COMPARATIVE MODELS OF TOURISM DESTINATION IMAGES SPLIT AND DUBROVNIK

The formation of a positive image of the tourism destination has become a necessity in modern business conditions in which competition has been increasingly demanding. Tourism destination image concept is applied in order to differentiate destinations on the market and to take a unique position in the minds of the potential tourists. The task of tourism destination marketing strategy is to analyse the determinants that infl uence the formation of a destination positive image for the target markets. The formation of the tourism destination positive image is extremely complex process, and change of the existing image is even more complicated process. Therefore this paper analyses and researches the determinants that influence the formation of a positive image of the tourism destinations Dubrovnik and Split. The aimand purpose of the study is to establish the determining factors in the decision-making process in the phase of where to travel, and also differences of these factors in the two different tourism destinations. Empirical research was conducted using the survey on a sample of 644 randomly-chosen tourists as follows: 355 in Dubrovnik and 289 in Split, in the period spring – autumn 2009. Research results indicate that the importance of applying the concept of destination image as a key factor in creating a marketing strategy of the destinations is ignored. Such approach will in the long term result with negative consequences. The paper emphasized the need for further and continuous research of the determining factors that influence the formation of a positive image of the tourism destinations.