Image formation, tourism images and tourists visit intention: Developing constructs for empirical investigation - Theory and Practice in Hospitality and Tourism Research - page 231

reviews advance the perception of hotels among
the potential travelers (Vermeulen & Seegers,
2009).

which centrally relate to loyalty, satisfaction and
perceptions of service quality (Bigne, et al., 2001).
The country image and tourism destination image
have been previously examined under one dimen-
sion. However, scholars lately have called for the
need to explore the impact of tourism activities in
countries, destination image and hotel image as
different related dimension (Martínez & Alvarez,
2010).

2.1.3 Autonomous
The name “autonomous agents” given by Gartner
(1993) consist of things such as news articles, edu-
cational materials, movies and popular culture.
Autonomous agents are assumed to have more
influence on image formation since they have
higher authority and capability to reach mass
crowds than the destination-originated informa-
tion (Gartner, 1993; Hanefors & Mossberg, 2002).
Autonomous agents generate a general under-
standing about a destination, and are independent
and out of a destination's direct control. Image can
change in a short period of time when the infor-
mation is shown to large audiences through the
media. Also in the case of a distant country which
lack of knowledge exists, the autonomous agents
are able to cause a more effective change in image
due to their high credibility and ability to reach
mass crowds.

2.3 Travel constraints
In general terms, constraints are the factors which
prohibit people from participating and enjoying lei-
sure offered three groups of constraint; structural
constraints (e.g., family life-cycle stage, financial
resources, season, climate, available time such as
work schedule, availability of opportunity, etc.),
intrapersonal constraints (individual psychological
states such as stress, depression, anxiety, perceived
self-skill, etc.) and interpersonal constraints (con-
straints resulting from interrelationships such as
finding a suitable traveling partner) (Jackson, 1988).
Earlier studies discovered that “critical constraints”
play a significant role in the travel decision-making
procedure. Critical constraints range from social,
political, physical, financial, time, health, family
stage, lack of interest, fear and safety, transpor-
tation, lack of partners, overcrowding, distance,
limited information (e.g., images), to previous visi-
tation (Jackson, 1988; Lee & Tideswell, 2005). The
most studied constraints are time, cost, and space
(e.g., destination attributes such as distance) and
are considered to be the most critical constraints in
leisure and tourism research (Hong, Fan, Palmer &
Bhargava, 2005; White, 2008; Wong & Yeh, 2009).
Leisure constraints may also be considered
in two categories; real and perceived. Real con-
straints are those physical, financial, and practi-
cal related constraints such as sickness, costs, and
time. Perceived constraints categorized as internal
constraints (e.g., knowledge about destination,
anxiety, stress, or personal health) and external
constraints (e.g., work, time availability, or fam-
ily obligation) (Jackson, 1988). Literature also has
connected numerous external or situational factors
or constraints on travel behavior, affecting pre-
trip decisions including social, political, physical,
financial, time, and distance (Gartner, 1989, 1993;
Hunt, 1975).

2.1.4 Perceivers characteristics
Another source of destination image determinants
is the consumers (perceivers) who filter the infor-
mation from these sources and form images about
travel destinations (Dann, 1996; Gartner, 1993).
Perceivers' socio-demographics are assumed to
play a role in this image formation process, and,
therefore, have been investigated in terms of its
relationships with the destination image. Many
scholars have argued and examined the influence
of perceivers' socio-demographic characteristics
including age, gender, household status, education,
income, residence/geographic distance on destina-
tion image (Baloglu, 2001; Rittichainuwat, Qu &
Brown, 2001). A few academics have investigated
the impact of respondents 'residence or distance
from the study destination (Hunt, 1975; Walmsley
& Young, 1998).

2.2 Tourism images
Kotler, Haider, and Rein (1997) state that the image
of a place refers to “the sum of beliefs and impres-
sions that people hold about places. The images
represent a simplification of the large number of
relations and information linked to the place. They
are a product of the mind trying to evaluate and
pick out critical information from massive amounts
of data about a place. Thus, the image is seen as a
multidimensional impression that includes an indi-
vidual's valuation of different aspects of a place
(Baloglu, 1997; Gallarza, Saura & Garcıóa, 2002).
Tourism literatures have mainly focused on
the country image as a tourism destination image

2.4 Behavioral intention
As in the theory of Planned Behavior, intentions
are expected to capture the motivational factors
that impact a behavior and they are pointers of
how much of an effort individuals are planning to
apply or how hard they are willing to try in order