Gothenburg´s Image as a Tourism Destination

Abstract: Destination images are critical to the success of tourism destinations, because they influence both the decision-making behaviour of potential tourists and satisfaction levels regarding the tourist experience. Gothenburg should possess a prominent destination image and distinctive brand in order to gain success in the international market and in today’s increasingly tough global competition. The main purpose of the present study is to investigate the existing destination image of Gothenburg perceived by visitors, as well as the different images among typical and sport tourists. The reasons for emphasizing Gothenburg is because it lacks a clear positioning and distinctive tourism image in tourists’ minds, appears to be under the shadow of Stockholm and was segmentation problems. In order to investigate a comprehensive image of Gothenburg, both a structured and a unstructured method was used. Interviews were carried out with 369 respondents to collect data, together with an importance-performance analysis (IPA) as our theoretical framework. The IPA grid indicated that typical tourists and sport tourists had different perceptions towards five image attributes, namely accommodation facilities, different customs/culture, quality of food, sport facilities/ activities and shopping facilities. The results from both closed-ended questions and qualitative analysis indicated friendly, clean and green and safety to be the most distinctive positive images or characteristics of Gothenburg. The knowledge gained from the primary data was used to formulate marketing strategies for two segments, and for guidance on image branding -- Gothenburg as the “Capital of Swedish Lifestyle”.