The Complex System of Destination Image: Attack, Failure, and Control

Author Bios (50 Words for each Author)

1. Saba Salehi-Esfahani is a Ph.D. candidate at Rosen College of Hospitality Management, University of Central Florida. She has various work experiences in the hospitality and tourism industry in US and abroad. Her research area is focused on customer emotion and experience, social media, and information technology.

2. Jalayer (Jolly) Khalilzadeh is a Ph.D. candidate at Rosen College of Hospitality Management, University of Central Florida. He has various work experiences in the hospitality and tourism industry and a passion for applications of neuroeconomics, network analysis, and game theory in hospitality and tourism research.

Abstract (150 Words)

Destination image is among the most investigated subjects in tourism literature. Previous studies have predominantly adopted a reductionist approach in investigating components of destination image. Reductionist approach, however, does not provide any knowledge on a complex system behavior (i.e., destination image). By using complex system approach and network science, the current study investigates the structure of Curaçao tourism destination image as a scale-free network of businesses and their related attitudinal constructs from TripAdvisor. Results showed that Curaçao’s destination image is categorized as a complex system with the least controllability. Furthermore, the major hubs of Curaçao Island’s image that are susceptible to deliberate attacks of nearby competitors were identified. Our findings call for a need of more unique hubs in Curaçao image network to consolidate the system in handling deliberate attacks

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The Complex System of Destination Image: Attack, Failure, and Control

Destination image is among the most investigated subjects in tourism literature. Previous studies have predominantly adopted a reductionist approach in investigating components of destination image. Reductionist approach, however, does not provide any knowledge on a complex system behavior (i.e., destination image). By using complex system approach and network science, the current study investigates the structure of Curaçao tourism destination image as a scale-free network of businesses and their related attitudinal constructs from TripAdvisor. Results showed that Curaçao’s destination image is categorized as a complex system with the least controllability. Furthermore, the major hubs of Curaçao Island’s image that are susceptible to deliberate attacks of nearby competitors were identified. Our findings call for a need of more unique hubs in Curaçao image network to consolidate the system in handling deliberate attacks