ABSTRACT
The city perception analysis (CPA) is based on the perceptions-based market segmentation concept approaches the positioning task from a completely different perspective. The fundamental assumption is that different consumers harbor different perceptions of various destinations in their minds. Therefore, averaging the perceptions and ignoring inter-individual differences in city image perceptions dramatically distorts the results. The CPA approach uses a three-way data structure and identifies archetypal destination perceptions before revealing information on which cities they were associated with, thus avoiding the false assumption of homogeneous consumers. The information on which perception was classified with respect to which brand is disclosed afterwards, thus allowing specific destination image insights. On the basis of CPA results, destination management can analyze the destination images as perceived by the tourists, choose attractive image positions for the future and deduce strategic policies. CPA reveals various archetypal positions associated with different city destinations by tourists who do not necessarily share the same perception of the cities.
