ABSTRACT
Tourism is an industry that is highly driven by images that offer simplified and close representation of the actual destination (MacKay & Fesenmaier, 1997). Images are particularly crucial in determining the viability of the destination (Tasci & Gartner, 2007), tourist behaviours and their decision-making processes in choosing a travel destination (Baloglu & Brinberg, 1997; Chen & Hsu, 2000; Chen & Tsai, 2007). The formation of destination image (DI) is inextricably intertwined with several external factors (familiarity with a destination, previous visitation and socio-demographic factors) (Beerli & Martin, 2004a, 2004b; Baloglu, 1997; Chaudhary, 2000). A key aspect of the DI literature that still remains questionable and highly debated amongst scholars is its conceptualization.
