2009/761 How destination image and country visitation affects consumer perceptions and preference for a country’s products

By Jasha Bowe

China is forecast to become Australia’s largest tourism source market by 2017. While China holds great potential for the export of Australian seafood products, it currently sits only sixth behind Japan, Hong Kong, Taipei, the United States and Singapore in export value.

Country‑of‑origin research has found a consumer’s perception of a country influences their behaviours towards its products. Tourism research reports that an individual's’ perception of a country determines how many of them will visit it. The combination of the increase in Chinese tourists to Australia and the relatively low market share and the awareness of Australian wine and seafood domestically in China means that country of origin perceptions for these products might be developing from a tourism‑image related perspective. These product categories are not well advertised in China and thus there would be few initial impressions, which provides a suitable platform to seek answers to the research objectives.

This thesis evaluates substantive theory on country‑of‑origin effects, develops understanding of the role of tourism in promoting the consumption of Australian made products, and demonstrates new outcomes that can be achieved by applying alternative methods to capturing these effects. It measures how Australia’s destination image affects Chinese consumers’ evaluation and choice of Australian wine and seafood.