Abstract
The fast growth of the tourism industry has created significant challenges in tourism marketing for many destinations. Destinations need to compete with each other to attract new tourists or persuade the previous ones to repeat their visit. Accordingly, they need to picture a tempting image for their target market. Therefore, the destination image is a crucial marketing concept that plays a pivotal role in understanding destination selection (Baloglu & McCleary, 1999).Echtner and Ritchie (1991) define the destination image as a collection of functional (utilitarian) qualities connected to tourist behaviour, such as tourism infrastructure, attractions, and tourism product pricing (Echtner & Ritchie, 1993; P. Pearce, 1982). However, many other influential factors can play an important role. This Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) research explores the role of events and cultural innovations (such as gamification) in improving destination image by studying their impacts as destination image can directly affect destination choice (Beerli et al., 2007; Crompton, 1992; MacKay & Fesenmaier, 1997; Seddighi & Theocharous, 2002; Sirakaya et al., 2001; Um, 1998; Walmsley & Young, 1998).Events, especially the smaller ones, could be considered one of the tools used in favour of destinations when competing with others. However, much of the attention has been focused on large-scale or mega-events, with little knowledge or understanding of the contributions made by their much smaller counterparts. Local cultural events, unlike mega-events, need little investment or infrastructure development (Gursoy et al., 2004), making them easily accessible to the many thousands of smaller venues looking to boost their image.Apart from events, cultural innovations at destinations are becoming a new buzzword at destinations; gamification is one of the trends that could help the destinations in this competition, especially when it comes to the taste of new generations (Gen Y and Z). However, as this is a new topic, few studies have been employed to analyse the result of this trend and if gamification can help destinations improve their image.The overall goal of this thesis is to offer solid information on how destinations may improve their image and attract more tourists using creative means. Furthermore, cultural events and innovations, which are popular in many places, perform well in economics, socialisation, and culture and are regarded as practical tools. As a result, Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs) and policymakers will have more information and awareness of this field of study and evidence to support their decision-making processes. This specific field is currently under-researched and has a place within the broader study of the tourism industry and event impacts. Accordingly, this thesis attempts to add to the theoretical and methodological literature by focusing on How can events and cultural innovations effectively assist in destination image improvement and make them more appealing or tempting for tourists?