【正文】 relevant to the population being elicitation techniques, such as freeelicitation,interactive interviews and focus group interviews,are discussed along with new techniques that include the visual aspect of image,such as 1999 John Wileyamp。Sons,Ltd. Keywords:tourist destination image。construct elicitation。image measurement。content analysis。photoelicitation. WHAT ARE TOURIST DESTINATIONIMAGES? Determining an exact meaning of the term`tourist destination image39。is term has been used in a variety of contexts,including those pertaining to the destination images projected by tour1ism promoters,the publicly held or `stereotype39。image of destinations and the destination images held by ① Olivia *Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute,University of Queensland,St Lucia,QLD 4072,Australia a prehensive study of the definitions provided in the major destination image measurement studies,Echtner and Ritchie(1991)note that many of the definitions used in previous studies are quite the heart of the definitional dilemma is the understanding of the term`image39。.As Pearce(1988,)ments`image is one of those terms that won39。t go away?a term with vague and shifting meanings39。.Image is a term that has already been used differently in a large number of contexts and disciplines,thus creating different psychology,`image39。 tends to refer to a visual representa tion,whereas in behavioural geography the concept of`image39。is more holistic and it includes all of the associated impressions,knowledge,emotions,values and from marketing,however,pointto the attributes that underlie image and relate image to consumer behaviour. The definition for tourist destination image most monly cited in research is that by Crompton(1979,)`the sum of beliefs, ideas and impressions that a person has of a destination39。.This definition relates to the individual,whereas other definitions acknowledge that images can be shared by groups of a marketing point of view,it is important to understand those aspects of image that are held in mon with other members of a particular understanding affords the segmentation of markets and facilitates the formulation of marketing these reasons,the definition by Lawson and Baud Bovy(1977),which enpasses both the personal images and the stereotyped images shared by groups,is chosen for this define destination image as: the expression of all objective knowledge, impressions,prejudice,imaginations,and emotional thoughts an individual or group might have of a particular place. Why study tourist destination images? Tourist destination images are important because they influence both the decisionmaking behaviour of potential tourists(Mayo,1973。Crompton,1979)and the levels of satisfaction regarding the tourist experience (Chon,1992).As Mayo(1975,)states in his article,the image of a destination area is a critical factor in a tourist39。s destination choice ,whether an image is a true representation of what any given region has to offer the tourist is less important than the mere existence of the image in the mind of the (1985)takes this idea further stating that`perceptions of foreign countries and their inhabitants may be wildly inaccurate39。.However,probing destination images is an immensely important exercise be