Influence of Information Sources on Tourists : A Segment-Wise Analysis with Special Focus on Destination Image

This paper aims at identifying the influence of different information sources in image management of Indian destinations. Six different information sources namely, word-of-mouth, tourism department publications like travel brochure, PR effort in print and electronic media, professional sources (like tour operators, etc.) and cognitive wisdom of the tourists are examined. The influences of these information sources are tested for a few segments of tourists based on certain common segmentation variables like origin, age, benefits sought and exposure of the travellers. It is observed that cognitive wisdom (of the tourists), the often-neglected source of information,plays the most prominent role in shaping the image about a destination. On the other hand, it is seen that one of the most debated communication media in services marketing--the referral affects image formation process the least. The influences of almost all the information sources across various segments are found to be significantly different. It is concluded that the influence of the tourism department publications are highly correlated with the other information sources