Does storytelling affect destination image, destination personality, and tourists’ behavioural intention?

ABSTRACT

Storytelling can be an effective strategy in shaping destination image and personality. Nevertheless, little research has examined the effect of this construct on destination image, destination personality, tourist attitudes and their behavioural intention. Based on a survey of 146 international tourists, the current study examines these relationships within the context of Iran. The results showed that storytelling has positive impacts on destination image, destination personality, and tourists’ behavioural intention. Storytelling also affects the destination image, destination personality and behavioural intention of men and women, and women reported higher scores than men. The findings provide significant insights into the potential role of storytelling as a destination marketing strategy, especially for destinations that may potentially previously been perceived negatively in some markets.

KEYWORDS:

• Storytelling
• destination image
• destination personality
• behavioural intentions
• Iran

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Zahed Ghaderi

Dr. Zahed Ghaderi is attached to the Department of Tourism, College of Arts and Social science, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman. Zahed has over two decades of experience in the field and has published extensively in top-tier tourism and hospitality journals such as Tourism Management, International Journal of Hospitality Management, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, Current Issues in Tourism, Tourism Management Perspectives, etc. His research interests include cultural aspects of tourism, destination management, organizational learning, host-guest relationship, sustainable tourism, tourism crisis management, etc. He can be contacted at: [email protected]

Mohammad Javad Mahdavizadeh

Mr. Mohammad Javad Mahdavizadeh is a master graduate, Department of Business Management, Kharazmi University, Tehran, Iran. His research interests include storytelling, destination image and branding. He can be contacted at: [email protected]

Mojtaba Rajabi

Dr. Mojtaba Rajabi is assistant professor in department of sport management, faculty of Physical Education at Shahrood university of technology, Semnan, Iran. His research interests include sports tourism, event management, etc. he can be contacted at: [email protected]

C Michael Hall

Colin Michael Hall is Professor in Dept of Management, Marketing & Entrepreneurship, University of Canterbury, New Zealand; Docent in Geography, University of Oulu, Finland; Visiting Professor at Linneaus University, Kalmar, & Lund University, Helsingborg, Sweden; & Senior Research Fellow, University of Johannesburg. He is also a visitor to Umeå University, Sweden. He publishes widely on tourism, regional studies, and global environmental change. He can be contacted at: [email protected]