Message consistency, trustworthiness in communication, prevention measures, and destination reputation during crisis: A comparative study between tourists and residents

Enfoque

Consistency in messages coming from different sources is critical for effective communication management in crises. This is of extreme importance in the tourism sector, and more specifically in the context of tourist destinations, where a number of different stakeholders are involved. Consumers are extremely vulnerable during crisis situations which is why they must receive a clear and consistent message about the tourist destination during times characterized by great uncertainty.

The aim of this work is to understand consumer perceptions of the consistency of messages received during the COVID-19 outbreak regarding the safety of a tourist destination. It also examines the inter-relationships between message consistency and consumer perceptions of other three variables that have been confirmed as deemed critical in tourism during the COVID-19 pandemic, i.e., trustworthiness in communication, adopted prevention measures, and destination reputation.

The research objectives are addressed from the consumers’ viewpoints. This is because, unlike time ago, today consumers are in control of the communication process as they select only those information sources that are relevant to them and, based on the integration of a set of messages from those sources, make sense of the message they receive. In particular, two types of destination stakeholders are considered: tourists and residents. Examining tourists’ and residents’ opinions in this research area is critical considering the role that these two stakeholders have as destination ambassadors. A comparative analysis between them will provide meaningful insights and implications for destination management and local authorities.

The empirical research took place in Croatia, a destination that has registered remarkable results in terms of international tourist arrivals in the country despite the pandemic. For data collection, tourists were approached during their stay in Croatia, whereas residents were invited to complete the survey online. The final sample size of tourists and residents was 333 and 480, respectively.

Descriptive analysis was conducted to understand the levels of message consistency and perceptions of trustworthiness, prevention measures, and destination reputation. The Spearman correlation was performed to test the inter-relationships between communication consistency and other variables. The U Mann-Whitney test was used to compare the two samples.

The results reveal moderate to high levels of tourists’ perceptions of message consistency, destination reputation, and prevention measures, and moderate levels of trustworthiness in communication. Lower scores are obtained for all the items examined among destination residents, compared to tourists. Except for one reputation item, differences are found to be statistically significant. Findings also show that significant correlations exist between communication consistency and the three examined factors, with the highest coefficients obtained for the relationship with destination reputation, followed by trustworthiness in communication, and prevention measures. Implications are discussed for destination marketers and policymakers.

Acknowledgments: This work has been developed under the R+D+I Project GV/2021/176, funded by Generalitat Valenciana, Regional Ministry of Innovation, Universities, Science and Digital Society