How to rise above the crowd? The promotion of an unknown destination in the tourism market

Objectives. The objectives of this study is to provide empirical evidence of how different segments of tourists perceive the image of Molise region and to assess whether information sources is a significant discriminator among the identified clusters in forming the choice of Molise as a potential holiday destination. Methodology. Data collected from surveying 680 non-residents were analysed using mixed methods. Findings. Factor analysis showed the existence of four underlying unique dimensions of Destination Image (DI) in the data while cluster analysis demonstrated the presence of three segments of tourists. Research limits. The main limit is that the sample of non-residents is based on a non-random sampling approach. This choice gives the possibility that the sample is non-representative of tourists to Molise. Practical implications. The study provides recommendation for the development of different marketing strategy to achieve a suitable positioning for the targeted clusters. It also shows which information sources better helps to form the image of Molise region. Originality of the study. The study offers original contributions for academics, policy makers and tourist practitioners. First, this research depicts the main factors that drive for each cluster the choice of Molise as a holiday vacation based on their image perception of the destination. Second, the study gives a contribution to understand the impact of destination familiarity on the perception of Molise as a tourism destination. Third, it shows which information sources better helps to form the touristic image of Molise region.