LINKING TRAVEL DESTINATION RECOMMENDATION WITH UNLEARNING THROUGH DESTINATION IMAGE
(A2022-106428)

AUTHORS

Clara Cubillas-Para, Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena; Eva Tomaseti-Solano, Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena; Juan Gabriel Cegarra-Navarro

ABSTRACT

The pandemic has caused a change in the image of tourist destinations and, therefore, has imposed the need for the latter to adapt to its new reality. In this research paper, we propose to use the unlearning context as a tool that allows tourists to update the image of the destination before taking actions such as recommending it. Through an empirical analysis carried out with a sample of 426 valid questionnaires, the results show that unlearning is an antecedent variable of destination image and the intention to recommend it. Therefore, the results contribute to the literature by considering the unlearning context as a predictive variable that allows tourists to renew the perceptions they have about certain destinations to adapt to dynamic scenarios such as the Covid-19 pandemic. The importance of the results of this study should be considered by destination marketers, who should develop marketing measures and actions to generate a positive image of destinations.