Destination confusion - Tourism Marketing - page 241

(Mackay and Fesenmaier 1997). This also endorses the importance of confusion that might arise
from the different dimensions of destination information held by travellers.
The more positive the image, the more likely potential tourists will visit the destination
(Rittichainuwat et al . 2001). Hence this stage of pre-consumption search behaviour has been an
important component in tourists' decision-making processes in selecting holiday destinations
(Gursoy and McCleary 2004). The studies of information overload in the marketing literature
reveal that increasing amounts of information tend to cause problems for customers in making
brand choices (Jacoby 1977; Malhotra 1982). Jacoby (1977) adds that when the information
provided exceeds certain limits, information overload results in confused, less accurate, less
effective decision making of customers. According to Um and Crompton (1990), tourists will
select a destination from a set of alternatives in the consideration set. At this point, the brand of
a particular destination plays an important role in consumers' considerations, since when tourists
search for a destination to visit, they are exposed to various destination brand-related stimuli.
These elements include terms, names, signs, logos, designs, symbols, slogans, colour, packages,
architecture, typography, photographic styles, as well as heritage, language, myths and legends
(Cai 2002).
Therefore, numerous elements have been associated with how people picture the destination.
As a result, a mass of information and choices of destination brands are competing in consumers'
minds which could lead them to a state of confusion.
Brand confusion
Brand confusion refers to a state of mind which affects information processing and decision-
making (Mitchell and Papavassiliou 1999). The brand confusion concept originated as a result of
brand imitation strategies by companies, which aimed to emulate a successful product, and
which usually consisted of imitation of packaging and positioning of the new product next to
the better-known brand (Foxman et al . 1990). Initially, consumer brand confusion occurs
when the customer buys the imitation brand thinking it is a real one (Loken et al . 1986). The
most common form of brand confusion takes place when a person perceives brand X as a
different brand Y (Foxman et al . 1990; Poiesz and Verhallen 1989; Kapferer 1995). Foxman et al .
(1992) concur that the complicated nature of products can lead to information overload and
consequently confusion. Foxman et al . (1992: 125) defi ne brand confusion as:
Consumer brand confusion consists of one or more errors in inferential processing that lead
a consumer to unknowingly form inaccurate beliefs about the attributions or performance
of a less-known brand based on a more familiar brand's attributes or performance.
The concept of brand confusion itself is still very limited in the literature. A review of the
previous studies on brand confusion reveals few areas of research that have applied brand
confusion, including: consumer behaviour, retailing, advertising, and judicial research. To date,
many major works on brand confusion have examined confusion in the context of visual
appearance of the brand product and package (Foxman et al . 1990). Some studies have focused
on how confusion might harm fi rms. However, Foxman et al . (1990) argue that confusion can
also harm customers themselves. The term confusion is used to describe a disturbance of
awareness that can cause an individual to be restless and careless, to misjudge the environment
and to act ineffectively (Walsh et al . 2007).
Moreover, Foxman et al . (1992) explain that brand confusion must involve consumers'
unaware error(s) due to an incorrect belief about the brand attributes or performances which