The Possible Impact of Hosting a Cultural Event on Destination Image: A case study -- Liverpool as a host city for 2008 European Capital of Culture

Destination image is commonly accepted as an important aspect in successful tourism development and destination marketing. Faced with growing global competition in which destinations are becoming highly substitutable, destination marketing organizations are in a constant battle to attract travellers (Pike and Ryan, 2004). Among different strategies, employing events has been seen as a successful way to strengthen, enhance or change a destination image. In the previous studies on destination image, there are two fundamental techniques in measuring destination image: one is non-quantitative and the other one is quantitative methods. Traditionally, tourism research has tackled the question of destination choice by asking visitors to rank attributes identified by the analyst and to indicate the degree to which they measure up to prior expectations. The case study is that of Liverpool, the UK and its local residents and present visitors to the coming up cultural event European Capital of Culture in 2008. By adopting the previous quantitative measurement technique, this study aimed to identify to what extent a major event management plan can have an impact on the hosting city's image change and how these changes vary according to different respondents. The findings of the study indicate that none of the event management plans have negative impact on the hosting city's image change. In particular, the warm welcome plan, target leisure tourist plan and public and heritage site development plan have showed a very positive impact on the city's image change. Furthermore, the study also found in evaluating the potential image of the city, respondents' in different age group have enjoyed different tourists' attractions and different level of tourism service quality; visitors' who have stayed longer during their visit appreciated more on local life than those who have stayed shorter. Collectively, the result forecasts there will be a positive change of image for the city after hosting the cultural event