Tourism destinations’ image: assessment vis-à-vis the experience in theory and in the service-centric economy

Abstract This paper assesses the image of tourist destinations as products in light of the experience theory, in order to evaluate relationships between both constructs. A scale is set forth to measure the image of coastal destinations, with different attractions, and to analyze the internal arrangement of the imaginary factors in light of the experience theory and the destinations as tourist products. The research is exploratory and descriptive with quantitative approach, that surveyed potential Brazilian tourists who were asked to choose one (among eight) national coastal destinations to evaluate. A non-probabilistic sample of 178 consumers of different ages and income levels from various Brazilian states was surveyed. This work advances over previous theory, introducing an innovative way to see the image of destinations in the light of two factors that affect the decision to visit or not to visit a place: the arrangement of destinations as touristic products, and the experience expected to experiment when visiting the destinations.