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a b c d
Hongmei Zhang , Feifei Xu , Ho Hon Leung & Liping A. Cai
a
College of Territorial Resources and Tourism Management, Anhui Normal
University, People's Republic of China
b
School of Humanities, Southeast University, No. 2 Sipailou, Nanjing
210096, People's Republic of China
c
Sociology Department, State University of New York College at Oneonta,
USA.
d
Purdue Tourism and Hospitality Research Center, School of Hospitality and
Tourism Management, Purdue University, USA
Published online: 02 Sep 2015.

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Destination-Country Image on Prospective Tourists’ Visit Intention: Testing Three Competing Models, Asia
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 Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research, 2015
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10941665.2015.1075566

The Influence of Destination-Country Image on

Prospective Tourists’ Visit Intention: Testing Three
Competing Models

Hongmei Zhang1, Feifei Xu2*, Ho Hon Leung3 and Liping A. Cai4

Downloaded by [Ho Hon Leung] at 14:25 03 September 2015

1
College of Territorial Resources and Tourism Management, Anhui Normal University,
People’s Republic of China
2
School of Humanities, Southeast University, No. 2 Sipailou, Nanjing 210096,
People’s Republic of China
3
Sociology Department, State University of New York College at Oneonta, USA.
4
Purdue Tourism and Hospitality Research Center, School of Hospitality and
Tourism Management, Purdue University, USA

The concept of destination-country image (DCI) in tourism context is an integration of

two constructs from different fields: country image from international marketing and des-
tination image from tourism. Based on the concept of attitude in the theory of reasoned
action and halo effect view, this study explains the macro and micro structures that
support DCI, and tests the influence of the original DCI on visit intention of prospective
tourists through three competing models. The results show that the macro DCI includes
four dimensions: country character, country competence, people character and people
competence; the micro DCI is composed of three dimensions: natural attraction, cultural
attraction and service facility. Full mediating model is supported, which indicates that
macro DCI has an indirect effect on visit intention through micro DCI. This study
proposes an integrated construct of the DCI and full mediating model, which adds knowl-
edge of the relationship between original image and potential tourist’s visit intention.

Key words: macro destination-country image, micro destination-country image, original

image, prospective tourist, visit intention

Introduction and popular research area since 1960s. There

are lots of publications focusing on this topic,
Country image or country-of-origin image proving that country image acts as a signal
(COI) effect studies have become a significant of product quality and affects intention of

*Email: 101011780@seu.edu.cn

© 2015 Asia Pacific Tourism Association

 2 Hongmei Zhang et al.
purchase (Roth & Diamantopoulos, 2009;
Wang, Li, Barnes, & Ahn, 2012). Despite a
large amount of country image articles have
been published in academic journals, the
country image concept tends not to be charac-
terized with much clarity (Wang et al., 2012)
and no consensus has been reached on how to
conceptualize and operationalize the construct
(Laroche, Papadopoulos, Heslop, & Mourali,
2005). In fact, there exists several relative con-
structs, including country-of-origin (COO),
COI, country image, product-country image
and product image. These constructs provide
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confusing views relating to how country
image is defined. When the product is a
tourist destination, especially the international
destination, the situation becomes more com-
plicated. There are also many destination
image literature, but just like country image
construct, the literature has not reached a con-
sensus on how to define destination image.
Country image and destination image are two
different constructs but with many similarities
and overlapping especially when a country is
a destination. Recently, some researchers try
to investigate the relationship between these
two constructs (Campo & Alvarez, 2010;
Kim, Kang, & Kim, 2014; Lee & Lockshin,
2012; Mossberg & Kleppe, 2005; Nadeau,
Heslop, O’Reilly, & Luk, 2008). However,
the relevant studies are limited, and the
relationship between the two is still unclear in
empirical findings. This study does not
discuss these two concepts’ conceptualization
independently, but try to propose an integrated
concept (e.g. destination-country image, DCI)
to integrate them in tourism context according
to their differences and similarities.
Country image and destination image are
both recognized to have an important effect
on consumer decisions. Country image is a
research focus on international marketing.
The research on tangible product in the
above area shows that the consumer percep-
tion of the COI obviously influences their atti-
tude, evaluation and purchase intention of this
country’s product (Hsieh, Pan, & Setiono,
2004; Laroche et al., 2005; Lin, Hsu, & Tsai,
2011; Schooler, 1965; Veale & Quester,
2009). Meanwhile, a lot of studies have been
carried out on the destination image of
varying scales ranging from a city/countryside,
a region or a country. In comparison, the
number of studies focusing on a country as a
destination is limited. These research show
that the image perceived by tourists of a desti-
nation plays an important role in their
decision-making, destination choice, post-trip
evaluation and future behaviors (Baloglu &
McCleary, 1999; Echtner & Ritchie, 1991;
Gallarza, Saura, & García, 2002).
Although it is recognized that the country
with a good image can attract the visit of inter-
national tourists (Kotler, Haider, & Rein,
2002), very few studies empirically test the
influence of country image on the visit inten-
tion of potential international tourists, except
those few studies that explore the influence of
country image on the actual tourist future be-
havioral intention (including the intention of
revisit) (Nadeau et al., 2008). Country image
and destination image studies fall to different
academic areas that have evolved separately
through distinct literature and research com-
munities (Nadeau et al., 2008). Despite the
acknowledged importance of destination
image, how country image influences tourist
decision-making has not been well investigated
and tested in different countries and different
destination contexts (Campo & Alvarez,
2010; Nadeau et al., 2008).
Studies in international marketing show that
country image is an important factor which
influences the consumer purchase intention,
but these studies mostly focus on tangible pro-
ducts which can be purchased and consumed
 The Influence of Destination-Country Image on Prospective Tourists’ Visit Intention
by the consumers without leaving their place of
residence. In many cases, the studies focus on
the influence of country image on purchase
intention rather than on repurchase intention
of product (Hsieh et al., 2004; Li, An, Zhou,
& Wu, 2008; Wang, Wang, & He, 2007).
Different from the tangible products, tourist
destination product is experiential. Tourists
are unable to consume the tourism product at
their place of residence. Most of the studies
on destination image effect focus on the
actual tourists (those who are consuming
tourism products at the destination) and test
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the influence of destination image on these
tourist future behavioral intention (e.g. the
intention of revisit) (Zhang, Fu, Cai, & Lu,
2014); and only few studies focuses on the resi-
dents in tourist-generating regions, to check
the influence of original destination image on
these residents’ intention to visit a destination
(Stokburger- Sauer, 2011). The potential tour-
ists to a destination are an important source of
increase in tourism. Therefore, this study has
two purposes: (1) to propose the construct of
DCI, which integrates country image in inter-
national marketing and destination image in
tourism; (2) to investigate the influence
pattern of integrated DCI on potential tourists’
visit intention by testing three competing
models.
Literature Review and Conceptual
Development
Country Image
In international marketing, the construct of
country image is closely related to the pro-
ducts. The related constructs can be divided
into three types: product image, product-
country image and country image (Roth &
Diamantopoulos, 2009). Country image rep-
3
resents a more comprehensive and overall
image of country of origin, including the con-
sumers’ perception and evaluation of the
people, history, geography, culture, politics,
economy and technical development (Allred,
Chakraborty, & Miller, 1999). Product-
country image, based on the integration of
product image and country image, is defined
as consumers’ impression of different countries
and products made in, designed in or located in
these countries (Li, Fu, & Murray, 1997).
Product image is defined as consumers’
general perceptions of quality for products
made in a given country (Han, 1989). Tourist
destination can be viewed as a special
product (Campo & Alvarez, 2010; Nadeau
et al., 2008), which means destination image
becomes product image.
Previous research suggest that product
image and country image are multidimensional
concepts. Table 1 lists these image dimensions.
It shows that some studies measure both
product image and country image (Heslop,
Papadopoulos, Dowdles, Wall, & Compeau,
2004; Knight, Spreng, & Yaprak, 2003; Li
et al., 2008; Nadeau et al., 2008; Pappu,
Quester, & Cooksey, 2007; Pereira, Hsu, &
Kundu, 2005), while some only measure
country image (Lala, Allred, & Chakraborty,
2009). The dimensions of product image
include product supply, advertisement, distri-
bution, price, product belief, product evalu-
ation, product attitude, innovation,
reputation and design, which mainly focus on
tangible products (Heslop et al., 2004; Knight
et al., 2003; Pappu et al., 2007). Just one
research (i.e. Nadeau et al., 2008) discusses
the dimensions of destination product image;
their three dimensions are: natural environ-
ment beliefs, built environment beliefs and
evaluations of destination.
Similarly, the dimensions of country image
vary in different studies. In some studies, the
 4

Table 1 Review of Key Dimensions of Product and Country Image

Country of Country of Dimensions of product Dimensions of country

Author survey origin Product category image image
Hongmei Zhang et al.

Knight et al. (2003) Japan Germany Automobiles Negative offering People

Turkey Wrist-watches Positive offering Political situation
USA Advertising
Distribution
Price
Heslop et al. (2004) Canada USA General products Product beliefs Country description
Canada Product evaluation Country competence
Mexico People description
Chile People competence
Argentina Country evaluation
Relationship
Pereira et al. (2005) China USA General products General product attitude General country attitude
India Germany Car Specific product attitude
Taiwan
Pappu et al. (2007) Australia Japan Car Innovation Technological
China Television Prestige Economic
Malaysia Design Political
Li et al. (2008) China USA Car General product Country development

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Germany Mobile phone evaluation level
Japan Sportswear People evaluation
Korea Relationship
Interactive intention
 Nadeau et al. (2008) Europe Nepal Tourist Natural environment Country character
Asia destination beliefs Country competence
Australia Built environment beliefs People character
North America Evaluations of People competence
Africa destination Desired link

Lala et al. (2009) USA China Refrigerator n.a Environment

Russia PC Labor
Singapore Economy
South Africa Conflict
Mexico Politics
Scotland Vocational training
Greece Work culture
Poland
Brazil
Peru
Korea
Campo and Alvarez Spain Turkey Tourist Notoriety of the Notoriety and
(2010) destination destination reputation
Cultural attractions Security
Tourism service Level of development

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Entertainment and Respect for liberties
leisure
The Influence of Destination-Country Image on Prospective Tourists’ Visit Intention
5
 6 Hongmei Zhang et al.
structure of country image is built mainly
from the aspects of politics, economy, technol-
ogy, environment and people competence
(Knight et al., 2003; Lala et al., 2009; Pappu
et al., 2007), while in some other studies, the
above dimensions are integrated from the per-
spective of country and people to form the
dimensions of country character, country
competence, people character and people com-
petence (Heslop et al., 2004; Nadeau et al.,
2008). This country-beliefs’ and people-
beliefs’ structure can be represented by two
groups: character and competency beliefs
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(Heslop et al., 2004). Country character
refers to the features and traits of the
country measured by political stability, role
in the world politics, rights/freedoms and so
on (Heslop et al., 2004; Nadeau et al.,
2008). People character refers to the traits of
a country’s people and includes measures
such as friendliness (Heslop et al., 2004;
Knight et al., 2003; Nadeau et al., 2008),
trustworthiness (Heslop et al., 2004; Nadeau
et al., 2008), honest (Nadeau et al., 2008)
and helpful (Nadeau et al., 2008). Country
competence is about the direct and indirect
capacities to design and produce good pro-
ducts and is associated with the country,
including technically advanced (Heslop et al.,
2004; Laroche et al., 2005; Nadeau et al.,
2008), level of economic development (Lee
& Ganesh, 1999) and stability of economy
(Heslop et al., 2004; Nadeau et al., 2008).
People competence influences product beliefs
and evaluations (Heslop et al., 2004; Nadeau
et al., 2008), and is measured by creativity
(Knight et al., 2003; Lee & Ganesh, 1999),
well educated (Knight et al., 2003; Nadeau
et al., 2008), hardworking (Heslop et al.,
2004; Nadeau et al., 2008). Except cognitive
country image dimensions, some studies inves-
tigate desired country association as conative
aspects and terminal dependence variable of
country-people beliefs (Heslop et al., 2004;
Nadeau et al., 2008).
Destination Image in a Country Context
Destination includes various levels such as city,
region and country. When the destination is a
country, can destination image be replaced by
country image? Although destination image
has been conceptualized in numerous ways,
destination image in a country context has
not been independently defined in the academic
field. Crompton (1979) believes destination
image is the sum of individual’s belief, thinking
and impression of destination; Echtner and
Ritchie (1991) define it as the perception of
individual attributes and overall impression
of destination. Baloglu and McCleary (1999)
suggest it is the individual’s mental represen-
tation of the knowledge, affection and overall
impression of destination. These definitions
are also applied to the country-level destina-
tion. Table 2 lists the studies on destination
image in country level, and it shows that the
dimensions of destination image are quite
different in different studies, including attrac-
tion, comfort, value for money, atmosphere
(Lee, Lee, & Lee, 2005), traditional tourism,
infrastructure, niche tourism, safety, history,
food and culture, service, adventure (Stepchen-
kova & Morrison, 2008), natural environment
beliefs, built environment beliefs and evalu-
ation of destination (Nadeau et al., 2008).
Although the dimensions’ names vary, some
common aspects can still be found after
comparing the items used to measure these con-
structs. Those common aspects can be reorgan-
ized into tourist attraction (scenery, natural
beauty, history, culture) and infrastructure
(transportation, accommodation, catering,
shopping facilities). In a conceptual model of
the destination product, Murphy, Pritchard,
 Table 2 Review of Key Dimensions of Overseas Destination Image

Author Destination country Sample Image dimensions

Chen and Hsu (2000) Overseas destination Outbound tourists from Korea No dimensions, just items
Lee et al. (2005) Korea Tourists from all over the world Attraction
Comfort
Value for money
Exotic atmosphere
Nadeau et al. (2008) Nepal Tourists from all over the world Natural environment beliefs
Built environment beliefs
Evaluations of destination
Stepchenkova and Russia Potential tourists from USA Traditional tourism
Morrison (2008) Infrastructure
Niche tourism
Safety
History
Food and culture
Service
Adventure
Family adult

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Phillips, Asperina, and Korea US Upper Midwest population Fundamental
Wolfe (2013) Social/economic development
Good reputation
The Influence of Destination-Country Image on Prospective Tourists’ Visit Intention
7
 8 Hongmei Zhang et al.
and Smith (2000) identified two sub-
components of a destination product: service
infrastructure and destination environment.
Service infrastructure includes shopping ser-
vices, recreation and attraction services, food
services, travel services, transportation services
and accommodation services. It is consistent
with those common aspects in destination
image in country level, and also broadly used
in all level destinations (e.g. city, region)
(Beerli & Martín, 2004; Chi & Qu, 2008).
Therefore, service infrastructure is the core of
destination image that can be used at all
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levels of the destination. In Murphy’s model,
destination environment includes natural
environment, political/legal factors, techno-
logical factors, economic factors, cultural
factors and social factors, among which,
natural environment, cultural factors and
social factors usually can be seen in destination
image measurement, such as clean, hospitable
and friendly residents, exotic and heritage
(Beerli & Martín, 2004; Chi & Qu, 2008;
Murphy et al., 2000). Political and economic
factors are only used in very few destination
image studies and measured by political stab-
ility and economic development (Stepchenkova
& Morrison, 2008), but are the core com-
ponents in country image. As discussed
above, there are many overlapping elements
between country image and destination image
measurement.
Some scholars have discussed theoretically
and test empirically the relations between the
two, and recognize that country image and des-
tination image at country level are two con-
structs which are mutually linked but
different (Campo & Alvarez, 2010; Mossberg
& Kleppe, 2005; Nadeau et al., 2008). On
the one hand, the two are consistent in the
spatial scale of image object (i.e. country) and
overlap in measurement, for example, the
residents’ hospitality; on the other hand, the
perception subjects of country image are far
more important than that of the destination
image. The former includes consumers, inves-
tors, residents, governments, etc., while the
latter only includes international tourists.
The perceived object of country image is the
country attributes at a macro level (such as
politics, economy and technology), but the
object of destination image is the destination
attributes (such as cultural attractions and
entertainment facilities) which directly related
to tourists’ needs (Zhang & Cai, 2011;
Nadeau et al., 2008). As a tourist product, des-
tination image can be viewed as product image,
but destination product is related to place or
space and is experiential in nature, which is
different from traditional tangible product
(Nadeau et al., 2008).
Development of DCI Construct
Based on the above discussion about country
image and destination image, we develop an
integrated construct “destination-country
image” which stems from but is different
from “product-country image”, and define it
as tourists’ impression of a given country as a
tourist destination. Because there are many
overlapping dimensions between country
image and destination image in a respective
original area, the integrated construct will not
only broaden the conceptualization of destina-
tion image, but also bridge over the two differ-
ent research areas and lead to better
understanding of tourist behavior.
DCI is an integration of country image and
destination image by restructuring the dimen-
sions and measurements. According to the
classification of macro and micro country
image in country image area, DCI can be com-
posed of macro DCI and micro DCI. In inter-
national marketing field, some scholars have
 The Influence of Destination-Country Image on Prospective Tourists’ Visit Intention
divided country image into macro country
image and micro country image (Agarwal &
Rao, 1996; Martin & Eroglu, 1993; Pappu
et al., 2007). Macro country image is the sum
of beliefs of a given country in the consumers’
mind (Martin & Eroglu, 1993). Micro country
image is the sum of beliefs in the consumers’
mind to particular category of product of a
given country (Nagashima, 1970). Macro
and micro country image are mutually affected
and are two components of country image.
Pappu et al. (2007) applies the measurement
of previous studies (Jaffe & Nebenzahl, 1984;
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Martin & Eroglu, 1993) to measure the
macro country image by three dimensions,
including economy, politics and technology;
and the micro country image by three dimen-
sions, including innovation, prestige and
design, and a second-order-factor model was
also established respectively for the two. In a
subsequent study, Pappu and Quester (2010)
introduce macro country image and micro
country image into country equity model and
treat them as two independent dimensions of
country equity. In addition, country equity
also includes other three dimensions, namely,
country awareness, perceived quality and
country loyalty.
Based on the conceptualization of macro
and micro country image in international mar-
keting, we define macro DCI as tourists’ per-
ception and impression of politics, economy,
technology, environment, people and other
tourism environment factors of a destination
country. These factors can be represented by
four dimensions: country character, country
competence, people character and people com-
petence. The overlapping elements, such as
residents’ hospitality and political stability,
can be put into macro DCI construct. Micro
DCI image refers to the core tourism product
image related to tourist attractions and
tourism facilities, which directly meet the tour-
9
ists’ core needs. This classification method is
also consistent with Murphy et al. (2000)
model, in which destination image includes
environment and infrastructure dimensions.
The environment dimension is similar to
macro DCI, and infrastructure dimension is
similar to micro DCI. But the measurements
of these two dimensions did not reflect their
conceptualization very well in Murphy et al.
(2000) study. For example, politics, economy
and technology did not appear in the measure-
ment scale of macro environment.
Models of DCI’s Influence on Visit
Intention
In this section, we will propose three models to
explain the relationship among macro DCI,
micro DCI and visit intention. The Theory of
Reasoned Action (TRA) (Ajzen & Fishbein,
1980; Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975) is used as a
theory foundation for this study. This theory
and its extension theory (i.e. the theory of
planned behavior) have been used as models
for prediction of behavioral intentions widely
(Armitage & Conner, 2001; Madden, Ellen,
& Ajzen, 1992), including prediction of consu-
mers purchase intention in country image and
destination image area (Buhmann & Ingenh-
off, 2015; Nadeau et al., 2008). According to
TRA, a person’s behavioral intentions are
determined by an attitudinal component and
a normative component. Of them, the attitude
toward performing the behavior is influenced
underlying by the behavioral beliefs about
the likelihood of that performing a particular
behavior will lead to a specific outcome.
The concept of attitudes from the TRA
(Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980; Fishbein & Ajzen,
1975) is used in several country image research.
Buhmann and Ingenhoff (2015) conceptualiz-
ing country image as an attitude toward a
 10 Hongmei Zhang et al.
country, that is, the attitude toward a country’s
territory, its history and traditions, its domestic
economy, public culture, norms and values, as
well as its political organization. Destination
image is also conceptualized as an attitude
towards a destination, such as the attitude
towards a destination’s attractions, infrastruc-
ture and macro environments and so on (Lee
et al., 2005; Stepchenkova & Morrison,
2008). Based on the postulation that attitude
is an antecedent variable of behavior intention
in the TRA, country image and destination
image can be considered having a direct influ-
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ence on behavior intention.
The empirical studies in the marketing field
show that country image has a significant
influence on the consumers’ purchase decision
and purchase intention (Hsieh et al., 2004;
Li et al., 2008; Wang et al., 2007). The
more positive the country image is, the more
possible the consumers will buy the products
of such country. Such influence may be
direct or indirect in nature. Based on the sec-
ondary macro data of economy and culture
and the image survey data of the world’s top
20 automobile brands, Hsieh et al. (2004)
investigate the relationship between country
image and purchase behavior from the per-
spective of many countries, and find that
country image has a significant effect on the
consumers’ brand purchase behavior, and
culture plays a moderating effect on such
relationship; Wu and Fu (2007) explore the
influence of COO of brand and product on
consumers’ purchase behavior, and proves
that the COO of brand has a significant influ-
ence on purchase intention; Wang et al.
(2007) use experimental methods to test the
influence of COO, brand name and price on
perceived quality and purchase intention,
and find that COO affects perceived quality
and purchase intention significantly and that
the Chinese consumers had a higher evalu-
ation of the American products and are
more willing to purchase the American pro-
ducts than the domestic ones. Macro DCI is
same to country image in nature and measure-
ment; therefore, we can expect that a positive
relationship could be exist between macro
DCI and purchase intention of tourist
product (i.e. visit intention).
Generally, the consumers purchase and
consume tangible products without leaving
their place of residence, and country image
exists prior to product purchase and consump-
tion in international marketing. In the tourism
field, the formation of destination image is
dynamic, including three successive phases:
original image, induced image and composite
image (Gartner, 1993; Gunn, 1972; Fakeye
& Crompton, 1991). The destination image
prior to the tourists’ purchase and consump-
tion is original image; it becomes induced
image when the tourists make a decision and
actively seek for destination information; and
finally composite image is formed after the
tourists’ actual experience at the destination.
In the previous studies on the relationship
between destination image and visit intention,
the destination image discussed mostly refers
to the composite image (Chen & Hsu., 2000;
Chen & Phou, 2013; Chen & Tsai, 2007;
Lee et al., 2005), and there were few studies
on the influence of original image and
induced image. Original image is the starting
point of destination image formation (Gunn,
1972) and also an important factor determin-
ing the potential tourists’ destination choice
(Gallarza et al., 2002; Kotler et al., 2002). In
this study, we use micro DCI to represent the
core elements of destination image (i.e. tourist
attraction, infrastructure), and classify those
environment elements (e.g. political stability,
residents’ hospitality) into macro DCI which
is consistent with country image construct in
international marketing.
 The Influence of Destination-Country Image on Prospective Tourists’ Visit Intention
This study mainly explores the influence of
original image on potential tourists’ visit inten-
tion. According to above discussion, we first
put forward a model of DCI and visit intention,
i.e. independent model (Figure 1). This model
assumes macro DCI and micro DCI affect
visit intention independently. The level of
intention is predicted from the summation of
these two influences. The following hypothesis
is proposed:
H1: Perception of macro DCI and micro DCI will
positively affect visit intention of prospective tour-
Downloaded by [Ho Hon Leung] at 14:25 03 September 2015
ists independently.
In international marketing, country image is
assumed to have a halo effect on product evalu-
ation, especially when consumers are not fam-
iliar with the product. The halo hypothesis is
supported by Johansson, Douglas, and
Nonaka (1985) and Li, Wang, Jiang, Barnes,
and Zhang (2014) who report that country
image as a halo directly affects consumers’
beliefs about product attributes. Although
halo view implies that consumers will be less
influenced by country image in their purchase
intention when they are familiar with a
product, there is evidence to suggest that when
familiarity with a product increases, consumers
are actually more likely to use country of origin
Figure 1 Independent Model.
11
information, as they feel at ease with such infor-
mationcues (Wang et al., 2012). Wang et al.
(2012) argue that there is a relationship
between cognitive country image, product
image and purchase intention; that is, cognitive
country image influence product image associ-
ated with a country, the impact of cognitive
country image on purchase intention is
mediated by product image.
In this study, micro DCI (i.e. core destination
image) is viewed as product image. For per-
spective tourists, destination is an unfamiliar
service product whose true quality cannot be
detected before purchase; therefore, country
image will be used as a cue for destination
evaluation. The research of Nadeau et al.
(2008) in Nepal is one of a few studies on the
relationship between the country image and
the destination image and shows that country
image directly affects destination image. In
their study, country image includes five dimen-
sions, namely country competence, people
competence, country character, people charac-
ter and desired link; and destination image
includes three dimensions, namely natural
environment belief, built environment belief,
and destination evaluation. The study shows
that country competence and people compe-
tence affect built environment belief. The
built environment beliefs are measured by
items such as nightlife, shopping and sport
facilities, which are consistent with our con-
ceptualization of micro DCI.
Besides the direct effect discussed in indepen-
dent model section, studies also show that
country image has an indirect influence on
the consumers’ purchase intention. For
example, the research of Li et al. (2008) on
the influence of country image on Chinese con-
sumers’ purchase intention demonstrated that
the country image indirectly influenced the
purchase intention through the mediating
effect of product evaluation, brand attitude
 12 Hongmei Zhang et al.
and subjective norm. In the recent studies,
country image was conceptualized as cognitive
image and affective image and their respective
influence on purchase intention was explored.
The research of Wang et al. (2012) on
Chinese consumers found that the cognitive
image indirectly influenced the purchase inten-
tion through product image. Nadeau et al.
(2008) found that country competence and
people competence indirectly influence the
visit intention through built environment
belief and evaluation of destination; country
character and people character indirectly influ-
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ence the visit intention through destination
evaluation. But, their sample focuses on inter-
national tourists traveling in Nepal; that is,
what they explored is the influence of compo-
site image on tourists’ future visit intention.
Therefore, second model (i.e. mediating
model) is proposed, which adds a path
between macro DCI and micro DCI
(Figure 2). In this model, macro DCI is
assumed to have an indirect influence on visit
intention through the mediating effect of
micro DCI. At the same time, it also has a
direct effect on visit intention. If the potential
tourists have a higher evaluation of the politics,
economy, technology and other macro tourism
environment factors of the destination country,
they will have stronger intention to travel to
Figure 2 Mediating Model.
that country in the future. In addition, if the
potential tourists have a higher evaluation of
the politics, economy, technology, environ-
ment and people of a country of destination,
they may give a higher evaluation on the
tourist attractions and tourism facilities pro-
vided by this country, and further they will
have an intention to travel to such country.
The following hypothesis is proposed:
H2: Micro DCI will partially or fully mediate the
relationship between macro DCI and visit intention
of prospective tourists.
Even though some studies show that country
image directly affects product or destination
image, Campo and Alvarez (2010, 2014)
argued the need for caution when applying
findings obtained in other areas to tourism ser-
vices or to other countries with different his-
torical and sociocultural contexts. Their
studies of Turkey and Israel show the destina-
tion image could be positive while country
image is evaluated negatively. Many develop-
ing countries usually obtain positive destina-
tion image due to their unique history,
culture, custom and climate, but suffering
negative country image with political instabil-
ity, less developed economy and technology.
Therefore, negative country image may not
lead to negative destination image. Based on
the above arguments, we assume that the influ-
ence pattern of country image on destination
image may be moderating; that is, country
image does not affect destination image and
visit intention directly, but moderate the
relationship between destination image and
visit intention. We put forward the third
model named moderating effect model, which
investigates if macro DCI will positively mod-
erate the relationship between micro DCI and
visit intention (H3). For example, potential
visitors from the USA have high evaluation of
 The Influence of Destination-Country Image on Prospective Tourists’ Visit Intention
Figure 3 Moderating Effect Model.
Chinese historical and cultural attractions, and
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motivate high desire to visit these attractions,
but if they have negative evaluation of
Chinese political, economic and social situ-
ation, the effect of micro DCI may be wea-
kened, vice versa. This kind of moderating
effect is called reinforcement interaction effect
(Afshartous & Preston, 2011).
H3: Macro DCI positively moderates the relation-
ship between micro DCI and visit intention. That
is, micro DCI influences visit intention less when
macro DCI is less positive. (Figure 3)
Methodology
To investigate the construct of DCI, we choose
China as a destination country. China is a big
eastern country with a long-standing civiliza-
tion history, and its cultural traditions are
very different from the western ones. In
China, there are numerous historical sites
(such as Forbidden City, Great Walls and
Terra-cotta Warriors), different life styles and
customs from western ones, various delicious
food as well as natural wonders, all of which
have a strong attraction to the foreign tourists.
The economic and political growth in China
has drawn global attention. China has put
the building of country image on its national
13
agenda. In 2013, China National Tourism
Administration developed a series of image
promotion activities with the slogan “Beautiful
China”. But, for various reasons including
“China threat theory” appeared along with
China’s rapid economic development, different
and even conflicting eastern and western politi-
cal systems, and haze climate in 2013, the
potential international tourists may not have
a very positive image about China.
In this study, the DCI is deemed to be com-
posed of two aspects, namely macro DCI and
micro DCI. The macro DCI is measured
mainly by reference to the measurement scale
of country image construct in international
marketing field, including four dimensions,
which are country character, country compe-
tence, people character and people compe-
tence. The measurement items are mainly
sourced from the literature in Table 1, and
there are 15 items in total. The measurement
of micro DCI is based on its conceptualization
(i.e. core elements of a destination product,
including attraction and infrastructure), and
the items are sourced from the literature and
our interview of college students, and there
are 13 items, including natural landscape, cul-
tural landscape, accommodation, catering,
shopping, information and tourist activity.
The previous cognitive destination image is
also regarded as multidimensional (see Beerli
& Martín, 2004). The micro DCI in this
study only refers to the image related to core
tourism product elements. The factors such as
political, economy, natural and social environ-
ment are incorporated into macro DCI. See
Table 3 for specific measurement items and
references.
In all items, a five-point Likert scale is
adopted (1 stands for “strongly disagree” and
5 stands for “strongly agree”). As the subjects
in this study are the British and American
college students who have not been to China,
 Table 3 The USA and UK Students’ Perception of Chinese DCI and Visit Intention

Items Mean Item reference Items Mean Item reference

Macro DCI Micro DCI

Country character
political stability 3.09 Nadeau et al. (2008) various wild fauna and flora 3.42 Chen and Tsai (2007)
democracy 2.34 Campo et al. (2010) various natural landscape 3.69 Chen and Hsu (2000); Chen and
14 Hongmei Zhang et al.

Tsai (2007)
role in world politic 3.95 Nadeau et al. (2008) unique natural landscape 3.73 Chen and Hsu (2000); Chen and
Tsai (2007)
pollution control 2.54 Nadeau et al. (2008) various outdoor activities 3.65 Lee et al. (2005)
high life quality 2.94 Nadeau et al. (2008) rich historical and cultural 4.12 Lee et al. (2005)
heritages
Country
competence
economic 3.90 Wang et al. (2012) unique customs 4.08 Stepchenkova and Morrison (2008)
development
modernization 3.74 Phillips et al. (2013) a variety of ethnic culture 3.72 Stepchenkova and Morrison (2008)
high technological 3.90 Nadeau et al. (2008) unique historical culture 3.98 Lee et al. (2005)
level good shopping environment 3.68 Nadeau et al. (2008)
People character a variety of food 3.85 Chen and Tsai (2007)
friendly 3.68 Nadeau et al. (2008) suitable accommodation 3.39 Campo and Alvarez (2010)
helpful 3.56 Nadeau et al. (2008) easy to get information 3.61 Chen and Hsu (2000)
polite 3.61 interview interesting cultural activity 3.74 Campo and Alvarez (2010)

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trustworthiness 3.52 Nadeau et al. (2008)
honest 3.54 Nadeau et al. (2008) Visit intention
People competence would like to go to China 3.41 Phillips et al. (2013)
hard working 4.11 Nadeau et al. (2008) would possibly go to China 3.34 Chen and Tsai (2007)
high educational 3.91 Nadeau et al. (2008) would recommend others to go 3.25 Chen and Tsai (2007)
level to China
 The Influence of Destination-Country Image on Prospective Tourists’ Visit Intention
possibly they are not very familiar with the
different aspects of China. To avoid them
having no idea on how to answer or tending
to select the middle value (namely 3), option
“I don’t know” has been added in the scale,
and encoded with the value “0”. During data
processing, this option is taken as a missing
value, which is calculated with expectation
maximization (EM) method. As for visit inten-
tion, three items are adopted for its measure-
ment, including “would like to go to China”,
“would possibly go to China” and “would rec-
ommend others to go to China”.
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Data were collected at Bournemouth Univer-
sity, UK and State University of New York
Oneonta College, USA, in November and
December 2013. There are three reasons of
selecting college students as the respondents:
(1) The college students have less experience
of overseas travel – especially, the students
selected in this study have not been to China,
and so their perception of China’s image is
more original, which fits the purpose of this
study. (2) Halo view of country image postu-
lates that consumer will evaluate product
image in terms of country image when they
are not familiar with the product. Therefore,
the student sample is helpful to test the mediat-
ing model which hypothesize macro DCI
affects micro DCI, and in turn, affect visit
intention. (3) College students’ market is a
very promising international market. On the
one hand, the college students have a stronger
demand for study tour; on the other, this group
is highly educated and enjoys a high social
status. They will become the main component
part of future international tourism market.
One of the authors of this study established an
online questionnaire survey link (https://
aristotle.oneonta.edu/SelectSurvey/TakeSurvey.
aspx?SurveyID = 78LH493M). A pilot test on
20 students was carried out in each of the univer-
sities. A slight modification of wording was
15
made to improve clarity of the questions. The
survey was carried out by the trained under-
graduates or postgraduate students in dining
halls and libraries. A systematic sampling
method was used. One of every five passers
was selected to be surveyed. They were asked
to answer the questions on a tablet provided by
interviewer. 325 questionnaires were collected
in the UK and 305 in America. Except for the
invalid questionnaires and those who have
been to China before, there are 556 valid cases
(British: 272, American: 284). Of all the respon-
dents, 35.4% was first year students; 21.6%
second year students, 20.3% third year students,
18.2% final year students, 4.5% graduate stu-
dents. 53.8% was male and 46.2% was
female. With an average age of 20 years, these
respondents come from different majors, and
88.3% of them have a vacation at least every
year.
Data were put into SPSS 17 and Amos 17.0.
Structure Equation Modeling was used.
Study Results
British and American Students’ Perception
of China’s DCI
Mean values of China’s DCI items were
reported in Table 3. In the perception of
macro DCI, except political stability, democ-
racy, high life quality and pollution control,
other items’ average scores are above 3.5,
including important role in the world’s politics,
economic development, modernization, high
technological level, friendly, helpful, polite,
trustworthiness, honesty, hardworking and
high education level. It is thus clear that
British and American college students have a
positive perception of the performance that
China has achieved in economic and techno-
logical development in recent years and have
 16 Hongmei Zhang et al.
a positive perception of Chinese people.
However, three of five items which measure
country character have scores below three,
demonstrating that students have a relatively
negative perception of democracy, life quality
and pollution control of China. As for micro
DCI, the scores in almost all 13 items are
above 3.4 except one. This indicates that the
British and American college students have a
better evaluation of China’s micro DCI. They
especially think highly of China’s historical
and cultural heritages and unique life
styles and customs. These items are also the
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most attractive cultural elements to Western
tourists.
Macro and Micro DCI Structures and
Measurement Models
Macro DCI is regarded as a multidimensional
construct. Firstly, Confirmatory factor analysis
is used to test the macro DCI construct, a
measurement model with 4 dimensions and
15 items is put into Amos 17.0 to test the
degree of fitting between the model and the
data. The result shows that the loading values
of “important role in the world’s politics”
(0.09) and “pollution control” (0.46) in
country character are below 0.5, and the good-
ness of fit of the model is not confirmed
because most of indexes does not meet the criti-
cal value (Hatcher, 1994). The model obtains a
chi-square value of 1435.64(p < .00), Good-
ness of Fit Index (GFI) and Comparative Fit
Index (CFI) are lower than 0.90 and RMSEA
is greater than 0.1. According to modification
indices and content validity assessment, the
model is revised until the indexes meet the criti-
cal value and goodness of fit is confirmed. The
final measurement model of macro DCI
includes four dimensions with 10 items (see
Table 4). The chi-square value is 119.89,
p = .000, but the ratio of chi-square value to
degree of freedom is lower than 5. GFI,
Adjusted Goodness of Fit Index (AGFI) and
CFI are greater than 0.90, while the Root
Mean Square Residual (RMR) is lower than
0.05 and Root Mean Square Error of Approxi-
mation (RMSEA) is lower than 0.08. Those
five items eliminated are “important role in
the world’s politics”, “pollution control”,
“helpful”, “honest” and “high life quality”.
A comprehensive evaluation of the measure-
ment scales is needed, given the existing
deficiencies in the currently available instru-
ments (Campo & Alvarez, 2010; Roth & Dia-
mantopoulos, 2009). The reliability and
validity of the scales is assessed (see Table 4),
and it is showed that only the Composite
Reliability (CR) (0.57) and Average Variance
Extracted (AVE) (0.40) of “country character”
cannot meet the requirements (CR > 0.7; AVE
> 0.5) (Hatcher, 1994), which will be excluded
in the following model test. The CR of
other three constructs range from 0.75 to
0.89, and the AVE range from 0.60 to 0.73,
showing a good reliability and convergent val-
idity.
Thirteen items are used for measurement of
micro DCI. First, exploratory factor analysis
with Principal Components Analysis and
varimax rotation method was used to explore
the dimensions. Those items with communal-
ities and factor loadings lower than 0.5 were
eliminated (Hair, Anderson, Tatham, &
Black, 1998). Three factors were obtained,
named as natural attraction, cultural attraction
and service facility. Then confirmatory factor
analysis is used to confirm the micro DCI con-
struct with three dimensions and obtained a
chi-square
value of 32.688 (p = .001), ratio of chi-
square value to degree of freedom is 2.970,
lower than 5. GFI, AGFI and CFI are 0.98,
0.95 and 0.99 respectively (all being greater
 The Influence of Destination-Country Image on Prospective Tourists’ Visit Intention
than 0.90), while the RMR is 0.019 (< 0.05)
and RMSEA is 0.060 (<0.08), suggesting the
goodness of fit of the measurement model of
micro DCI is confirmed. The reliability and
validity of the scales is also assessed (see
Table 4). The CR of three dimensions range
from 0.71 to 0.86, and the AVE range from
0.55 to 0.67, exceeding the critical value of
0.7 and 0.5, showing a good reliability and
convergent validity.
Overall measurement model is also tested by
confirmatory factor analysis. The model
includes three constructs (macro DCI, micro
Downloaded by [Ho Hon Leung] at 14:25 03 September 2015
DCI and visit intention), seven dimensions
and 18 items (country character is excluded
for low CR and AVE). The goodness of fit is
confirmed, with a chi-square value of 365.62
(p = .000), ratio of chi-square value to degree
of freedom is 3.207, GFI, AGFI and CFI are
0.93, 0.96 and 0.96 respectively (all > 0.90),
RMR is 0.043 (<0.05) and RMSEA is 0.063
(< 0.08).
Test of the Three Competing Models
Table 5 shows the structural coefficients of
each path in the three models and the total var-
iance (R2) of each dependent variable
explained by its determinants in the models.
First, the independent model is tested by
SEM, and obtains the following indices: the
chi-square value is 90.66, ratio of chi-square
value to degree of freedom is 3.63, GFI,
AGFI and CFI are all 0.97, RMSEA is 0.069,
which confirm the goodness of fit of the
model. The path coefficient is −0.04 between
macro DCI and visit intention, indicating
macro DCI has no significant influence on
visit intention of potential tourists, while the
effect of micro DCI on visit intention is
supported with the path coefficient of 0.54
(p < .001).
17
Secondly, Structural Equation Modeling is
conducted for the mediating model, and the
goodness of fit of the structural models is con-
firmed (χ2 = 64.93, χ2/df = 2.70, GFI = 0.98,
IFI = 0.98, CFI = 0.98 and RMSEA = 0.055).
The result shows the direct influence of
macro DCI on visit intention is not significant
with the path coefficient β = −0.07(p > .1),
indicating the students’ visit intention to a
country does not change as a result of percep-
tion of country competence, people character
and people competence of this country.
Micro DCI has significant positive influence
on visit intention (β = 0.55, p < .001). The
more positive perception of core destination
product elements the students have, such as
attractions and facilities that a country pro-
vides, the more likely they will visit this
country. In addition, the result shows macro
DCI has a directly influence on micro DCI,
with the path coefficient β = 0.26, t = 4.95 and
P = .000, indicating the more positive percep-
tion of country competence, people character
and people competence of a country students
have, more likely they will give higher evalu-
ation on the natural and cultural attractions
and service facilities of the country.
Finally, the moderating effect model is tested
by SEM. To test for the moderating effects of
macro DCI, we ran the structural model by
adding an interaction term of (macro DCI ×
micro DCI) to the models. To reduce the
numerical instability for estimation associated
with multicollinearity, we followed Aiken and
West’s (1991) deviation-from-means method
to compute the interaction term. The path coef-
ficient (0.01) between the interaction term and
visit intention is not significant, suggesting that
the relationship between micro DCI and visit
intention does not depend on and is not
affected by macro DCI perception of potential
tourists. The goodness of fit of the model is not
satisfying.
 18 Hongmei Zhang et al.

Table 4 The Measurement Model Test of DCI

Dimension/items Standardized loading Factor mean CR AVE

Macro DCI
Country character 2.72 0.56 0.40
Political stability 0.72
Democracy 0.53
Country competence 3.84 0.82 0.60
Economic development 0.83
Modernization 0.77
High technological level 0.76
People character 3.59 0.89 0.73
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Friendly 0.81
Polite 0.88
Trustworthiness 0.82
People competence 4.00 0.75 0.60
Hardworking 0.81
High educational level 0.73
Micro DCI
Natural attraction 3.85 0.86 0.67
Various wild fauna and flora 0.78
Various natural landscape 0.81
Various outdoor activities 0.85
Cultural attraction 3.56 0.73 0.57
A variety of ethnic culture 0.72
Unique historical culture 0.84
Service facility 3.64 0.71 0.55
A variety of food 0.62
Suitable accommodation 0.77

Among the three models, the moderating
effect model (H3) is rejected for its unsatisfied
fit indices, the other two models have met fit
indices, so a further comparison is needed.
Because the independent model and mediating
model have the minuscule differences (less
than 1%) in variance explained in the final
outcome (visit intention), it seems that a com-
parison in terms of estimates of parameter
and fit, and statistical inference of difference
would not be helpful (Teo & Schaik, 2012).
In addition, a model can be eliminated from
further consideration if it does not give reason-
able results of signs and magnitudes of coeffi-
cient estimates (Di Natale, 2002). The
independent model (H1) has a non-significant
path coefficient between macro DCI and visit
intention; thus it is rejected. With regard to
the mediating model, macro DCI has a signifi-
cant influence on micro DCI, then micro DCI
 The Influence of Destination-Country Image on Prospective Tourists’ Visit Intention 19

Table 5 Path Coefficient and Goodness of Fit of Three Models

Independent Mediating Moderating effect

model model model

Macro DCI→ visit intention −0.04 −0.07

Micro DCI→ visit intention 0.54*** 0.55*** 0.52***
Macro DCI→ Micro DCI 0.26***
Macro DCI × Micro DCI → visit 0.01
intention
2
χ 90.66 64.93 597.68
χ2/df 3.63 2.70 45.97
GFI 0.97 0.98 0.83
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IFI 0.97 0.98 0.77

CFI 0.97 0.98 0.77
RMSEA 0.069 0.055 0.285
R2 (visit intention) 0.289 0.284 0.272

***refers to p < .001.

affects visit intention significantly, but macro
DCI has no direct influence on visit intention,
and therefore, full mediating model is sup-
ported while partial mediating model is not
supported. Across the models, the most domi-
nant direct effect on visit intention is micro
DCI; macro DCI has indirect effect on visit
intention through micro DCI.
Discussion
After developing independently for a few
decades, the relationship between country
image and destination image attracts research
attention recently. While both concepts
concern how perceived image may influence
consumer’s decision-making in purchasing
the country’s products or visit the country,
most of the research are independent, and the
empirical evidence about how both concepts
interact with each other and then influence
tourist’s visit intention to a country is still
scarce. This study adds to the recent research
stream that attempts to uncover the relation-
ships among country image, destination
image and visit intention. In order to achieve
this objective, we proposes a meld concept
DCI and three competing models.
The construct of DCI integrates country
image in international marketing and destina-
tion image in tourism by merging common
and general elements of the two (e.g. political
stability, residents’ friendliness) into macro
DCI which is consistent with country image
in international marketing, and conceptualiz-
ing micro DCI as the core destination
product elements such as attraction and infra-
structure. Campo and Alvarez (2010) argue
that destination image studies sometimes also
measure general characteristics of the
country, such as the economic development
or the political stability. Nadeau et al. (2008)
also suggest that destination image research
 20 Hongmei Zhang et al.
should include a deeper set of underlying
beliefs of a country and its people to explain
viewpoints about the destination and its attrac-
tiveness. Along with these arguments, we
propose the integrated concept of DCI, which
will be useful for destination image studies
that deal with a specific country. It is also
useful for studies to explore how tourism pro-
motion campaigns and actual visit experiences
would influence the DCI.
Three competing models are independent
model, mediating model, and moderating
effect model. Of them, the full mediating
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model is supported; other two are rejected.
The findings confirm that micro DCI have
greater and more direct influence on visit inten-
tion. When international tourists choose a
tourist destination, their perception of the
tourist attractions and service facilities pro-
vided by the destination country plays a great
role in decision-making process. This finding
is consistent with most of the research in desti-
nation image which suggest destination image
(equal to micro DCI) is an important factor
to influence tourist’s visit intention (Chen &
Hsu, 2000; Chen & Phou, 2013; Chen &
Tsai, 2007; Lee et al., 2005; Nadeau et al.,
2008). Due to extant research mainly focusing
on composite image effect on tourist’s future
behavior intention, this study adds knowledge
of the relationship between original image and
potential tourist’s visit intention.
The results do not reflect the direct influence
of macro DCI on visit intention of potential
tourists; therefore, the independent model
and the partial mediating model are rejected.
It is consistent with some research in inter-
national marketing (Li et al., 2008; Wang
et al., 2012), in which product evaluation,
brand attitude or product image act as mediat-
ing variables between country image and pur-
chase intention. It is also consistent with
recent studies focusing on the relationship
between country image and destination
image. For example, Nadeau et al. (2008)
present a nested framework of country image
and destination image and show that country
image have no direct effect on travel intention.
Kim et al. (2014) investigate the impact of
mega sports events on country image and des-
tination image, and the influence of destination
and country images on visit and purchase
intentions. Their study doesn’t find the direct
effect of country image on either visit or pur-
chase intention.
The relationship between macro DCI and
micro DCI is confirmed. The results show
that macro DCI has a direct effect on micro
DCI, which is consistent with Nadeau et al.
(2008), but disagrees with Campo and
Alvarez (2010). In Nadeau et al.’s study, the
dimensions of country image (e.g. macro
DCI) have indirect influence on travel intention
through the mediating effect of the dimensions
of destination image. But Campo and Alvarez
(2010) argue that developing countries suffer-
ing from negative country perceptions could
have more positive views regarding the
tourism destination. They suggest country
image and destination image are significantly
different from each other. China is a develop-
ing country which is suffering from those nega-
tive images such as democracy and pollution,
but China has more positive images such as
economic and technology development and
hardworking. This study supports the argu-
ment that there is a difference between the
two concepts and suggests macro DCI has a
direct effect on micro DCI. Tourists who
have a positive macro DCI perception would
have more positive micro DCI perception and
would possibly visit that country more.
This study also tests the moderating effect
model, which assumes macro DCI would
strengthen or weaken the relationship
between micro DCI and visit intention;
 The Influence of Destination-Country Image on Prospective Tourists’ Visit Intention
however this model is rejected. This result indi-
cates that the relationship between micro DCI
and visit intention does not change according
to macro DCI perception level. Micro DCI is
a robust predictor of visit intention of potential
tourists. For those developing countries suffer-
ing from negative country image, positive des-
tination image would still attract international
tourists. But this does not mean macro DCI has
no influence on visit intention at all. Full med-
iating model suggests that more positive macro
DCI perception would lead to more positive
micro DCI perception, and then more possi-
Downloaded by [Ho Hon Leung] at 14:25 03 September 2015
bility to visit.
Conclusion
This research proposes an integrated concept
DCI which is composed of macro DCI and
micro DCI. This new construct is very
helpful to clarify the relationship between
the concepts of country image and destina-
tion image by using different ways in concep-
tualizing and measuring it, and will be a
useful construct for country-level destination
image studies. This is an important theoreti-
cal contribution of this study. In order to
further investigate the relationship between
macro DCI and micro DCI, and their expla-
nation power and prediction pattern for
outcome variable, that is, visit intention, we
test three models proposed according to the
concept of attitudes from the TRA, the halo
effect hypothesis and research results discre-
pancy among extant literature. These tests
not only confirm the reasonability of the inte-
grated construct, but also add knowledge to
understand how macro DCI and Micro DCI
influence visit intention. This is the second
important theoretical contribution of this
study. The findings also have management
implications. China is suffering from a
21
decreasing number of inbound tourists and
is making great efforts to establish an attrac-
tive total image of the country. Many mar-
keting campaigns are conducted, including
branding of China, and designing the logo
and slogan (Beautiful China) to deliver the
country’s image. This study’s findings are
useful to Chinese country image communi-
cation. Firstly, micro DCI has a great influ-
ence on visit intention, and image
communication should pay more attention
to it. Although natural attractions have been
perceived high, the most outstanding image
perceived by potential tourists is rich and
unique historical and cultural attractions;
therefore, China should strengthen this
image. Service facilities are also important
aspects of micro DCI, and respondents have
a high evaluation on Chinese food. Tradition-
ally, food is just a pure service facility to meet
tourists’ fundamental physical needs, but
gradually food has become important tourist
attractions. China has various local foods
which can be communicated in international
market.
Meanwhile, it is also important to communi-
cate macro DCI, including country compe-
tence, people character and people
competence. The respondents have a high per-
ception on macro DCI, especially on people
competence and country competence. High
competence perception would produce a halo
effect that makes potential tourists believe
China can provide high-quality tourism pro-
ducts and services. It is true especially for pro-
spective tourists who are not familiar with
China tourism products and services. Further
communication is needed to improve and
strengthen the tourists’ evaluation of macro
DCI. Moreover, country character gets lower
assessment, especially on democracy, pollution
control and life quality. Pollution control is a
factor to determine whether the tourists can
 22 Hongmei Zhang et al.
travel in a clean and beautiful environment.
China needs to take effective measures to
control the environmental pollution.
Limitation and Future Research
This study provides a contribution to further
understanding of the destination image in a
developing country context and the effect of
original DCI on visit intention. Future studies
can be carried out at the following aspects:
Firstly, although country character is an
Downloaded by [Ho Hon Leung] at 14:25 03 September 2015
important dimension in country image
studies, it has a low CR and AVE in the
measurement model in this study. The political
system of China is different from western
countries, which may lead to underestimation
of Chinese democracy and political stability.
Future research can further investigate the
measurement of this dimension in other devel-
oping countries and in tourism context.
Secondly, this study tests the effect of orig-
inal DCI on visit intention of potential tourists.
Tourists may change their perception of the
destination country and become more familiar
with the country after their actual visit, which
may change the relationship among macro
DCI, micro DCI and visit intention, the halo
effect of country image may be weakened and
therefore, the three competing models need to
be retested to explore how composite DCI
influence future visit intention. Campo and
Alvarez (2010, 2014) argued that destination
image may influence country image, tourism
promotions can reduce a country’s negative
image. Tourists’ actual visit in destination
country may have greater influence to change
their previous negative image than promotion
campaigns, which is worth being investigated
further.
Thirdly, the purpose of this study is to
propose an integrated construct and test its
reasonability and explanation power and pre-
diction pattern for visit intention, thus does
not investigate how the dimensions of macro
DCI and micro DCI interact with each
other and how these dimensions affect visit
intention. Moreover, this study does not test
affective components of DCI, which may
show a different influence pattern on visit
intention. Future research need to further test
the dimensions of cognitive DCI, affective
DCI and their relationship with visit intention.
Additionally, the respondents of this study are
college students who may have less knowledge
about China as a destination, which is a limit-
ation in our research; future study could
include a mixed group of those who are fam-
iliar and unfamiliar with China to verify and
extend the results of this study.
Acknowledgements
This research is supported by the National
Natural Science Foundation of China [Grant
No. 41371161]; Art and Social Science Foun-
dation of Ministry of Education of China
[Grant No. 12YJAZH189] and Southeast Uni-
versity [Grant No. 2242015R30020].
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