`You Wouldn't Want to Go There': What Drives the Stigmatization of a Destination?

H. Sojasi Qeidari, S. Seyfi, C.M. Hall, T. Vo-Thanh and Mustafeed Zaman
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Mustafeed Zaman: Métis Lab EM Normandie - EM Normandie - École de Management de Normandie = EM Normandie Business School

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Abstract: In a highly competitive market, managing the quality of destination image is a major concern for tourism marketers and policymakers. Negative connotations attached to a destination can potentially produce forms of stigma and lead to the stigmatization of a destination. Research on stigmas attached to tourists or tourism practitioners has gained growing scholarly attention; however, empirical knowledge on the stigmas associated with a place (spatial stigma) and the underlying factors driving the stigmatization of a destination is yet to be developed in tourism literature. To fill this gap and grounded in a multidisciplinary literature on the stigma-place nexus, this study explores the stigmatization of Iran through an analysis of in-depth interviews with the representatives of country's key tourism informants. The findings of the qualitative study demonstrated how Iran's destination identity is contested. Six reinforcing forms of stigmas were identified: political, religion, security, hygiene, performance and regional stigmas. The study concludes that destination stigma is a multi-dimensional phenomenon that manifests in different ways depending on where it is generated, encountered and experienced. In adopting a more contextual approach the study offers several new perspectives on stigma production, negotiation and resistance in tourism destinations. \textcopyright 2023 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Keywords: Destination image; destination marketing; destination stigma; place identity; risk perception; stigmatization (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://normandie-univ.hal.science/hal-04433899v1
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Published in Tourism Recreation Research, 2023, ⟨10.1080/02508281.2023.2175561⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04433899

DOI: 10.1080/02508281.2023.2175561

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