earticle

영어

Regional image is a subjective idea and a subjective attitude on the region. In other words, the negative image on the region causes the negative attitude on the region. The potential tourists think of the image in their mind and match it with the reason of travel to decide the candidates for the tourist destination. Then, they start to search information about the regions. Thus, there is a need for the research on how the reliability of tourist information varies depending on the regional image that tourists have. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to emphasize the importance of local image. In this study, the influential relationship between regional image and the reliability and spreadability of tourist information was analyzed. As a result of the analysis, it is found that the natural environmental factors and the physical environmental factors significantly influence the reliability of the tourist information, which means that it is necessary to make the continuous efforts to form a favorable image at the national level as well as the regional level. It is also meaningful that the potential tourists’ information search trend is found so that the alternative of information pathway is provided in rapidly changing modern society. On the other hand, it is the limitation of this study that the influential relationship that other factors of the regional image such as cultural image, kind image, convenient image, etc. influence the reliability of the tourist information is not identified because the regions are not specified. Therefore, in the future research, it is necessary to analyze the influential relationship between the factors of every aspect of the cognitive regional image and the reliability of the tourist information by specifying the regions.