Influence of popular culture on special interest tourists' destination image

Tourism Management 52 (2016) 161e169

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Influence of popular culture on special interest tourists' destination image SoJung Lee a, *, Billy Bai b a

Iowa State University, 8A MacKay, Ames, IA 50011-1121, United States University of Nevada, Las Vegas, William F. Harrah College of Hotel Administration, 4505 Maryland Parkway Box 456021, Las Vegas, NV 89154-6021, United States

b

h i g h l i g h t s  This research revealed the impact of pop-culture on destination image formation.  Pop-culture was a significant autonomous agent on destination image.  Pop-stars played an important role in influencing the image of their own country.  Actual visitation due to pop-star events strengthened fans' destination image.

a r t i c l e i n f o

a b s t r a c t

Article history: Received 10 February 2012 Received in revised form 15 June 2015 Accepted 23 June 2015 Available online xxx

In this study the role of pop-culture on shaping destination image was derived from focus groups and interviews with 24 fans from different nationalities of the Korean pop star Ahn Jae-wook. Three main theses emerged from the study: 1) the destination image induced by pop-culture was changed in a positive way; 2) the pop-star's event reinforced a positive place image through experiences of the event and travels in South Korea; and 3) the positive image from pop-culture experiences had a strong impact on future behavior. Results of the study suggest that pop-culture as an autonomous agent delivers a more powerful and stronger influence on destination image than previously recognized in the literature. Theoretical contributions and practical implications are discussed. © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Destination image Destination image formation Popular culture (pop-culture) Special interest tourism

1. Introduction Given the worldwide interest in extensive media coverage, it has become relatively easy for people to become familiar with celebrities, global stars, sports, singers, and actors (Smith, 2006). Along with the global interests, special interest tourism has been developed in many different aspects: culture, heritage, nature, health, sports, wine, and festivals (Young & Crandall, 1984; Hall, 1989; Tabata, 1989; Hall & Zeppel, 1990). Special interest tourists are defined as “travelers who visit a destination to pursue their special interests in a particular region or destination” (Read, 1980, p.195). As more and more people visit a destination to indulge their interests, special interest tourism has been identified as niche tourism in government tourism strategies worldwide (Macleod,

* Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: [email protected] (S. Lee), [email protected] (B. Bai). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2015.06.019 0261-5177/© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

2003). Particularly, a new market segment in special interest tourism, popular culture (pop-culture) tourism has emerged in that individuals travel to destinations mainly driven by pop-culture or relative media themes such as TV programs, soap operas, movies, music, and celebrities (Miller & Washington, 2007). When it comes to destination image formation, the existing literature discusses three major agents that can change the image formation process: organic, induced, and autonomous agents (Gunn, 1972; Gartner, 1993). Pop-culture has been considered an autonomous agent that creates general knowledge about a destination through such factors as news media, articles, and movies. While numerous studies have attempted to examine the role of autonomous agents in forming a destination image (Keaveney & Hunt, 1992; Gartner & Shen, 1992; Alhemoud & Armstrong, 1996; Baloglu & McCleary, 1999), such autonomous agents as news media have been discovered to be a negative aspect that influences a destination image.

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However, recent research shows a country's pop-culture such as TV drama series positively influence the perceptions of the country (Kim, Agrusa, Chon, & Choi, 2008; Lee, Scott, & Kim, 2008). Given the contrary findings in the impacts of pop-culture on destination image formation, research is needed to further investigate the role of pop-culture on destination image formation from various perspectives of pop-culture, including media, TV programs, and popstars. This need for research is also advocated by the fact that movie or film induced tourism serves as a powerful travel motivation tool (e.g. Riley & Van Doren, 1992); more importantly, movie or film induced tourism makes destinations more attractive, thus enhancing the destination image (e.g. Hudson & Ritchie, 2006). As an autonomous agent, movies or films have proved to be effective in influencing destination image, generating awareness of the destination, affect the decision-making process, and actual visitation to the destination (Beeton, 2001a; Frost, 2006; Kim & Richardson, 2003; Lin & Huang, 2007). However, there is a lack of literature focusing on the influence of pop-stars on destination image. To address these identified gaps in the literature, this study chose pop-stars’ fans that are significantly influenced by media and pop-culture, particularly pop-stars. The purpose of this research was to construct a model of the destination image formation process on the basis of the impact of pop-culture from the perspective of pop-star's fans that are considered as special interest tourists. The study used a qualitative grounded theory approach to develop a model considering pop-culture such as drama, music, and popstars as an autonomous agent. Specifically, this study examined pop-star fan profiles, destination image perspectives, and the role of pop-culture and the event in the destination image formation process. Focus group interviews were conducted with fans of Ahn, Jae-Wook, a Korean pop-star in South Korea.

2. Literature review 2.1. Destination image Image formation is defined as a construction of a mental representation of a destination on the basis of information cues delivered by the image formation agents (Alhemoud & Armstrong, 1996; Bramwell & Rawding, 1996; Court & Lupton, 1997; Gartner, 1993; Gunn, 1972; Young, 1999). Destination image formation agents include organic, induced, and autonomous agents (Gunn, 1972; Gartner, 1993). Organic image formation agents include noncommercial information sources such as word-of-mouth and actual visitation; induced image formation agents include marketing efforts of destination promoters, namely promotional materials; and, autonomous agents consist of media relations such as news articles, movies and pop-culture (Gartner, 1993). In destination marketing, induced image formation agents such as promotional materials become significantly important to promote a destination due to the intangibility of travel products (MacKay & Fesenmaier, 1997). However, autonomous image formation agents with no intention to promote a destination are considered to be more influential on image formation in that they have higher credibility and the ability to reach wide audiences more than induced formation agents (Gartner, 1993; Gartner & Shen, 1992; Hanefors & Mossberg, 2002). Most research about autonomous agents focuses on the strong negative influence of news media such as political issues, violence, terrorist activities, and natural disaster. However, little research has been devoted to examining the impact of pop-culture as an autonomous image formation agent, whether negative or positive.

2.2. Consumer behavior and destination image In regard to the relationship between consumer behavior and destination image, destination image has been studied as an independent variable impacting travel behavior in three phases: previsit, during a visit, and post-visit (Tasci & Gartner, 2007). Regarding pre-visit stage, destination image influences the intentions and decisions of potential travelers due to intangible destination products and limited knowledge. Particularly, a strong positive image of a destination can play an important role in a traveler's intention to visit the destination (Alhemoud & Armstrong, 1996; Hunt, 1975; Ross, 1993). Studies examined destination choice influenced by tourists' needs and wants (Joppe, Martin, & Waalen, 2001), the benefits offered by the destination (Tapachai & Waryszak, 2000), familiarity with a destination (Baloglu, 2001), and awareness and interest generated from destination information (Court & Lupton, 1997; Milman & Pizam, 1995). Relatively few studies on destination image during a trip have been conducted. Dadgostar and Isotalo (1992), and Fakeye and Crompton (1991) presented a positive relationship between destination image and the length of visiting the destination. As travelers stay longer, they have more chances to gain a truer perception of the place they want to visit. Ross (1993) reported that a destination resident's attitude was the most important factor affecting travelers' experiences and their image formation during their visit. In regard to post-visit behavior, Alhemoud and Armstrong (1996) and Fakeye and Crompton (1991) discussed destination satisfaction by examining the relationship between a traveler's previsit expectations and actual experiences during a visit. Milman and Pizam (1995) and Ross (1993) investigated the impact of destination image generated by actual destination experience on future travel behavior. They found that there was a positive relationship between destination image and revisit intention. Joppe et al. (2001) discussed destination loyalty affected destination dimensions such as culture and transportation. There still seem to be many facets of the destination image construct in pre-visit, visit, and post-visit behavior to be investigated empirically (Tasci & Gartner, 2007). 2.3. Special interest tourism The World Tourism Organization (1985) defines special interest tourism as specialized tourism involving group or individual tours by people who wish to develop certain interests and visit sites and places connected with a specific subject. In general, special interest tourists exercise the same profession or have a common hobby. Additionally, the critical element of special interest tourism is that it is “active” or “experiential.” Stebbins (1982) regarded special interest tourism as a form of “serious leisure” in that special interest tourists tend to pursue their interests and seek durable benefits such as self-actualization, social interaction and belongingness through special activities. Weiler and Hall (1992) provided an overview of the literature discussing special interest tourism in the categories of education, arts and heritage, ethnic tourism, nature-based, adventure, sport, and health tourism. They addressed that special interest tourists travel to pursue their desire for novelty, quality, and experience. As the special interest tourism market has recently grown (Keefe, 2003; Okanogan, 2003), special interest tourists are considered potential visitors who contribute to the destination. Relatively few reported studies have been found regarding popstar fans' motivations and behaviors as special interest tourists. Mackellar (2006) recognized leisure fanatic tourists as special interest tourists, discussed their motivations and behaviors of traveling, and discovered that events can play an important role in developing a special interest spectrum that draws implications for marketing and managing events.

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2.4. Popular culture (pop-culture) tourism

3. Methodology

Pop-culture has been defined in many different ways. One way is to consider pop-culture as mass culture for mass consumption from a commercial perspective. It has been proven to be an effective vehicle in attracting tourists to a destination while boosting the economic impacts (Beeton, 2001b; Busby & Klug, 2001; Connell, 2005; Riley, Baker, & Van Doren, 1998; Tooke & Baker, 1996) and reinforcing positive images of a destination (Connell, 2005; Crockett & Wood, 2002). In this study, popculture is considered as manifest in the facets of entertainment such as sports, music, film, literature, TV programs, drama, and pop-stars. Popular culture-related tourism, where people visit to a destination that connects with films or television (TV) programs (Iwashita, 2008), has received an increasing attention over a relatively short time period (Connell, 2012). In particular, film induced tourism has shown a rapid growth in the tourism industry for the past 20 years (Beeton, 2005; Hahm & Wang, 2011). Film induced tourism includes a variety of contents such as the viewing of a moving image, television programs, pre-recorded products, and digital media (Connell, 2012; Hudson & Ritchie, 2006). This type of tourism has been developed with different forms and attractions including film festivals and celebrity homes tours, film-themed venues, and literature-portrayed locations. The impact of pop-culture/film induced tourism has been investigated from various perspectives including visitors' experiences, destination image, travel motivation, future behavioral intentions, destination brand construction, and residents' responses (Busby & Klug, 2001; Busby, Brunt, & Lund, 2003; Busby & O'Neill, 2006; O'Connor & Bolan, 2008; Roesch, 2009; Ward & O'Regan, 2009). Film induced tourism has its ability to provide benefits to filmed and portrayed locations because TV shows, media, and films can lead to high market penetration, stimulating interest, formulating destination image, and eventually visiting the destinations (Busby, Huang, & Jarman, 2013; Busby & Klug, 2001; Frost, 2010; Kim, 2012; Shani, Chen, Wang, & Hua, 2010). Furthermore, celebrities shown in a film or TV drama can be an effective marketing tool for the specific media-induced tourist in promoting a certain destination (Yen & Teng, 2015). These tools provide viewers with an opportunity to imagine what they may actually see, do, touch, feel, or think in a specific destination (Crouch, Jackson, & Thompson, 2005). Therefore, pop-culture has been widely considered a driving force in developing a destination image. Since 1999, Korean pop-culture has gained much recognition across many Asian countries and regions through mass media entertainment such as dramas, movies, and songs. The trend is known as Hallyu, which literally means Korean wave in English. The Korean Ministry of Culture and Tourism appointed Korean Wave pop-stars as cultural ambassadors in countries that have had a strained political relationship with Korea (Cho, 2005). The Korean wave affected intra-regional tourism, from Asia to the United States, supporting an increase in inbound tourists. The new generation of consumers classified as the “Korea tribes” are aggressively adopting and emulating Korean lifestyles in fashion, food, and consumption patterns, collecting Korean culture items, learning the Korean language, and actually making pilgrim voyages to Korea (Cho, 2005). The Korean National Tourism Organization (2006) reported that approximately 3 million Hallyu induced tourists visited Korea as of November 2004, which was 37 percent higher than the previous year. The inbound Korean tourism industry has been enjoying an annual average growth rate of 6e7 percent due to the fever of Korean pop-culture (Yeon, 2011).

3.1. Grounded theory

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Grounded theory aims at generating theory that accounts for a pattern of behavior that is both relevant and problematic to those being studied (Glaser, 1978). This approach is particularly appropriate when previous theories do not properly explain the current question (Flint & Woodruff, 2001). The analysis is ideally suited to construct a data-based theory that can be used as a basis for future research (Creswell, 1998; Strass & Corbin, 1998). In general, grounded theory uses participants' experiences as data to construct and validate the emerging theory while moving back and forth among the data and gradually advancing from coding to conceptual categories, and thence to the theory development. This method systematically links antecedents, situational conditions, coping strategies, and consequences to the phenomenon of interest (Strass & Corbin, 1998). While the topic of destination image formation has been extensively studied in tourism research, there was little research on developing a model to examine the role of pop-culture in forming a destination image. Furthermore, few studies have focused on the process of destination image formation, whereas the majority investigated factors and variables in influencing destination image formation (Gartner, 1993; Gunn, 1972; Young, 1999). Therefore, this research enlisted a grounded theory analysis to generate a model to discover the destination image formation process through the influence of pop-stars. 3.2. Data sampling This study selected a Korean pop-star, Ahn, Jae-wook's fans who attended an event of summer camp in South Korea in July 2010. Ahn, Jae-Wook is a singer and an actor. Since 1997 when his drama series, “Star in my heart,” was on TV in Asia, he now has unrivaled popularity in China, surpassing Leonardo Di Caprio as the most popular celebrity in a poll (Choe, 2001). Forever, a song featured in the series sold over 700,000 copies, and became the title song of his debut album. Afterwards, his fan club was named as “Forever,” consisting of over 10,000 registered members from Mexico and United States as well as Asian countries such as China, Japan, Malaysia, and Singapore as of 2010. Two sampling strategies were used. First, a purposive sampling strategy was employed to identify appropriate participants and to maximize representation of a range of perspectives (Fossey, Harvey, McDermott, & Davidson, 2002). Second, a theoretical sampling was followed as concepts began to emerge (Charmaz, 2000). Theoretical sampling is a pivotal strategy in the grounded theory methodology and the purposeful selection of a sample according to the developing categories and emerging theory (Coyle, 1997). About 500 fan club members attended the event in 2010, consisting of about 40% members from Japan, 25% from Korea, 20% from mainland China, 5% from Hong Kong, 10% other places such as Singapore, Malaysia, Mexico, Taiwan, and the Philippines. A total of 23 participants were selected for this study (Creswell, 1998). 3.3. Data collection and data analysis Focus group interviewing was a primary means of data collection as the method is suited to grounded theory. Participants included eight Japanese, eight Chinese, and five Mexican fans which formed three focus groups by each nationality. This sample strategy aims at increasing the diversity of the chosen sample, searching for different properties. Japanese and Chinese fans were chosen because they were the majority among international fan

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club members. Mexican fans were chosen for the diversity purpose in that it was their first time to visit South Korea. In addition, two Malaysian fans were selected for individual interviews to test, validate, and explicate a model. Data collection procedures included the two steps: (1) three focus group interviews that generated a data set along with interview transcripts from participants and (2) additional in-depth interviews, which ensured the validity of the findings with the focus group interviews. The four interviews were conducted in Seoul, South Korea during July 2010 after the fans participated in the popstar's event. The study used semi-structured interviews for data collection through focus group and in-depth interviews. Each interview took approximately one and a half hours. A translator of Japanese, Mandarin, and Cantonese each was hired to assist the interviews in ensuring the validity and accuracy of data collection. The collected data was analyzed in a series of the following steps: open coding, axial coding, selective coding, and the generation of a conditional matrix (Strass & Corbin, 1998). The four-stage data analysis strategy along with the purposes and interview questions (Harry, Sturges, & Klingner, 2005) is summarized in Table 1. Phase 1 data analysis was conducted to create a list of codes within four categories in the model. The interview questions used in Phase 1 corresponded to the major components of the model described by Strass and Corbin (1998). Table 2 shows initial codes extracted from the interviews. A code constituted a meaningful topic of discussion related to destination image, particularly autonomous image agents. For example, many participants mentioned the role of pop-culture and the pop-star e Ahn, JaeWook as the main factors that made them interested in South Korea as a destination. Similar codes emerged into four categories: image of destination, role of pop-culture, role of pop-star's event, and revisit intention. Phase 2 data collection was conducted to create a better understanding of each of the four main categories in the model, using a semi-structured interview questions in Table 1. After a question was addressed, specific probes were followed on the basis of specific categories that emerged during the analysis in Phase 1. Phase 2 included a procedure to identify a variety of preliminary themes and combine them in a manner consistent with the interviews. For

Table 2 Initial categories and codes in Phase 1. Category

Code

Image of destination

1. Confucianism 2. Respect of older people 3. Spirit of solidarity from 2002 World Cup 4. Harmony of traditional and modern culture 5. Red from Kimchi, and World cup t-shirts 6. Cosmetic, good looking people 7. Kindness 8. The motivation of being interested in Korea 9. Watching Korean drama (Soap Opera) 10. Collecting a merchandize about pop-stars 11. Being a fan club member 12. Having Korean food 13. Learning Korean language 14. Likelihood to visit Korea for leisure travel 15. Soften negative image from news, article 16. Offering a chance to visit Korea 17. Having Pop-star's close access 18. Meeting fan club members from all over the world 19. Learning Korean culture 20. Eating real Korean food 21. Shopping 22. Visiting a new place, drama related venue 23. Encouraging friends/relatives to visit Korea

Pop-culture

Pop-star's event

Revisit intention

example, themes in destination image appeared to group into two general types of themes, including positive and negative image. General themes within a category were labeled “Macrothemes” because they subsumed associated themes. For example, themes such as good manners, unique culture, and the power of unity were grouped within the positive macrotheme and themes such as military system and severe violence were within the negative macrotheme. Phase 2 played a role in organizing and labeling themes that could be tested in Phase 3. Therefore, macrothemes and themes identified in Phase 2 were viewed as tentative in nature, subject to revision or deletion in Phase 3. Phase 3 employed selective coding, which led to the process of testing the macrothemes and themes identified in Phase 2. Phase 3 intended to link the categories to one another and develop a storyline to integrate the model (Strass & Corbin, 1998). As shown

Table 1 Four phases in data analysis. Phase Coding 1

2

3

4

Purpose and interview questions

 Identify codes with categories by recognizing unique topics worthy of closer study and explanation Q1. How do you perceive South Korea as a destination? Q2. What were the main factors in constructing the destination image? Q3. How have pop-stars contributed to the destination image? Q4. Will you visit South Korea again in the near future? Axial  Explore codes in detail by clustering codes into themes and patterns related to a main phenomenon (i.e., the impact of pop-culture on destination image) Q1. Describe a picture of South Korea in your mind. Probe: Name some features or aspects of South Korea Q2. Describe sources that affect the image of South Korea. Probe: negative (e.g., news media) and positive (e.g., pop-culture) Q3. How did you become interested in South Korea? Probes: actions Q4. How has your perception of the country been changed through the pop-culture? Probes: positive and negative Q5. How was the summer camp of the pop-star's event? Probe: cultural experiences, meeting with the pop-star and his fans. Q6. Describe a situation in which you have experienced Korean culture while visiting. Probe: positive and negative. Q7. Will you visit again? Probe: where do you want to visit in the near future? Selective  Construct model and discuss themes in relation to model  Replicate significant codes and themes identified in Phase 1 and 2  Explore the relationships among macrothemes within each category  Discuss the relationships between categories  Identify a storyline about the central phenomenon of study Selective  Validate the model and identify emergent principles related to the phenomenon  Test, validate, and explicate model  Identify emergent principles consistent with model  Conduct member checks Open

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Table 3 Macrotheme and themes in Phase 3. Category

Macrotheme

Theme

Destination image

1. Positive

1. Good manners to older people 2. Unique culture 3. The power of unity 4. Military system 5. Severe violence 6. Interest in pop-culture 7. Fan's activities involvement 8. Destination promotion 9. Weakened negative images 10. Cultural experiences in local 11. Intention to visit 12. Actual visitation 13. Close access to pop-star 14. fan-club members' cultural exchange 15. Actual cultural experience 16. Strengthened positive image 17. Visiting different attractions and venues 18. Recommending/Promoting Korea to friends and relatives

2. Negative Pop-culture

3. Direct 4. Indirect

Pop-star's event

5. Direct

Future behavior

6. Indirect 7. Revisit 8. Word of Mouth

in Table 3, collectively 18 themes were grouped into 8 macrothemes. A model was constructed in Phase 3. Phase 4 was developed to test, verify and explicate the model constructed in Phase 3. Two Malaysian fans among the event attendees were interviewed and asked to respond to a model based on the responses in Phase 3. This step ensured that the final model is fully saturated, dependable, and credible (Maxwell, 1996).

Mexican fans were almost first-time visitors.

4. Results

4.2.1. Destination image Participants attributed destination image to two types: positive and negative (see Table 3). Media and pop-culture had been significant agents of South Korea's recent image. Overall, pop-culture such as pop-stars and TV programs played a role in creating a positive image while news media covering natural disaster and political and social issues induced negative image (Sonmez, Apostolopoulos, & Tarlow, 1999; Sonmez & Sirakaya, 2002). Respect for older people in particular was one of the strongest images of South Korea. Participants reported that Koreans respect the seniors and have good manners towards the elderly. The harmony of traditional and modern cultures was appreciated as Korea's unique culture. One Mexican fan mentioned that she especially liked the well-harmonized culture between nature and city, and between tradition and modernization, which is very different from Mexico. She appreciated that South Korean government tries to keep its own traditional culture and natural environment in the city. Most participants indicated the unity of Koreans from the 2002 World Cup which was one of the strongest events to promote South Korea as a destination. One interviewee mentioned the color red symbolizes the power of South Korea, because it is related to spicy food, kimchi (Korean pickled cabbage), red pepper, and Korean soccer team's uniform in the 2002 World Cup. South Korea's military system, demonstrations, and rallies were other images of Korea, which was induced by TV news and newspapers. Those factors created an image of an aggressive and a strong character of Korean people.

4.1. Profile of participants Table 4 shows the profile of participants for this study. The sample consisted of only women in that 98% of the event attendees were women. They were between 25 and 60 years old. They had been the fan club members for one to ten years. The number of visits to South Korea varied from one to 40 times. Most respondents from Asian countries including Japan, China, and Malaysia had visited Korea at least two times a year to participate in the popstar's events such as a summer camp and fan meetings. However,

Table 4 Profile of participants. Interviewee Japanese

Chinese

Mexican

Malaysian

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23

Age

Membership since

Number of visits to South Korea

44 41 51 52 60 57 41 53 32 35 41 28 40 39 46 25 32 24 27 28 33 55 28

2006 2004 2002 2004 2006 2006 1999 2003 2003 2003 2001 2001 2003 2002 2002 2002 2007 2008 2008 2008 2008 2003 2004

7 14 5 15 11 11 40 20 4 6 20 20 11 10 10 6 2 1 1 1 1 30 5

4.2. A model of pop-culture on destination image formation The model is shown in Fig. 1. It includes the following major components: overall destination image, the role of pop-culture, the influence of the pop-star's event, and future behavior.

4.2.2. Pop-culture Most researchers have described autonomous agents in a negative light as they have examined the impact of news media (Baloglu & McCleary, 1999; Gartner & Shen, 1992). In contrast, participants in the current study indicated that as one of the autonomous agents, pop-culture (such as TV drama and actors/ actresses) was a crucial component of changing their perception of South Korea as a more friendly and attractive nation. One fan stated,

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Fig. 1. A model of pop-culture on destination image formation.

“I was not familiar with South Korea before. I had known much more about the North Korea than South Korea. But after I knew [Ahn, Jae-Wook], I became interested in South Korea, and then I visited the country.” The impact of pop-culture can be viewed in two ways: direct and indirect. Most participants reported that they were interested in Korea's pop-culture and the country after they watched Korean soap operas, which led them to become a fan club member for a pop-star. A Mexican participant reported, “If I did not know [Ahn, Jae-wook] through his drama, I would not visit Korea. He might not know the huge impact he had on me. He played a very important role in getting the popularity of Korean drama, actors, and actresses in Latin America.” The fan activities motivated them to be more interested in Korean culture so that they share Korean pop-culture e drama and pops-stars within fan club members, and collect merchandise about pop-stars. Participants indicated that they had tried to search for information about South Korea, eat the Korean food available in their countries, learn the Korean language, and even follow Korean fashion. Therefore, pop-culture was proved to have an indirect influence on their experience of Korean culture in their countries. In addition, pop-culture was found to play a significant role in weakening a negative image of South Korea that was previously induced from news media and in changing to a positive image. A Japanese interviewee stated, “I thought South Korea was a developing country, imitating and following Japan. However, after watching Korean drama, I had to change my perception of South Korea that its culture and fashion are moving fast just like Japan and I wanted to know the actor more and visit the country.” A Mexican respondent agreed on the positive aspect of pop-culture, “I believe Korean popculture played an important role in promoting South Korea and delivering its own culture, tradition, and custom. In fact, Korean soap operas spontaneously let us have access to these cultural factors.” Eventually, the positive image of destination through pop-culture made the participants desire to visit Korea for a future trip. 4.2.3. Pop-star's event One of the main goals of this research was to identify the role of pop-star's event in forming a destination image. The role of popstar's event can be viewed in two ways: direct and indirect. First, the event directly provided an actual chance to visit the destination. An interviewee stated, “I visited South Korea in 1999 for the first time to attend the pop-star's summer camp. Since then, I have visited South Korea more than 20 times, including the annual event and other fan activities. If there were not such events, I would not plan to visit South Korea that often.” Particularly, fan events can motivate those fans to visit South Korea who live in distant countries such as Mexico. As indicated in Table 4, three Mexican fans visited South Korea for the first time to participate in the pop-star's event. One of them stated, “Many people want to visit South Korea, but it is not easy for them due to time and financial restrictions, even though they are interested in visiting the destination after

watching soap operas and TV shows.” Participants reported that the event had allowed them to have an intimate access to the pop-star and get to know him on a personal level. Such closeness enabled them to understand Korean people's characteristics through interactions with the pop-star. A Chinese interviewee mentioned, “I believe Ahn, Jae-wook's summer camp is the best one since the event has allowed us to meet the pop-star face-to-face and stay with him in the same place for three entire days. He is very modest and honest, not like any other stars, but like a close friend. For example, in the mini-concert during the event, he just frankly said ‘my lyric in the song was wrong,’ which made us feel close to him. I feel much closer to him after the event.” A Mexican respondent also stated, “The pop-star cares for his fans in his deep heart. He personally came to us, saying ‘thank you’ in Spanish, and took a picture together. We were so much impressed.” Furthermore, the event provided an opportunity for attendees to interact with other fans from all over the world. One Japanese participant recalled the experience of the first attendance, “I remember my first visit to the event; Korean fans were so kind to me even though my Korean was not good enough to communicate with them. In fact, now I participate in the event to not only meet the pop-star but also interact with other fan club members.” Most participants indicated that they had extended their stay after the summer camp in order to travel throughout South Korea. The interviews revealed that pop-culture driven soap operas and pop-stars are a medium to attract tourists to featured, actor-related, or original work-related locations. A Chinese interviewee mentioned, “I was so excited to visit many venues introduced in soap operas. They were so memorable.” In addition, such opportunities provided respondents to experience and learn about Korean culture by visiting attractions, tasting Korean food, and meeting local people. The interviewees appreciated the similarities and differences in culture in comparison to their own. A Mexican participant stated, “I found that there are a lot of facilities, attractions, and theme parks where all generations can enjoy regardless of age and gender. It is easy to use subway and convenient to travel in South Korea as the names of most places and facilities are translated in English.” Most respondents experienced Koreans' kindness. “I have found many times that Koreans are, in general, very friendly and nice; for example, they help me carry my luggage in the subway. It doesn't happen in my country. I truly believe Koreans are so warmhearted.” Overall, participants indicated that the event had provided additional opportunity to experience Korean culture through traveling, which in turn results in a very positive image of South Korea. 4.2.4. Future behavior Through the interviews, it was found that respondents' experiences through the event and trips had positive impacts on their future behavior in two aspects: revisit intention and word-ofmouth. Participants reported that they would visit South Korea

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again in the future to travel to other places that they had not had a chance to visit this time. Most interviewees stated, “As new soap operas are released every month, places and venues in the drama are spontaneously introduced and promoted. They become a future destination that I want to visit in the next trip.” They indicated that they had found that South Korea has so much to explore as they visit more destinations, even though the country was not well promoted to other countries. Some respondents mentioned that they want to visit Korea to have different experiences that they cannot have in their countries. One participant expressed, for example, “I would like to visit South Korea in every season as it has different characteristics in every season. Particularly, I would like to go skiing in winter because we don't have snow in winter.” Another respondent wanted to have different cultural experiences by staying in a temple and visiting ancient palaces. In addition, respondents reported that they had shared their experiences in the summer camp and their trips with their friends or families. One interviewee said, “Every time I go back to my country from the event, I tell my friends and family about my experiences of getting close to the pop-star and visiting beautiful places. I see many of them becoming interested in visiting South Korea even though they are not interested in the pop-star. In fact, I invited several friends to the camp.” Mexican participants even shared their experiences and souvenirs with their fan members who did not have a chance to visit the camp, encouraging them to attend the next event. Some other respondents indicated that the event had been a good way to promote South Korea as a destination. A participant mentioned, “My mother lives in China and has never been to South Korea; but when I asked her which country she wants to travel to, she said South Korea is her first choice. I believe that I influenced her so much.” 4.2.5. Summary of the model Results from the interviews provided a compelling portrait of destination image, which can be summarized in three main points. First, destination image induced from pop-culture was changed in a positive way. Participants became interested in South Korea's popculture and the country itself after they were exposed to its popculture including Korean soap operas and pop-stars. They had indirect experiences of South Korean culture such as its food, language, and fashion style in their counties, which made them want to visit South Korea as a future destination. The pop-culture and the experiences changed their perceptions of South Korea in a more positive way by weakening negative images that were previously generated from news media. Second, the pop-star's event reinforced the positive image through experiences of the event and travels. The event directly provided participants with an actual chance to visit the destination and a close access to the pop-star, which allowed them to understand South Koreans' characteristics through interactions with the pop-star. In addition, as they traveled, visited attractions, and went shopping after the event, they were able to have intimate experiences of South Korean culture. These experiences through actual visits helped them form a very positive image of South Korea. Third, the positive image from popculture experiences had a strong impact on future behavior in two aspects: revisit intention and word-of-mouth. Respondents reported to revisit South Korea in the near future as they found that South Korea has so many attractions as they visit more frequently. They spread the positive word of mouth to their friends and families about South Korea as a preferred country to visit in the future. 5. Conclusion The purpose of this research was to construct a model of destination image formation process on the basis of the impact of pop-

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culture from the perspectives of a pop-star fans as special interest tourists. The study was exploratory in nature and based on verbal reports through focus group interviews and in-depth interviews. Grounded theory was useful for achieving a deep understanding of the destination image formation process. This research identified in greater detail the direct and indirect impact of pop-culture and the pop-star event on destination image formation and future behaviors affected by the formed destination image. The present study considered pop-star fans to be special interest tourists. As this study gained access to pop-star fans, closeness to the people and the phenomenon through intense interactions provided subjective understandings that can greatly increase the quality of qualitative data (Toma, 2000). Participants appeared to be diverse in socio-demographic characteristics including age, and visit frequency as Weiler and Hall (1992) discussed special interest tourists' characteristics. The participants' profiles showed that Asian fans are relatively older than Mexicans, which indicates that the Korean pop-star, Ahn, Jae-Wook had older fan-club members since he became famous in 1997 in Asian countries. In addition, most participants have visited South Korea more than 20 times to attend the pop-star events, showing that they are loyal fans/travelers to the pop-star and destination, respectively. These findings reveal that pop-culture can reach all generations from young to old and influence their travel decisions. Findings of the study support several claims from previous research and yield several new perspectives. This research is in agreement with the finding by Gartner (1993) that autonomous agents can change the destination image quickly if the information received is considered credible. The study delineates the role of pop-culture and pop-star events in several perspectives. Popculture has an indirect impact on special interest tourists about their experiences of Korean culture in their countries. More importantly, their favorite pop-stars played a significant role in weakening a negative image of Korea and strengthening a positive image of the destination. Thus, the current trend of the Korean wave appears to deliver more powerful and stronger influence than intended destination promotions. In addition, results of the study indicate that newly released soap operas, TV programs, or movies spontaneously introduce and promote places and venues in these media resources, which become a future destination for the fans in the next trip. This observation is consistent with the findings of Yen and Teng (2015) and Crouch et al. (2005). Pop-culture also provides the respondents with the access to South Korea's own culture, tradition, which can be an important vehicle to promote the country. Eventually, the induced destination image through pop-culture made the participants desire to visit Korea on a future trip. Therefore, this study shows that pop-culture resources can help a destination to develop special interest tourism e particularly pop-culture and/or film induced tourism. The study also extends literature by providing an in-depth look at the positive aspects of autonomous agents on destination image. Previous studies (Gartner, 1993; Gartner & Shen, 1992; Hanefors & Mossberg, 2002) found that autonomous agents provide strong credibility and reliability to the receiver, especially in a negative way. By considering pop-star as an element of pop-culture, however, this study revealed that pop-culture as an autonomous agent provides and strengthens a strong positive image of a destination to potential tourists. Korean soap operas and pop-stars provided indirect experiences of South Korean culture such as its food and language, which changed their perceptions of South Korea in a more positive way and reinforced the positive image. And the pop-star event directly provided participants with an actual opportunity to visit the destination and a close access to the pop-star, which allowed them to have intimate experiences of South Korean culture. The actual visits led them to have a stronger positive image of South Korea.

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Results indicate that as compared to Asian participants, Mexican tourists had different perspectives of destination image and were more eager to seek destination information due to the lack of resources and limited access. Literature has linked various external or situational factors as constraints on travel behavior, affecting pretrip decisions including social, political, physical, financial, time, and distance (Fakeye & Crompton, 1991; Selby & Morgan, 1996). Under some situational constraints such as distance, finance, and time, however, the present study demonstrates that pop-star related events play a critical role in influencing Mexican fans' travel decision and bringing them to the destination. This finding supports Gartner and Shen's argument (1992) that in the case of a distant country, where lack of knowledge exists, the autonomous agents, such as news reports, articles, and movies are able to cause a more dramatic change in image due to their high credibility and ability to reach wide audiences than induced image agents. Moreover, the results show that the actual visitation due to the pop-star event helped them have a more positive and clear image than that prior to visitation, which agrees to the previous research by Gunn (1972) that actual visitation can create an image more realistic than image prior to visitation. Such a finding suggests that future research should consider including the degree of information credibility related to distance as a variable of interest. Findings on future behaviors indicate that there is a positive relationship between actual visitation and future behavior, which is consistent with previous studies that if visitors have a positive image of destination, they are more likely to revisit the destination (Milman & Pizam, 1995; Ross, 1993). More importantly, this research contributes to the literature by demonstrating that the word-of-mouth is influential, a unique finding that previous research has not observed. It also implies that special interest tourists induced by pop-culture could be loyal to a destination. The impact of actual visitation on destination image is another interesting dimension to the research findings. The pop-star event of the summer camp has successfully led participants to actually visit the destination, which helps the fans experience Korean culture and motivate them to travel after the event. Gartner and Shen (1992) stated that the events such as service personnel attitudes, local people's characteristics and safety and security are negatively affected to promote a destination. However, the present study reveals that the event of the pop-star's summer camp affected the way in which participants view the country as a whole. As indicated in the results, the event strengthens positive perceived images of South Korea and revisiting intention in the future. Therefore, the fans' actual visitations and experiences are significant in shaping tourism demand and changing their perception of South Korea as a destination. Given the positive impact of pop-culture as an autonomous agent on destination, destination marketing organizations shall consider the use of pop-culture as a strong promotion tool. As special interest tourists form strong opinion groups and influence event organizers and government decision-making (Mackellar, 2006), understanding the current phenomenon in the tourism industry will be helpful for tourism marketers to attract visitors to a destination. Hence, the present study suggests that destination marketing organizations utilize the study results to formulate destination image and promote the destination to the right target audience. The present study did not investigate cultural differences and travel behavior among different nationalities as this research was aimed at constructing a model and not detecting differences. Future studies should identify the differences in destination image as perceived by different cultures. Such findings will provide insights to tourism planners in their efforts to understand the cultural differences and travel behaviors of special interest tourists. The model that emerged from the findings needs to be tested, verified, and expanded by future qualitative and/or quantitative

research. As this study employed a grounded theory approach to propose a model to examine the direct impact of pop-culture as an autonomous image agent on destination image, future research should collect replicable data to validate this model. Quantitative studies may help researchers and practitioners identify the image formation process and generalize the findings. Additional studies are also needed to investigate the relationship between the autonomous image agent and the induced agent as the present research found that the autonomous image agent (pop-culture) leads to actual visits and positive word-of-mouth, which are considered as the induced image agents. A longitudinal approach should be called for in the examination of the impact of pop-culture on destination image. As observed by Benjamin, Schneider, and Alderman (2012), such tourists may have a variety of reasons to be drawn to a destination. It is important to monitor travel motivations as they can change over time. 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SoJung Lee is Assistant Professor in the Apparel, Events, and Hospitality Management Department at Iowa State University. Her research focuses on pop-culture tourism, sustainable tourism, and consumer behaviors, including destination image, motivation, satisfaction, place attachment, involvement, commitment, attachment, and loyalty.

Billy Bai is Professor in the William F. Harrah College of Hotel Administration at the University of Nevada Las Vegas. His current research interests focus on hospitality and tourism marketing with a particular emphasis on relationship marketing, customer behavior and loyalty, destination marketing, and branding.