in this regard and
how they are embedded in tourism business
models and functions. The paper examines
critically the means by which low‐fares airlines
understand their socio‐cultural responsibilities
and, in particular, how these are manifested
through their charitable activities. The paper
begins by outlining the relationship between
corporate philanthropy and contemporary corporate social responsibility before offering a
conceptual framework upon which the subsequent empirical analysis is based. Interestingly,
although the lean production model of low‐fares
Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Editorial
airlines do not naturally suggest a positive
inclination towards charity and philanthropy,
the paper concludes that their scope and spread
are in fact far more widespread than one would
have imagined.
The fourth paper by Lee and Arcodia again
takes a very different direction in that it
investigates the role of regional food festivals
for destination branding and the characteristics
of regional food festivals that contribute to
building a destination brand. Food festivals have
grown exponentially in number in recent years
in many countries, whereas interest in food
tourism has become an increasingly recognized
form of recreation and tourist attraction. Although previous studies have explored the role
regional food festivals can play in economic
development more broadly and the development of regional tourism more specifically, this
study explicitly looks at its impact on branding
and attempts to migrate the research focus away
from similar studies that have focused on sport
events and large events in metropolitan areas to
food generally and food in regional destinations
more explicitly. With vastly different structures
and levels of community involvement and
commitment required than the previous types
of events, food festivals are a worthy source of
research scrutiny with their contribution to the
development of destination brands most appropriate. Due to the increased number of regional

food festivals and the paucity of knowledge in
existence as to their organization and contribution to the destination, Lee and Arcodia are
correct to highlight the need for such research on
the role of regional food festivals for destination
branding to respond to the increasing interests
on regional development and on the festival
management techniques to maximize its role in
building a destination brand.
The next paper, by Ene and Schofield, highlights the extent to which the short‐break market
has been under investigation from the perspective of consumer decision‐making research,
despite its considerable economic importance
for so many destinations. The paper adopts a
strong theoretical stance in that it examines consumer decision making in the budget short‐break
city market and adopts an integrated approach to
the problem domain by adapting and extending
Hansen’s (2005) consumer decision‐making
framework to include cognitive, affective and
Int. J. Tourism Res. 13, 307–309 (2011)
DOI: 10.1002/jtr


Marketing Innovations for Sustainable Destinations
conative dimensions. Although a number of
consumer decision‐making models have featured
motivation, supply, demand, value, price, quality,
cues, information and emotions in an attempt to
improve understanding of the process, frequently
in the tourism domain, such models have
assumed a vacation scenario and its associated
criteria such as extensive information search and

high levels of risk and insecurity, items not always
apparent in the context of short breaks. Hence,
despite the growth in demand for breaks of a
short duration, and their obvious economic
importance to so many destinations, Ene and
Schofield justly argue the case for more research
in this domain and the need to question the lower
risk, lower involvement and more limited information search behaviour often attributed to such
patterns of consumption. Therefore, this paper
responds to these challenges and sets out three
clear objectives, namely, the need to identify the
dimensions of budget city break consumer
decision making; examine the role of emotions
in budget city break decision making; and,
analyse the characteristics of dimension‐based a
posteriori budget city break market segments.
The sixth and final paper in this special issue
by Schmallegger analyses the case of the Flinders
Ranges, a rural‐remote destination in South
Australia; documents the strategies that the
regional tourism system has used to diversify
its market base; and identifies the factors that
have allowed the system to develop internal
systems‐of‐innovation dynamics. Schmallegger
highlights the considerable decline in visitors to
Australia’s Outback since the late 1990s, with
much of this decline attributed to traditional
loyal markets such as organized coach tours,
backpackers and the long‐distance self‐drive
transit market and the inability of Outback

destinations to adapt to changing market
trends over the past decade and diversify their
destination experiences to attract new alternative origin markets. This paper does, in fact,
strike at the very core of the purpose of this
special issue because what appears to be lacking
in the Outback of Australia are the very marketing innovations destinations require to ensure
longer‐term sustainability, most notably in the

Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

309
arena of product development and destination
marketing to redefine their image and market
position. However, for such activity to occur,
Schmallegger argues that destinations need to
be able to operate as ‘systems of innovation’,
which engage the whole range of public and
private sector organizations involved in
tourism in processes of collective change.
Interestingly, the paper concludes that the
Flinders Ranges tourism system has only
been able to overcome internal structural weaknesses by the importation of externally trained
entrepreneurs and public sector leaders with
questions remaining over the efficacy of centralized state and regional tourism organizations
in supporting such change.
In bringing this introduction to a close, the
editors hope that the diversity of the papers
included in this special issue offer some genuine
insight into the multitude of issues, challenges
and opportunities that face those responsible

for the management and marketing of destinations. Finally, the editors would like to extend
their thanks to the many colleagues who kindly
reviewed papers for this special issue and the
timely and professional manner with which all
reviews were undertaken.
REFERENCES
Hansen T. 2005. Perspectives on consumer decision
making: an integrative approach. Journal of
Consumer Behaviour 4(6): 420– 437.
ALAN FYALL
International Centre for Tourism & Hospitality
Research, Bournemouth University, UK
METIN KOZAK
Mugla University, Turkey
LUISA ANDREU
Universitat de València, Spain
JUERGEN GNOTH
Otago University, New Zealand
SONJA SIBILA LEBE
Maribor University, Slovenia

Int. J. Tourism Res. 13, 307–309 (2011)
DOI: 10.1002/jtr


INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TOURISM RESEARCH
Int. J. Tourism Res. 13, 310–323 (2011)
Published online 21 February 2011 in Wiley Online Library
(wileyonlinelibrary.com) DOI: 10.1002/jtr.838

Controllable versus Uncontrollable
Information Sources: Effects on
the Image of Turkey
Maria D. Alvarez1,* and Sara Campo2
Department of Tourism Administration, Bog˘aziçi University, Istanbul, Turkey
2
Marketing Department, Autónoma University, Madrid, Spain

1

ABSTRACT
The study aims to determine the effect of
controllable and uncontrollable sources of
information on the country and destination
image as two separate constructs. The
research is carried out in the context of
Turkey as a developing country through the
use of a pre- and post-experimental design
with a control group. The study establishes
the greater influence of the controllable
sources (promotional video) as opposed to
the uncontrollable ones (news video). The
findings show that tourism promotional
information improves Turkey’s destination
image and its preference in terms of
visitation in contrast to the news, which do
not significantly affect the image. Copyright
© 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Received 16 September 2010; Revised 4 January 2011; Accepted
10 January 2011

Keywords: country image; destination image;
information sources; experimental design;
Turkey.
INTRODUCTION

T

he concept of country image has been
studied extensively from various perspectives including tourism and international marketing. Country image has mainly

*Correspondence to: Dr Maria D. Alvarez, Department
of Tourism Administration, Bog˘aziçi University, Hisar
Kampüs, Bebek, Istanbul 34342, Turkey.
E-mail:

been investigated in relation to the country of
origin effect, which determines that the image
of a country may influence the perceptions of
the products that are manufactured there (Lee
and Ganesh, 1999; Laroche et al., 2005). In contrast, the tourism literature has primarily
focused on the image of countries as tourism
destinations, which has been found to affect
satisfaction, loyalty and perceptions of quality
(Chon, 1990; Baloglu, 2000; Bigné et al., 2001).
Although these two constructs have been
analyzed under different viewpoints, more
recently, researchers have called for the need
to investigate the impact of tourism activities
on both country and destination image as two

different albeit related constructs (Mossberg
and Kleppe, 2005; Campo and Alvarez, 2010).
Image is a dynamic concept (Gartner and
Hunt, 1987; Chon, 1991; Fakeye and Crompton, 1991; Gartner, 1993) that may change due
to previous experience (Dann, 1996) or when
the individual is exposed to various sources of
information (Martin and Eroglu, 1993). In this
sense, several studies have been used to determine how this additional information influences the image formation process (Baloglu
and McCleary, 1999; McCartney et al., 2008),
and researchers have distinguished between
those sources that originate from marketing
activities and which are managed, and those
that cannot be controlled for such as news,
movies and other media. However, there is
insufficient research regarding the effect of
uncontrollable sources of information on the
image of a country (Sönmez and Sirakaya,
2002) as well as a lack of comparative studies
of controllable versus uncontrollable sources.
Additionally, recent research that investigates
Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Controllable versus Uncontrollable Information Sources
the difference between country image and destination image (Mossberg and Kleppe, 2005;
Nadeau et al., 2008; Campo and Alvarez, 2010)
indicates that there is a need to separate both
concepts when analyzing the effect of communication strategies on the image of a country. It
is therefore important to establish to what
extent marketing communications and other

information related to the country has a varied
influence on the general country image and the
destination image.
Thus, the main objective of the research is to
determine the effect of controllable versus
uncontrollable sources of information on the
country and destination image as two separate
constructs. The research specifically compares
the influence of audiovisual information, using
a promotional video as the controllable source
and a news video as the uncontrollable one.
This effect is investigated in the context of
Turkey as a developing country. In order to
assess the varied influence of these sources of
information on the two image concepts analyzed and to provide a better comprehension
of their influence through a separate analysis
of perceptual changes (Sönmez and Sirakaya,
2002), an experimental design is used.
PREVIOUS RESEARCH
The image of a place has been defined as ‘the
sum of beliefs and impressions people hold
about places. Images represent a simplification
of large number of associations and pieces of
information connected with a place. They are
a product of the mind trying to process and
pick out essential information from huge
amounts of data about a place’ (Kotler et al.,
1993, p. 141, as cited in Kotler and Gertner,
2002, p. 251). In parallel, destination image is
determined as ‘a totality of impressions, beliefs,

ideas, expectations and feelings accumulated
towards a place over time’ (Kim and Richardson, 2003, p. 218). Image is thus defined as a
complex construct that includes cognitive evaluations related to beliefs, as well as affective
ones, including feelings and emotions (Baloglu
and McCleary, 1999). Several studies have also
advocated the existence of a third component
of image, the conative one, which refers to the
behavior of the individual following the evaluation of the place (Gartner, 1993; Parameswaran
Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

311
and Pisharodi, 1994; Dann, 1996; Choi et al.,
2007).
Image is also generally considered as being
multidimensional in nature, and including the
individual’s evaluation of various aspects
regarding the place (Baloglu, 1997; Gallarza et
al., 2002). Nonetheless, authors such as Echtner
and Ritchie (1991) and Stepchenkova and Morrison (2006) stress the need to include a holistic
as well as an attribute-based evaluation. Thus,
a common conceptualization of image establishes that the cognitive and affective components contribute to the formation of the overall
image construct (Lin et al., 2007; San Martín
and Rodríguez del Bosque, 2008).
Despite the similarity of these two conceptualizations of image, recent studies propose
that, when applied to the context of countries,
the general image of the country, and that of
the place as a tourism destination need to be
distinguished. From a theoretical perspective,
Mossberg and Kleppe (2005) determine that
country image refers to a combination of

generic associations that are unrelated to a specific context, while destination image encompasses the tourists’ view of the place and its
tourism attractiveness. In the case of developing countries, the destination image may be
significantly more positive than the more
general country image as shown by studies
relating to Nepal (Nadeau et al., 2008) and
Turkey (Campo and Alvarez, 2010).
The process by which image is formed may
also be different for the country in general and
the destination. Image formation may be
defined as ‘a construction of a mental representation of a destination on the basis of information cues delivered by the image formation
agents and selected by a person’ (Tasci and
Gartner, 2007, p. 414). Thus, information
regarding the place may be obtained from
varied sources, and the individual may rely on
different information when considering the
country from a tourism perspective or from an
economic, political or sociological point of
view. For example, diverse sources of information, including historical events, culture and
traditions, the level of industrialization and the
products commercialized as ‘made in’ (Roth
and Diamantopoulos, 2009) may lead to a composite or stereotyped evaluation of country
image. In contrast, the destination image may
Int. J. Tourism Res. 13, 310–323 (2011)
DOI: 10.1002/jtr


312
be affected to a greater extent by other different
kinds of sources such as photographs, articles
written about the destination and promotional

activities carried out by various tourism stakeholders. Thus, it is paramount that research is
carried out to establish to what extent country
and destination image may be influenced by
various information sources.
The literature on the image formation process
has been significantly influenced by Gunn
(1972) and his pioneering dual theory that
establishes that image is developed both internally, through experience and visitation, and
externally, through information sources
received. Gunn also distinguishes between the
induced image, created through promotional
efforts, and the organic one, resulting from
news items and other non-paid for sources.
Based on this distinction, Gartner (1993) states
that the image formation process is based on a
continuum in which sources (or agents, using
Gartner’s terminology) can be classified into
eight different levels according to their degree
of autonomy from and control by marketers.
The first type of induced agents includes traditional paid sources such as TV and print ads.
Information from tour operators, product
endorsements and other more autonomous
sources follow. News, information received
from friends and relatives, and finally visitation are at the other end of this continuum.
Following this literature, several studies
differentiate between the controllable and uncontrollable sources of information and determine that the less controllable sources may
be more effective due to their higher credibility
(McCartney et al., 2008). Specifically, Butler
(1990, cited in Kim and Richardson, 2003)
states that the information transmitted through

news and movies has a greater effect on the
destination image formation due to its more
trustworthy nature. News items and popular
culture may portray places and have a significant impact on how these destinations are
viewed, especially due to their often high level
of accessibility and reach (Kim and Richardson, 2003). Similarly, mass media is also seen
as an important information source, as it not
only transmits but also interprets the information, thus having a strong influence in the formation of perceptions (Hall, 2002), including
destinations. A significant relationship between
Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

M. D. Alvarez and S. Campo
the affective destination image and the type of
information source has also been found in previous research (Baloglu and McCleary, 1999).
In lieu of previous experience at the destination, visual information regarding the place is
thought to be particularly effective in projecting images as it provides a vicarious experience of tourism services that are intangible in
nature. As image is formed by cues, visual promotional material is important to communicate the dimensions of the destination to an
individual who has not visited the place before
(Tasci and Gartner, 2007). Thus, advertising
and other ways of conveying visual information are important for marketers as these
sources allow them to select various attributes
and aspects of the place in order to induce a
particular image (Tasci, 2009). However, these
promotional efforts may be undermined by
autonomous sources such as movies or TV
news items that may also portray visual information and transmit aspects of the destination
out of the control of the marketer (Tasci, 2009).
Particularly in the case of Turkey, the international press has contributed to create a negative image through its coverage of the political
problems in the country, especially those
related to the Kurdish and Armenian minorities (Manço, 1999). Historical, geographic and

political factors have also influenced the views
regarding this country. For example, Boria
(2006) states that the predominantly unfavorable image that the Europeans hold of Turkey
is based on historical reasons, which include
the crusades and the incursions of the Ottomans in European territory. On the other hand,
Turkey’s position in the Eastern Mediterranean
and the Middle East has resulted in its frequently being perceived as similar to neighboring countries such as Iran, Iraq and Syria
(Öztürkmen, 2005). Wars and terrorism in
the region have also contributed to the poor
perceptions regarding Turkey (Sönmez and
Sirakaya, 2002). Thus, studies carried out from
the tourism perspective (Sönmez and Sirakaya,
2002; Tasci et al., 2007) or within the political
and historical context (Manço, 1999; Fuller,
2004; Boria, 2006; Hülsse, 2006) have remarked
on the mainly negative image of Turkey.
Despite these unfavorable results regarding
Turkey’s image obtained in previous studies,
its tourism destination image may be very
Int. J. Tourism Res. 13, 310–323 (2011)
DOI: 10.1002/jtr


Controllable versus Uncontrollable Information Sources
different. Recent studies have determined that
initial negative perceptions of Turkey are
changed through the tourists’ visitation of the
country (Alvarez et al., 2009). Its wealth of historical, cultural and natural resources, which
are important attractions for tourists, may
explain this finding. Furthermore, in relation

to Turkey, there seems to exist a significant difference between its negative image from the
political point of view and its tourism destination image (Öztürkmen, 2005; Alvarez and
Korzay, 2008). Therefore, the case of Turkey
represents an interesting area of investigation
to evaluate the differences between country
image and destination image.
Following these studies, the present research
aims to analyze the influence of audio-visual
sources of information that are used for promotional objectives and are controllable by the
marketer versus that of the uncontrollable
mass media information broadcasted by the
international press within the context of Turkey.
The effect of the information received is
assessed for both the country and the destination image as two separate constructs. Furthermore, the impact of these sources on the
intention to visit and preference for the destination is also considered.
METHODS
The research is based on the use of an experiment in line with the studies of Kim and Richardson (2003) and Tasci et al. (2007) in order to
compare the influence of controllable versus
uncontrollable sources of information on the
image of Turkey as a country and as a tourism
destination. The use of experimental methodology was deemed to be appropriate in
order to establish causal relationships and to
obtain a more comprehensive understanding
of the image formation process (Sönmez and
Sirakaya, 2002). With this in mind, the data
were collected at two points in time, using
a pre- and post-experimental design with a
control group.
In order to obtain a relatively homogeneous
sample and eliminate random sources of error,

the research was conducted using undergraduate tourism students in one of the main universities in Spain as subjects. Homogeneous
samples, such as those supplied by students,
Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

313
have been found to be suitable for theory
building studies as random sources of error
may be eliminated (Calder et al., 1981; Burnett
and Dunne, 1986). Therefore, the input of the
students was obtained in class during both
phases of the research, and the participants
were offered a small academic incentive to
increase the response rate. In addition, in order
to further reduce the heterogeneity of the
sample, only students of Spanish nationality
and those who had not previously visited
Turkey were included as subjects in the
research, thus increasing the internal validity
of the experiment.
The data were collected through a survey in
which the respondents were required to evaluate the image of Turkey as a country and as a
tourism destination and to determine their
intention to visit it. In the first phase of the
research carried out in the spring of 2008, a
total of 198 questionnaires were obtained from
the undergraduate tourism students, representing approximately 70% of all those enrolled
in the three-year tourism program at the university where the investigation was completed.
The other 30% includes those students who are
either not Spanish nationals or who have
visited Turkey in the past. In the second stage,

which was carried out six weeks after the first
one to minimize recollection, the same subjects
were assigned to three different groups. While
two of the groups were exposed to the research
stimuli before being requested to complete the
same questionnaire again, the third one was
used for control purposes and only filled in the
survey. In this second phase, 180 questionnaires were obtained, of which 157 were filled
by those students who had also participated in
the first stage. At both points in time, the students were identified in the surveys to compare
the responses before and after the exposure to
the stimuli.
Two stimuli were selected in order to include
both controllable and uncontrollable sources of
information for comparison purposes. As part
of the marketing communication sources that
can be controlled for, a promotional video of
Turkey as a tourism destination produced by
the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism
was used. This audio-visual material was being
utilized at the time of the research to promote
Turkey in Spanish and other foreign television
Int. J. Tourism Res. 13, 310–323 (2011)
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314

M. D. Alvarez and S. Campo

Table 1. Descriptive statistics on the level of knowledge regarding Turkey

Level
Level
Level
Level
Level
Level
a

of
of
of
of
of
of

knowledge
knowledge
knowledge
knowledge
knowledge
knowledge

on
on
on
on
on
on

historical aspects
cultural aspects
political aspects
economic aspects
the country in general
the touristic attractions

Meana

Standard deviation

2.78
3.09
2.40
2.36
3.19
3.63

1.34
1.30
1.26
1.13
1.12
1.32

1 = completely unknowledgeable; 7 = completely knowledgeable.

channels and had successfully been used in the
study of Tasci et al. (2007). It included an overview of the natural and cultural attractions of

Turkey and its tourism resources. On the other
hand, as part of the uncontrollable information
sources, the researchers selected a news item
about Turkey that had previously been emitted
on Spanish television. The news video was
chosen after reviewing the audio-visual items
on Turkey available on the websites of the
main Spanish press channels on the month
before the research. The chosen piece explained
in a neutral and objective tone the political
situation of Turkey and the polarization of the
Turkish society due to the ban to use headscarves in universities. Both of the videos used
as stimuli were of comparable length in order
to ensure that all the respondents were required
similar processing effort.1 Similarly, the
employment of a single audio-visual format to
convey two different sources, controllable and
uncontrollable, was based on the need to use a
comparable medium. Therefore, instead of
contrasting different sources in varied formats
(see Gartner, 1993, for a list and a detailed
description of the characteristics of diverse
sources), a single one was preferred. Further
research may build on the findings of the
current study by comparing several controllable and uncontrollable sources that use different media in a more comprehensive fashion.
Given the dynamic nature of images, and the
fact that tourists may review their opinions
1

The videos used can be accessed through the following

links: news item — />internacional/Turquia/levanta/prohibicion/velo/
universidades/elpvidint/20080207elpepuint_5/Ves/;
and promotional video — />EN/belge/2-21524/eski2yeni.html.

Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

regarding the country and the destination after
visitation or when exposed to further information (Martin and Eroglu, 1993; Baloglu and
McCleary, 1999; Kim and Richardson, 2003;
Alvarez et al., 2009), only those respondents
who had not previously visited Turkey were
kept as study subjects. Furthermore, the
researchers attempted to control the level of
knowledge through the inclusion of questions
in the survey in which the respondents were
asked to evaluate their knowledge regarding
historical, cultural, political, economic and
general aspects of the country together with
their level of information regarding tourism
resources. Table 1 summarizes the descriptive
statistics on these questions, and determines
that the level of knowledge of the respondents
about Turkey is quite low, especially concerning economic and political issues.
Measurement and scales
The country image and destination image
constructs were measured using a multidimensional perspective to include cognitive,
affective and overall dimensions. The researchers went through an extensive scale development process where a comprehensive listing
of items from existing scales (Han, 1989,
1990; Martin and Eroglu, 1993; Baloglu and
Brinberg, 1997; Baloglu and McCleary, 1999;

Altınbas¸ak, 2004; Beerli and Martín, 2004;
Passow et al., 2005; Lin et al., 2007; Tasci et al.,
2007) were collected, tested and refined through
the use of exploratory and confirmatory factor
analysis into more parsimonious measures.2
2

These analyses are not included in the current paper, but
can be provided to those interested in greater detail upon
request.
Int. J. Tourism Res. 13, 310–323 (2011)
DOI: 10.1002/jtr


Controllable versus Uncontrollable Information Sources
These analyses yielded a cognitive country
and destination image component measured
through 12 and 9 items respectively and
represented by four different dimensions (refer
to Table 2). The cognitive country image is
measured by the factors ‘notoriety and reputation’, ‘security’, ‘level of development’ and
‘respect for liberties’. The cognitive destination

315
image also encompasses four dimensions:
‘notoriety of the destination’, ‘cultural attractions’, ‘tourism services’ and ‘entertainment
and leisure’. Similarly, the affective country
and destination image measures include a
single dimension with six and five items
respectively. In order to measure the stability

of the scales, the data were collected in two

Table 2. Scales used in the research
Cognitive country image: indicate the level of your
agreement to the following statements
(1 = highest disagreement level; 7 = highest
agreement level)
Notoriety and reputation (alpha first period = 0.56;
second period = 0.67)
Turkey is an important country (CC1)
Turkey is a well-known country (CC2)
Turkey is a country with a good reputation (CC3)
Security (alpha first period = 0.73; second
period = 0.79)
Turkey is a secure country (CC4)
Turkey is a peaceful country (CC5)
Level of development (alpha first period = 0.82;
second period = 0.81)
Turkey is an economically developed country
(CC6)
Turkey is an economically stable country (CC7)
Turkey is an industrialized country (CC8)
Turkey is a technologically developed country
(CC9)
Respect for liberties (alpha first period = 0.79;
second period = 0.84)
Turkey is a country that respects liberties (CC10)
Turkey is a country that respects human rights
(CC11)
Turkey is a country that respects international

laws (CC12)
Affective country image: seven-point semantic
differential scale (alpha first period = 0.87;
second period = 0.89)
Dislike — like (CA1)
Distrust — trust (CA2)
Does not inspire me confidence — inspires me
confidence (CA3)
Do not admire — admire (CA4)
Annoys me — does not annoy me (CA5)
Arouses bad feelings — good feelings (CA6)
Overall country image: in general, my opinion of
Turkey as a country is totally negative — totally
positive (seven-point scale)

Cognitive destination image: indicate the level of
your agreement to the following statements
(1 = highest disagreement level; 7 = highest
agreement level)
Notoriety of the destination (alpha first
period = 0.59; second period = 0.53)
Turkey is an exotic destination (DC1)
Turkey is a popular destination (DC2)
Cultural attractions (alpha first period = 0.77;
second period = 0.90)
Turkey has interesting cultural attractions (DC3)
Turkey has interesting historical attractions (DC4)
Tourism services (alpha first period = 0.70; second
period = 0.71)
Turkey has high quality accommodation (DC5)

Turkey offers high quality tourism services (DC6)
Entertainment and leisure (alpha first
period = 0.70; second period = 0.68)
In Turkey, there are a variety of leisure and
entertainment options (DC7)
There are good shopping alternatives in Turkey
(DC8)
Turkey has a good nightlife (DC9)

Affective destination image: seven-point semantic
differential scale (alpha first period = 0.86;
second period = 0.90)
Unpleasant — pleasant (DA1)
Exciting — peaceful (DA2)
Boring — entertaining (DA3)
Sad — cheerful (DA4)
Unfriendly — friendly (DA5)
Overall destination image: in general, my opinion of
Turkey as a destination is totally
negative — totally positive (seven-point scale)

CC, cognitive country image; DC, cognitive destination image; CA, affective country image; DA, affective destination
image.
Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Int. J. Tourism Res. 13, 310–323 (2011)
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316

points in time referred to as first period and
second period in which the factor analyses
obtained similar results and dimensions. The
internal consistency of the scales was determined through the Cronbach’s alpha coefficient, which yielded figures greater or equal to
0.70 for all the factors except country and destination notoriety. A description of the factors
and Cronbach’s alpha for both periods is provided in Table 2.
Although the cognitive dimensions of
country image and destination image were
measured through the use of 7-point Likerttype scales for the affective components, a
semantic differential format attempting to
evaluate the respondents’ opinion on opposing attributes of the country/destination was
preferred. The use of semantic differential
scales is suggested to be more appropriate to
measure feelings and emotions (Han, 1989;
Baloglu and McCleary, 1999; Beerli and
Martín, 2004). In addition, facial expressions
ranging from anger
to happiness ☺ were
used instead of traditional numerical anchors
in order to better capture emotions following
the suggestion of Guodenough et al. (1999).
Overall evaluations of the country and destination image were captured through a 7-point
semantic differential scale by means of the
following question: ‘In general, my opinion
about Turkey as a country (as a tourism destination) is negative . . . positive’.
Finally, the research also encompassed a
conative component to assess the intention of
the respondents to visit Turkey. Three questions were used and measured using a sevenpoint Likert-type scale: ‘I intend to visit Turkey
in the near future’, ‘I would choose Turkey
as the destination for my next holiday’ and

‘I would prefer to visit Turkey as opposed
to other similar destinations’.
FINDINGS
To analyze the impact of controllable and
uncontrollable information sources on the
image of Turkey as a country and as a tourism
destination, paired samples t-tests were performed. Through these analyses, the means
obtained in the first period (before the provision of the stimuli) were compared with those
of the second phase of the research (after the
Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

M. D. Alvarez and S. Campo
administration of the stimuli). For comparison
purposes, the respondents were divided into
three different segments in the second stage of
the study; group A was exposed to the uncontrollable information source (TV news item),
group B viewed the promotional tourism video
(controllable information source) and group C
did not receive any stimuli, and thus acted as
the control group.
The results determine that the respondent’s
evaluation of their level of knowledge regarding Turkey increases after their exposure to the
information provided (Table 3), although the
change is different depending on the stimuli
administered. Those individuals who watched
the promotional video consider themselves
better informed about the country (p = 0.01)
and its tourism attractions (p = 0.001). However,
those respondents who were exposed to the TV
news item believe themselves to be more

knowledgeable about the country (p = 0.02) but
not about its tourism aspects. No significant
differences were observed in the control group.
For the country and destination image
analyses, the assessment of the means was
performed for each factor separately after
obtaining the average of all the items included
under each dimension. Table 4 shows the
results of the comparison between the pre- and
post-stimuli exposure for each of the segments.
Independently of the group, Turkey is evaluated more positively as a tourism destination
than as a country. For those who were exposed
to the TV news item, the evaluations of the
second period regarding Turkey’s country
image (cognitive, affective and overall) do not
change significantly. In relation to the destination image, despite the fact that the perceptions regarding the notoriety of Turkey as a
tourism destination, the affective destination
image and the overall destination image
become slightly less positive, the significance
of this change is low (p < 0.10). In contrast, the
evaluation of the tourism services in the
country significantly diminishes after exposure to the news stimulus (p = 0.03). Similarly,
the intention to visit and the preference for the
destination are not significantly affected by the
news stimulus.
For those respondents who viewed the promotional video (group B), the country image
becomes significantly more positive after being
Int. J. Tourism Res. 13, 310–323 (2011)
DOI: 10.1002/jtr

0.13
−0.33
3.88
3.54
0.001
−0.49
4.05

Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

1 = not at all informed; 7 = totally informed.
a

0.63
−0.11
3.60
3.49

0.02
3.41

Information
on the
countrya
Information
on the
tourist
attractionsa

3.11

−0.30

3.56

1.00
0.00
3.27
3.27
0.01
−0.29
3.36

Significance
Significance

3.08

Significance
Mean
difference
Mean
poststimulus
Mean
difference
Mean
poststimulus
Mean
prestimulus

Mean
difference
Mean
poststimulus
Mean
prestimulus

Promotional stimulus: group B
News stimulus: group A

Table 3. Paired samples t-test: data pre- and post-stimulus exposure (n = 157)

Mean
prestimulus

Control group: group C

Controllable versus Uncontrollable Information Sources

317
exposed to the stimulus. This change includes
the cognitive component of country image
(security: p = 0.01, level of development: p =
0.01 and respect for liberties: lower at p = 0.09)
and the affective country image dimension (p
= 0.00). Interestingly, the promotional video
stimulus does not significantly influence the
destination image including its cognitive and
affective components. However, for this group,
the preference for Turkey as opposed to other

similar tourism destinations increases after
viewing the promotional video (p = 0.01).
There is no significant change between the
evaluations of the control group in the second
stage of the research in comparison to those
made during the first period, except for the
entertainment and leisure factor which
decreases slightly (p = 0.01), and the intention
to choose Turkey for the next holidays
(p = 0.07).
Table 5 compares the evaluations made
during the second period (after the exposure
to the stimuli) of the three different groups in
order to analyze the discrepancies between
them. The findings determine that those individuals who have been exposed to the news
item show more positive perceptions in comparison with the control group of ‘notoriety
and reputation’ of the country (although the
significance level is low at p = 0.08), ‘entertainment’ dimension of the destination (p = 0.03),
affective destination image (p = 0.04) and preference for Turkey as opposed to other similar
tourism destinations (p = 0.07).
Similarly, those respondents who have
viewed the promotional video show more positive perceptions regarding Turkey as a destination, both in its cognitive (including all
dimensions of ‘notoriety of the destination’,
‘cultural attractions’, ‘tourism services’ and
‘entertainment’), affective and overall components than those individuals belonging to the
control group. These disparities are significant
at the 95% confidence level (p < 0.05). Additionally, there are significant differences
between these two groups in relation to the
preference for Turkey as a tourism destination
(p = 0.01), with the evaluation of those exposed

to the promotional stimulus more positive
than those in the control group. In contrast, no
differences regarding the country image (cognitive, affective and overall components) are
Int. J. Tourism Res. 13, 310–323 (2011)
DOI: 10.1002/jtr


Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Intention to visit
Turkey in the near
future
Intention to
choose Turkey for
next holidays
Preference for
Turkey as opposed
to other similar
destinations

Notoriety of the
destination
Cultural
attractions
Tourism services
Entertainment and
leisure
Affective
destination
Overall

destination image

Notoriety and
reputation of the
country
Security
Level of
development
Respect for
liberties
Affective country
image
Overall country
image

3.98

4.32

3.98

4.26

4.94

5.17
4.87

4.96

5.16

4.96

4.40
4.70

4.67
4.65

4.45

4.55

5.30

4.25

4.26

5.43

3.89

3.79

4.63

3.70
3.82

3.57
3.74

4.86

4.31

Mean
post-

4.40

Mean
pre-

0.35

−0.10

1.00

0.76

−0.06

0.61

0.08

0.09

0.03
0.56

0.25

0.09

0.34

0.00

0.09

0.23

0.20

0.27
−0.05

0.13

0.23

0.11

0.91

0.27
0.42

−0.13
−0.08

0.01

0.44

Significance

0.09

Meandifference

Group A News stimulus

4.08

3.96

5.01

5.08

5.10

4.64
4.60

5.61

4.77

4.54

4.14

3.85

3.43
3.64

4.22

Mean
pre-

4.49

3.93

4.83

5.07

5.08

4.71

4.60

5.74

4.87

4.66

4.38

3.98

3.66
3.89

4.25

Mean
post-

0.11
0.24
0.13
0.27
1.00

−0.12
−0.10
−0.14
−0.08

0.00

−0.41

0.04

0.18

0.01

0.01

0.78

0.25

0.88

0.77

0.00

−0.24

0.02

0.09

−0.14

0.01
0.01

0.71

−0.02
−0.23
−0.25

Significance

Mean
difference

Group B Promotional stimulus

Table 4. Paired samples t-test: comparisons pre- and post-stimuli exposure

3.73

3.58

4.42

4.50

4.72

4.40
4.49

5.20

4.54

4.35

4.11

3.79

3.44
3.70

3.94

Mean
pre-

3.73

4.00

4.58

4.69

4.53

4.38

4.19

5.24

4.33

4.46

4.12

3.85

3.62
3.87

4.00

Mean
post-

1.00

0.07

−0.42
0.00

0.49

0.17

−0.19
−0.15

0.19

0.88
0.01

0.85

0.21

0.19

0.95

0.75

0.12
0.31

0.75

Significance

0.18

0.02
0.31

−0.04

0.21

−0.12

−0.01

−0.05

−0.17
−0.17

−0.06

Mean
difference

Group C Control group

318
M. D. Alvarez and S. Campo

Int. J. Tourism Res. 13, 310–323 (2011)
DOI: 10.1002/jtr


Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Intention to visit
Turkey in the near
future
Intention to choose
Turkey for next
holidays
Preference for
Turkey as opposed
to other similar
destinations

Notoriety of the
destination
Cultural attractions
Tourism services
Entertainment
Affective
destination
Overall destination
image

Notoriety and
reputation of the
country
Security
Level of
development
Respect for
liberties
Affective country

image
Overall country
image

4.58

4.00

3.73

4.87

3.98

4.32

4.69

4.94

4.46

4.45

5.24
4.38
4.19
4.53

4.12

4.25

5.30
4.40
4.70
4.96

3.85

3.89

4.33

3.62
3.87

3.70
3.82

4.63

4.00

Mean
group C

4.31

Mean

group A

0.07

0.95

−0.02
0.59

0.37

0.21

0.57
0.91
0.03
0.04

0.30

0.24

0.13
0.02
0.53
0.43

0.17

0.93

−0.01
0.30

0.45

0.82

0.61
0.83

0.08

Significance

0.13

0.04

0.09
−0.04

0.30

Difference
A-C

Comparison group A (news item) and group
C (control)

4.49

3.93

4.83

5.07

5.74
4.71
4.60
5.08

4.87

4.66

4.38

3.98

3.66
3.89

4.25

Mean
group B

3.73

4.00

4.58

4.69

5.24
4.38
4.19
4.53

4.33

4.46

4.12

3.85

3.62
3.87

4.00

Mean
group C

0.75

−0.07

0.25

0.38

0.57
0.33
0.41
0.55

0.54

0.20

0.26

0.13

0.04
0.01

0.25

Difference
B-C

0.01

0.81

0.43

0.03

0.00
0.03
0.03
0.00

0.00

0.26

0.17

0.44

0.79
0.99

0.13

Significance

Comparison group B (promotional video)
and group C (control)

Table 5. Mean differences between the groups: data post-stimuli exposure

4.32

3.98

4.87

4.94

5.30
4.40
4.70
4.96

4.63

4.45

4.25

3.89

3.70
3.82

4.31

Mean
group A

4.49

3.93

4.83

5.07

5.74
4.71
4.60
5.08

4.87

4.66

4.38

3.98

3.66
3.89

4.25

Mean
group B

0.34

−0.13

0.84

0.44

0.05
−0.17

0.88

0.02
0.32
0.41
0.13

−0.44
−0.31
0.10
−0.12

0.04

0.00

−0.24

0.38

−0.13

0.09

0.49

−0.09

−0.21

0.77
0.78

0.68

Significance

0.04
−0.07

0.06

Difference
A-B

Comparison group A (news item) and
group B (promotional video)

Controllable versus Uncontrollable Information Sources
319

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320
observed between those respondents who
watched the promotional video and those who
were included in the control group.
Finally, the analysis of the differences
between the two experimental groups, A and
B, show that the assessments of those who
viewed the promotional video are significantly
higher than those of group A (exposed to the
news item), especially in relation to the overall
country image (p = 0.09), notoriety of the destination (p = 0.00) and the perception regarding
cultural attractions (p = 0.02). No significant
differences were observed between these two
groups in the other variables.
CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS
This study investigates the effect of controllable and uncontrollable stimuli on the country
and destination image of Turkey as a developing country. According to the findings, the
respondents evaluate Turkey as a tourism destination more positively than as a country.
These results support the conclusions of
Echtner (2002) and Öztürkmen (2005) who
state that individuals may perceive developing
countries more negatively in a general, economic, political and social context as opposed
to a tourism destination viewpoint. Therefore,
from an academic perspective, the research
establishes the need to consider the concept of
country image as different from that of destination image in future investigations. This is

also the conclusion of Campo and Alvarez
(2010) who advocate for the need to carry out
more comprehensive studies to fully understand these two constructs, and to determine
which factors affect each of these varied images.
Furthermore, the research examines the difference between controllable and uncontrollable sources of information in terms of their
influence on the country and destination
image. The investigation is based on an experiment in which the subjects were either exposed
to two different stimuli, namely a promotional
tourism video and a TV news audiovisual
item, or part of the control group. The findings
differ from those obtained by Butler (1990,
cited in Kim and Richardson, 2003) and Martin
and Eroglu (1993) regarding the greater influence of uncontrollable sources of information
on the tourism destination. In the current
Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

M. D. Alvarez and S. Campo
study, the audio-visual promotional information shows a greater influence both on the
country and on the destination image in comparison with the uncontrollable TV news item.
Specifically, the promotional information positively and significantly affects the perceptions
regarding the notoriety of the country, its level
of security and its respect for liberties. In addition, the tourism video stimulus is found to
change the country’s affective image, that is,
the feelings and emotions that the individual
bears toward Turkey as well as the conative
image represented by the preference for Turkey
as opposed to other competing tourism destinations. Similarly, the comparisons between
the groups also establish that the controllable
information has a strong positive effect on the
tourism destination image. Thus, for those

exposed to the promotional video, the knowledge, opinions, feelings and preference for
Turkey as a tourism destination improve significantly. In contrast, the uncontrollable information is observed to negatively affect the
perceptions of Turkey as a tourism destination,
especially in relation to tourism services,
although this influence is weaker.
The results of the study also confirm that
image formation is a dynamic process that is
affected by the information received by the
consumer. From the perspective of destination
management, the research establishes the
importance of audio-visual information as a
way of promoting the country and the tourism
destination. This promotional medium is the
key since it increases the information level of
potential tourists regarding the country and
the destination’s attractions, and positively
influences the country image and destination
preference. On the other hand, the uncontrollable sources of information are found to have
a lower impact, which is positive for countries
such as Turkey that are often negatively
reflected in the international news.
However, the lower effect of the uncontrollable source, represented by the news item, in
contrast to the promotional information, may
be explained by the choice of the stimuli in the
research. The news piece was selected in the
study to be relatively neutral, describing
the situation in Turkey and the Turkish society.
On the other hand, the literature has determined that the portrayal of dramatic events
Int. J. Tourism Res. 13, 310–323 (2011)
DOI: 10.1002/jtr

Controllable versus Uncontrollable Information Sources
such as terrorism, natural disasters and other
violent occurrences may have a much greater
impact on the formation of the image of a place
(Tasci and Gartner, 2007). Therefore, to ascertain the influence of news and other uncontrollable sources of information on the image of a
destination or a country, more detailed investigations need to be carried out that establish
how the nature of the news communicated
may affect the perceptions about the place.
The research uses an experimental design
where the variability of the sample and other
influencing factors were controlled for. Especially, the knowledge of the respondents
regarding Turkey was measured, as image can
be influenced by access to information. In this
way, the results obtained are more conclusive
and have a greater internal validity. However,
in order to generalize the findings to other
countries and contexts with different value
systems, further investigations are required.
Furthermore, future research could analyze the
impact of previous knowledge on the effect of
the exposure to additional information about
the country or the destination.
The study is based on audio-visual mass
media to convey information to a sample of
young people. The recent dramatic increase of
other information vehicles, such as social
media, which is also very powerful as a way
of transmitting electronic word of mouth,

could be an interesting area of investigation.
Therefore, future research could analyze the
impact of information provided through these
media on the two image concepts, country and
destination.
For a successful management of the country’s image, it is important to distinguish
between the destination and the country image
as stated by Stepchenkova and Morrison (2008)
who remark on the need to determine ‘whether
these two images (destination and country)
can be separated in the minds of potential travelers’ (p. 559). The current study establishes
the varied effect of the information sources
analyzed on the two image constructs. Additionally, the research concludes that promotional audio-visual information may be used to
positively influence not only the perceptions
regarding the place as a tourism destination,
but also those related to other more general
aspects of the country. Further research needs
Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

321
to investigate in more detail the extent to which
marketing efforts aimed at creating a more
positive destination image may also affect the
general image of the country, thus bringing
additional potential benefits in terms of
trade, international politics and foreign investment. Therefore, future studies should address
the question of how the tourists’ experience
and the use of tourism promotional material
may improve the general perceptions that individuals hold about that country. This is a
potential area of research that may combine

the tourism and international marketing
literature.
Lastly, the study concludes that the information received influences in the short term the
knowledge, beliefs and feelings that a person
holds about a country. However, in order for
the information obtained to be assimilated and
to affect the individual’s behavior, the knowledge received through the stimuli needs to be
retained and stored in the memory (Ajzen and
Seyton, 1999). Consequently, future research
should take a more long-term perspective and
investigate how different types of information
provided in a continuous fashion may result in
more stable country and destination image
changes.
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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TOURISM RESEARCH
Int. J. Tourism Res. 13, 324–336 (2011)
Published online 24 May 2011 in Wiley Online Library
(wileyonlinelibrary.com) DOI: 10.1002/jtr.853

The Challenges of Marketing Tourism
Destinations in the Central African
Subregion: the Cameroon Example
Albert Nsom Kimbu*
University of Surrey, School of Hospitality and Tourism, Faculty of Management and Law, Guildford,
Surrey, UK

ABSTRACT
During the last decade, sub‐Saharan Africa
has consistently posted one of the highest
tourism growth rates averaging
approximately 6% per annum between 2007
and 2010. However, not all countries have
profited from this growth. Countries in the
Central African subregion, even though
recognized internationally as potential hot
spots for sustainable ecotourism
development, are still lagging behind those
located in Western, Eastern and Southern
Africa. This paper identifies some challenges
inhibiting the development and marketing
tourism destinations in the Central African
subregion in general and Cameroon in
particular and proposes some concise
measures whose implementation would help
in redressing the situation. Copyright © 2011
John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Received 26 August 2010; Revised 7 February 2011; Accepted
17 April 2011

Keywords: Cameroon; tourism industry
prioritization; destination marketing;
destination branding.
INTRODUCTION

A

lthough sub‐Saharan Africa has been
faring better than many other regions in
terms of tourism growth during the

*Correspondence to: A. N. Kimbu, University of Surrey,
School of Hospitality and Tourism, Faculty of Management and Law, Guildford, Surrey, GU2 7XH, UK.
E‐mail:

last five years, with average growth rates of
+12% in 2006 and +6% between 2007 and 2010
(UNWTO, 2008a, 2010a, 2011), not all countries in
the region have profited from this growth.
Countries in the Central African subregion,
although experiencing increased visitor numbers,
are still lagging behind countries located in
Eastern and Southern Africa. This is mainly due
to their inability to position, properly promote
and market themselves as interesting cultural and
nature/ecotourism destinations in the tourist‐
generating countries (Shackley, 2006). It is only
very recently that the governments of some
countries in the Central African subregion began
committing considerable financial resources towards developing the sector, with the governments of Cameroon and Gabon going as far as
employing specialists in destination marketing
and branding to come up with blueprints for the
marketing and branding of these destinations.
Tourism marketing and development have to be
done in a sustainable manner and accompanied
by developments in other sectors of the economy
and the general infrastructure base of the destination environments. This, combined with the

necessary service infrastructure or enabling environment of tourism, guarantees the tourist
destination experience (Murphy et al., 2000;
Khadaroo and Seetanah, 2007). Both have to be
available before the countries of the Central
African subregion (Cameroon, Chad, Central
African Republic, Congo, Democratic Republic
of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and Sao
Tome and Principe) could market themselves
as attractive and interesting sustainable nature
(and cultural) tourism destinations. However,
the successful marketing of destinations in the
subregion poses a serious challenge to public and
private sector stakeholders.
Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Destination Marketing Challenges in Cameroon and Central Africa
The main aim of this paper is to identify
and examine the challenges presently faced
in the marketing of little‐known, underdeveloped and underexploited but potentially rich
nature and cultural tourism destinations in
developing countries located in the Central
African subregion in general and Cameroon
in particular, with a view to proffering some
concise measures aimed at addressing and
redressing them.
GEOGRAPHICAL CONTEXT AND TOURISM
IN CAMEROON
Whereas West Africa draws travellers because
of its rich historical and cultural heritage and

Eastern and Southern Africa because of its
fascinating wildlife and incomparable topography, Central Africa is not only a combination
of both but also goes a step further in that it
adds another dimension, i.e. the equatorial
experience, to its portfolio (Kimbu, 2010a). The
central and southern parts of Cameroon and
the Central African Republic as well as Congo,
Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Sao Tome and
Principe and the Democratic Republic of
Congo are all in the heart of the equatorial
rainforest (Congo Basin) and contain some of
the highest concentrations of biological and
endemic species found worldwide (WWF,
2010). This region is also home to some of
the first inhabitants of the Congo Basin, the
Pygmies, whose unique culture, customs
and tradition face the threat of extinction
(WWF, 2010).
Located at the crossroads between West
and Central Africa in the Gulf of Guinea
with English and French as the official languages, Cameroon has a total surface area of
475 442 km2 and had a population of about
19.4 million inhabitants in 2010 (NIS, 2010).
It is just six hours away from continental
Europe and one of Africa’s most peaceful
countries. The country has been described as
‘all of Africa in one country’ because of its
geographical, topographical and multicultural
diversity (Figure 1) (Neba, 1999; Government
of Cameroon, 2004; Molua and Lambi, 2007).

Cameroon is home to 300 mammalian species,
849 bird species, 143 reptilian species, close to
200 amphibian species, 542 fish species and
an estimated 9000 plant species (Stuart et al.,
Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

325

1990; Vivien, 1991; MINEF et al., 1999). It is in
this regard that in 1997, the World Bank and
the WWF classified Cameroon as one of the 13
countries worldwide with the highest amount
of biological diversity (Graf, 1997). In addition,
the 2008 Travel and Tourism Competitiveness
Report (TTCR) ranked Cameroon 15th out of
130 countries in terms of the concentration
and number of total known faunal species but
only 38th in terms of the current level of
ecologically sustainable tourism development
and opportunities (Blanke and Chiesa, 2008).
As of 2005, only 14% of Cameroonian territory
was actually under some form of protection on
paper in the form of national parks, UNESCO‐
MAB biosphere reserves, wildlife reserves,
wildlife sanctuaries, forest reserves and protected areas (Table 1). In addition, the country
has a 402‐km coastline with pristine beaches
near the foot of Mount Cameroon in Limbe
(South West Region) and at the entrance of
the equatorial forest around Kribi and Campo
in the South Region (MINTOUR, 2007).

The rich biodiversity and varied topography
coupled with its relative peace and political
stability when compared with those of its
neighbours makes Cameroon a potential and
emerging hot spot for ecologically sustainable
nature tourism development (Shackley, 2006).
The country’s bilingual character and rich
and diverse cultural heritage manifested in a
blend of colonial and traditional architecture,
clothing, masks and statues, cuisine, music,
song and dance (Lauber, 1988; Chilver and
Röschenthaler, 2002), together with the friendliness of the people, are primary factors that
could facilitate the development of a cultural
tourism industry. Unfortunately, this is presently not the case. Available data clearly
indicate that before 2010, tourists’ arrivals into
the country had been virtually stagnating or
even declining (Figure 2).
In 2006, about 40% of visitors to Cameroon
undertook business, conferences, meetings and
event‐related trips, with about 50% stating
visiting the country for recreational and leisure
purposes, such as game hunting, safaris and
ecotourism/nature tourism trips (EMG, 2008).
More than 50% of the visitors came from
the Central African Economic and Monetary
Community countries followed by French
visitors (Figure 2).
Int. J. Tourism Res. 13, 324–336 (2011)
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326

A. N. Kimbu

Figure 1. Transport and tourism map of Cameroon. Source: Cameroon Tourism Information Corporation, 2007.

Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Int. J. Tourism Res. 13, 324–336 (2011)
DOI: 10.1002/jtr


Destination Marketing Challenges in Cameroon and Central Africa
Table 1. National parks, reserves and protected
areas in Cameroon
Protected areas
National parks
Faunal reserves
Synergetic zones
(wildlife/forest
reserves)
Faunal/floral
sanctuaries
Zoological gardens
Total

Number

Surface area (ha)

11
6
35

2 577 930
702 995
3 083 750

2

132 000

2
56

4.07
6 496 499.07

Source: Ministry of Tourism (MINTOUR, 2007).

The low positions occupied by Cameroon
and other neighbouring countries in the 2008
TTCR clearly indicated that Cameroon and
the subregion’s full potentials as interesting
nature and cultural tourism destinations still
have to be tapped, harnessed and developed in
conjunction with other accompanying service
infrastructure like transport, accommodation
and human resources (Blanke and Chiesa,

2008). It clearly elucidated the fact that there
were many obstacles hindering the industry’s
development and growth in Cameroon. One of
these was the inexistence of a sustainable
tourism marketing framework aimed at promoting and marketing tourism in the country
and in the tourist‐generating markets.
METHODS
With Cameroon as a case study, the main
objective of this study was to determine the
principal challenges of marketing destinations
in the Central African subregion.
Cameroon is used as a case study in this
paper because, with the exception of Gabon, it
is the only other country in Central Africa that
has made some advances in developing its
tourism industry and presently receives the
highest number of international visitors to the
subregion when compared with the other
countries (Expansion Strategies Inc., 2002;
EMG, 2008; UNWTO, 2010b). That notwithstanding, Cameroon still receives 50% less
visitors (572 728 visitors in 2010), and tourism
contributes less than 2% to its gross domestic
product (GDP) when compared with Kenya or
Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

327

Botswana, for example, where tourism is the
second highest foreign exchange earner contributing as much as +6% (MINTOUR, 2010;
UNWTO, 2010b). A key contributor to successful tourism growth in Botswana or Kenya,

for example, can be attributed to the existence
of a tourism destination marketing framework
that ensures that regular promotion and
marketing campaigns are carried out in the
tourist‐generating markets (Blanke and Chiesa,
2009). However, Cameroon’s tourism industry
virtually had no coordinated tourism promotion and marketing strategy in place, and there
was a dearth of academic research on this topic
(Kimbu, 2010a).
The existence of very limited published data
coupled with the desire to fully comprehend
the situation in Cameroon meant that a mixed
research strategy was adopted for this study.
This enabled the researcher to get answers to
both confirmatory and exploratory questions
and to verify and generate theory in the same
study (Teddlie and Tashakori, 1998). Data
collection was by way of a questionnaire survey,
semi‐structured interviews and observation.
Primary data were collected during a field trip
to Cameroon in 2009.
A tourist satisfaction survey (in the form of a
questionnaire) was conducted with 100 visitors
who had come to the end of their stay in the
country between the months of January and
February 2009. The aim was to obtain information from a representative selection of tourists
about what they thought about tourism marketing and management in Cameroon. These were
then analysed (with the aid of the SPSS software,
SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA) and patterns
extracted. These then formed the basis of the

questions for semi‐structured interviews. Of
the 100 respondents, 53% were men, and 47%
were women, and the average age was 49 years;
67% of the survey respondents were from
Western Europe, 22% from North America, 6%
from Eastern Europe, 3% from Asia and 2%
from Africa and the Middle East.
A purposive, quota‐based snowball sampling method, i.e. non‐probability sampling,
was used to select interviewees. Consequently,
the sample number was small. It is worth
noting that, although it could be erroneous
to claim that non‐probability sampling results
are representative of a wider population,
Int. J. Tourism Res. 13, 324–336 (2011)
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A. N. Kimbu

328
a
300

250

Arrival in '000s

200

150

100

50

0

2000
277

2001
221

2002
226

2003
0

2004
190

2005
176

2006
185

Year

b
120

Thousands

100
80
60
40
20
0

Figure 2. (a) Arrival of non‐resident visitors in hotels and similar establishment to Cameroon from 2000 to
2006. Source: UNWTO, 2005; UNWTO, 2008b. (b) Arrival of international visitors to Cameroon by country of
residence in 2005. Source: MINTOUR, 2007.

their use in this study was not to achieve
representativeness but to gain a deeper insight
into the interviewees’ views about tourism
destination marketing in Cameroon. Fifteen
semi‐structured interviews were therefore conducted with ten resident tour operators and
five officials of Cameroon’s tourism ministry
who were directly responsible for tourism
promotion and marketing in the country. All
interviews were conducted at their convenience and in their offices.
Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Observation, which is widely used to study
people’s behaviour, involves ‘the researcher
immersing herself or himself in a research

setting and systematically observing dimensions of that setting, interactions, relationships,
actions, events and so on, within it’ (Mason,
2002, p. 60). Observation permitted the collection of contextual information about the
dimensions of tourism promotion and marketing presently being undertaken in Cameroon
(such as the existence and quality of visitor
Int. J. Tourism Res. 13, 324–336 (2011)
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Destination Marketing Challenges in Cameroon and Central Africa
information centres in existing and potential
tourism attractions) as these play an important
role in determining the quality of the holiday
experience.
Although the main focus of the questionnaire survey and interviews was related to
subjects dealing with tourism promotion and
marketing, other issues that could have an
impact on the overall development and indirectly contribute to successful marketing of
Cameroon were also addressed. Consequently,
the results of a thematic content analysis of the
interview data combined with the questionnaire survey results and field observation notes
revealed some major challenges that were
hampering the marketing of Cameroon as an
attractive tourism destination.
CHALLENGES TO SUCCESSFUL TOURISM
MARKETING IN CAMEROON
The adoption of new marketing strategies,
combined with hard and soft infrastructural
developments, political, socio‐economic and
environmental changes, and constantly addressing stakeholders concerns are some of the

factors influencing the successful marketing
of destinations. In Cameroon, some of the
main challenges faced in marketing the country
as a tourism destination include the non‐
prioritization of the tourism industry by the
government, which has led to the absence of
a destination management/marketing organization or a National Tourism Office (NTO)
to draw up appropriate and practically implementable marketing plans, develop a branding
and positioning strategy and strategize the role
of information and communication technology
(ICT) in tourism marketing.
NON‐PRIORITIZATION OF THE TRAVEL
AND TOURISM INDUSTRY BY
THE GOVERNMENT
The travel and tourism industry in Cameroon
is ‘electorally weak’, with no clearly defined
industry leadership, and lacks any form of
patronage. Until very recently, the tourism
industry was not considered as a very important
income‐generating sector. This is substantiated
by the low 122nd position it occupied in the
2008 TTCR in terms of prioritization of the
Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

329

travel and tourism industry, 98th position in
terms of travel and tourism trade fair attendance, 118th position in terms of the effectiveness of marketing and branding and 103rd
out of 133 countries examined with regard to
government expenditure in the travel and

tourism industry (Blanke and Chiesa, 2008).
In 2009, the direct travel and tourism industry contribution to Cameroon’s GDP was
only 1.6% and 1.3% respectively of direct
industry employment (WTTC, 2008). The
non‐prioritization of the tourism industry by
the government, in particular, means that
since its upgrade into a full‐fledged ministry
in 1989, Cameroon’s tourism ministry to date
still has one of the smallest budgets when
compared with all other ministries in the
country (MINTOUR, 2010). Due to the limited
financial resources, neither the Ministry of
Tourism nor independent travel operators until
2008 were able to regularly attend international
tourism fairs that have proven to be very
effective avenues for networking, destination
marketing and acquisition of distribution channels. This is in stark contrast to other African
countries with well‐established and developed
tourism industries like Kenya, Tanzania,
Botswana and Senegal (where the tourism
economy contributes between 6% and 10% to
the GDP and also employs close to 10% of the
workforce) who have made it a priority to be
present in the world‐famous travel and tourism
fairs of Berlin, London, Paris and Johannesburg
to say the least (Mintel Report, 2007a, 2007b;
Blanke and Chiesa, 2009). However, according
to the tourism ministry officials interviewed,
the ministry’s budget has been steadily increasing since the appointment of a new minister
and some qualified tourism professionals during the last three years. Consequentially, some

effort is now being done towards attending
renowned travel and tourism trade fairs and,
very recently (2008), towards creating an
effective destination brand image of the country
(EMG, 2008). The effects are already starting
to be felt as Cameroon received more than half
a million visitors in 2010 and could thus be
considered as a tourism destination if the
UNWTO criteria (of +500 000 visitors) were
taken into consideration (MINTOUR, 2010).
According to public and private sector operators, it is hoped that these positive figures
Int. J. Tourism Res. 13, 324–336 (2011)
DOI: 10.1002/jtr


330
would spur the government into committing
more resources towards developing the industry and addressing important marketing constraints. The issue of absence of distribution
channels, which was already cited in the 2002
Marketing Plan (Expansion Strategies Inc.,
2002) and reaffirmed by private sector stakeholders during the interviews as a major
handicap, will have to be addressed and
resolved as soon as possible. The government
could support this by fully or partially sponsoring local tour operators and travel agents to
international tourism fairs where they can
network and create partnerships with foreign
tour operators in the tourist‐generating regions.
Since 2004, Cameroon’s government has repeatedly stated its desire to move away from its
overdependence on oil and other extractive
industries by prioritizing the development of

other sectors among which is tourism (Government of Cameroon, 2004). However, if the
industry’s development and marketing are not
sped up, Cameroon, in the future, will be
visited mostly by conference participants and
specialist travellers, with the holiday tourists
preferring to go to other destinations like
Gabon, which during the last five years has
installed an efficient tourism development,
promotion and marketing machinery in place
(Gabontour, 2010).
ABSENCE OF AN NTO AND NON‐
IMPLEMENTATION OF MARKETING PLANS
The creation of an NTO responsible among
others for destination promotion and marketing, which tourism ministry officials revealed
has been in gestation for the past five years,
will have to be sped up (Kendemeh, 2009). In
addition, the now defunct regional and divisional tourism boards, which were in existence
up until the late 1980s and were responsible for
coordinating tourism activities in the different
regions, would have to be revamped. When
eventually established, the NTO together with
the regional offices and assisted by local
community stakeholders should be empowered and provided with the necessary financial
and technical resources necessary for tourism
destination management and marketing. This
will permit the different stakeholders to ‘…
carry out their individual and organisational
Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

A. N. Kimbu

responsibilities on a daily basis in efforts to
realise the macro‐level vision contained in
policy, planning and development’ (Ritchie
and Crouch, 2003, p. 111). The NTO will
assume full responsibility for strategy planning
and policy and product development, engaging in a diverse range of inbound tourism
promotional and marketing activities overseas,
a representation of interests and creation of a
strong and unified voice for the industry. The
NTO will also be responsible for setting up
information collection systems and better
research organization, development of infrastructure and support services for home and
overseas visitors (Fyall and Wanhill, 2008)
through the construction of visitor information
centres in the various regions, towns and sites
of interest, as well as overseas in key target
markets. However, the Ministry of Tourism
would remain the supervisory authority.
One of the key tasks of the NTO would be
to come up with a tourism marketing plan for
Cameroon. In this regard, a point of reference
could be the Cameroon Tourism Marketing
Plan drawn up and adopted in 2002 (Expansion Strategies Inc., 2002), which to date
remains only a theoretical framework. Its
recommendations were never fully implemented, financial constraints being the main factor
according to officials of the tourism ministry.
The plan identified key priority markets in
Europe, North America and Asia, which were
to be targeted with public relations and
reassurance campaigns under the supervision

of marketing agencies in those markets whose
appointment was envisaged in the plan. It
also envisaged the creation of a national
tourism website as well as the creation of
new partnerships and the solidification of
existing ones with foreign tour operators. This
plan should be reviewed and revised where
necessary, and steps should be taken to ensure
that the recommendations made therein be
prioritized and implemented in a phase‐by‐
phase approach.
Decentralization and devolution of powers
together with empowerment would also encourage local community participation in all
aspects of tourism development (Tosun, 2000;
Tosun and Timothy, 2001). Local community
members would have a feeling of ownership
and a sense of pride, and this in turn would
Int. J. Tourism Res. 13, 324–336 (2011)
DOI: 10.1002/jtr