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Abstract
The youth travel market is a major growth segment of international tourism. The purpose of this study was to explore the travel behaviors and perceptions of United Kingdom college students with regards to the United States as a travel destination. Two objectives were formulated, to determine whether image dimensions differed based on (1) travel behavior, and (2) socio-demographic characteristics. Results suggest that the UK students studied were mostly concerned with a destination's provision of outdoor recreation, infrastructure, events/attractions, safety/environment, transportation, and value/cost. Additionally, level of agreement with the six image dimensions differed signifi cantly depending on past travel experience, number of previous trips, purpose of and sources of travel information for the most recent trip, and age. Visitors identified a more positive image of the U.S. than nonvisitors, signifying visitation's positive impact on image. Such findings have important implications for the more effective marketing of destinations to the growing youth segment.
Parent Publication
Citation
Park, Sung Hee; Latkova, Pavlina; Nicholls, Sarah. 2007. Image of the United States as a travel destination: a case study of United Kingdom college students. In: Burns, R.; Robinson, K., comps. Proceedings of the 2006 Northeastern Recreation Research Symposium; 2006 April 9-11; Bolton Landing, NY. Gen. Tech. Rep. NRS-P-14. Newtown Square, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northern Research Station: 8-15.
