The perspective and expectation among Singaporean tourists toward destination image of Perak - Theory and Practice in Hospitality and Tourism Research - page 254

Although Perak state offers many invaluable
attractions and facilities, it is worth understanding
whether such attractions have developed a signifi-
cant sense of image among Singaporean. Besides,
it raises another query regarding their expectation
toward destination images of this silver heritage
land. To date, there is still lack of studies per se
looking at this issue. Understanding the perspective
of Singaporean tourists towards Perak as their des-
tination choice is therefore considered important to
strategize the marketing approach and maximizing
the use of available resources among this highly
profitable tourist market. Following such contem-
plation, a hypothesis was therefore tested.
H1: There is a significant relationship between desti-
nation image and expectation towards that image

as well as perceptions of experiences, managing
tourists' expectations is a very crucial task. While
Hung, Huang, and Chen (2003) suggested that in
order to achieve high customer satisfaction, it is
crucial to comprehend customer expectations.
Additionally, Peter, Olson, and Grunert (1999)
have noted that personal communication from
friends and relevant others have a powerful strength
in persuading people while advertising, publicity,
and sponsorships as external communication can
play a vital role in influencing people's expecta-
tions. In line with that, Rodríguez del Bosque, San
Martín and Collado (2009) argued that past expe-
rience, external communication, word of mouth
communication and destination image can be
considered as expectations-generating factors of a
future destination experience.

2 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.2 Relationship between destination image
and expectation
In the tourism industry, a mental representation of
a destination is crucial as it will assist individuals to
expect their experiences (Jenkins, 1999). In line with
this, Bigné Sánchez and Sánchez (2001) noted that
before people visit a destination, the preconceived
image will drive their expectation toward the des-
tination. Image will act as a generating factor of
expectation for a future encounter with the tourist
service (Rodríguez del Bosque, San Martín & Col-
lado, 2006). Previous studies by academicians have
established a significant relationship between image
and expectations in several service industries such as
catering and travel agencies (Clow, Kurtz, Ozment
& Ong, 1997; Rodríguez del Bosque, et al., 2006).
Driving by intention to explore more expectation
formation in destination marketing, Rodri'guez del
Bosque et al. (Rodríguez del Bosque, et al., 2009)
have examined the factors contributing to the
expectations toward tourist destination and theo-
retical as well as empirical evidence about the role
of different factors in generating tourists' expec-
tation. It is proven in the study that preconceived
image of tourist destination is the most influential
factor in generating tourists' expectation of a future
destination experience besides past experience,
external communication and word-of-mouth com-
munication. Image is proven play a significant role
as it represents the true capabilities of a tourist des-
tination, at least in the eyes of tourists. As a result,
it will gear individuals' confidence to form their
expectations of a future destination experience.

2.1 Destination image
The study about destination image started in early
1970s and among the first group of pioneered
scholars were, Hunt (1971, 1975), and Gunn (1971)
and Mayo (1973). Several efforts have been identi-
fied in the last two decades to provide an overview
of the previous destination image studies in order
to assist future researchers to better navigate the
field. Chon (1990) had initiated the earliest reviews
when the researcher explored the role of image in
tourism destination before Echtner and Ritchie
(1991) redefined the meaning as well as measure-
ment of destination image.
Many definitions of destination image have been
discussed by previous scholars. For some tourism
researchers, destination image is simply described
as an overall impression about the destination.
Hunt (1971) mentioned that state tourism image
is the impression that an individual has about a
state in which they do not stay. Crompton (1979)
further broadens the views when the researcher
defined destination image as the summation of
beliefs and ideas as well as impressions that a per-
son has about the destination. While for Fridgen
(1987), this researcher defined destination image as
mental representation of an object or place which
is not physically appeared in front of the observer.

2.1 Expectation
Expectation is the desire of customer about what
they believe a service or product should or will per-
form in the future (Zeithaml & Bitner, 1996). They
further noted that the specific wants, needs, and
preferences as well as past experiences also contrib-
ute to the expectations of a prospective customer.
Gnoth (1997) contended that since expectations
can significantly influence tourist choice processes

3 METHODOLOGY

Singaporean tourists that visited Perak and stay
at least one night at the state have been selected
as samples for this study. A convenience sampling