THE IMPACT OF POLITICAL INSTABILITY ON IMAGE AND VISIT INTENTIONS IN THE CONTEXT OF DOMESTIC TOURISM: THE CATALONIA CRISIS

Political instability has been recognised as a serious concern for the image of tourist destinations. Existing research focuses in the tremendous impact of such instability on the image held by international tourists and their visit intentions to the territory concerned. This dissertation evaluates the image of Catalonia, Spain, a region subject to ongoing conflicts related to the independence movement, and visit intentions from non-Catalan residents of Spain rather than international tourists. A descriptive analysis evaluates the information from the questionnaires collected one year after the political unrest in Catalonia on account of the independence referendum. The research indicates the great influence of the political instability on the image of Catalonia held by non-Catalan Spanish residents, as well as their intention to visit the region. The results confirm the negative impact that political instability has on the cognitive, affective and overall image of Catalonia generating negative attitudes among Spaniards towards Catalonia. In the context of resentment actual visits to Catalonia even damage the affective image, therefore, these visits do not enhance the image of the region. The research concludes that the intentions to visit the region are not significantly influenced by such resentment since the cognitive attributes present more relevance to the travel intentions. This dissertation suggests that the existing body of knowledge regarding political instability and imagen in the context of hostilities between countries are compatible with the findings presented in this work which consider the hostility between regions of the same country and the domestic tourism. However, this work indicates that conclusions regarding the presented themes may differ from one case to another as many factors influence the construction of the image