10.1177/004728702237418NOVEMBER 2002JOURNAL OF TRAVEL RESEARCH A Distorted Destination Image? The Case of Turkey

Despite its Mediterranean location, Turkey has been un-able to consistently achieve its tourism goals, as evidenced by fluctuating numbers in tourism earnings and a small share of the international tourism market. This discrepancy might be attributed to Turkey’s image in the minds of world travelers. The main purpose of this study was to examine the role of destination image and traveler perceptions along with other behavioral variables in destination choice deci-sions of potential travelers. A self-administered survey was used to collect data from 552 respondents (58.6 % response rate). The findings indicate that perceptions of Turkey’s overall appeal, its safe and hospitable environment, general mood and vacation atmosphere, travel experience, relaxing effect, local attractions and hospitality, authenticity of expe-rience, social and personal communication channels, com-fort/safety, and tourist facilitation are significant predictors of the likelihood of travel to Turkey. Some destination mar-keting strategies are suggested. For several decades, researchers have studied tourist decision making within the framework of consumer choice processes (i.e., Um and Crompton 1992; Van Raaij and Francken 1984; Woodside and Lysonski 1989). Extant research of tourist decision making suggests that destination choices are influenced by both internal (i.e., images, percep-tions, motives, attitudes, and beliefs) and external factors (i.e., time, destination attributes, perceived costs of tourism product, buyer characteristics, and benefits sought). Early theoretical models of tourist decision-making behavior (i.e.