| Although prior studies have proven the relationship between the formation of destination image and marketing tools, the relationship between the use of marketing tools and the formation of destination image is still unclear. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to compare destination image between marketing tool users and non-users. This study chose California as the study destination and Taiwan as the study generating country, and a survey research method was employed. The findings showed that television, magazines or guidebooks, and the Internet were the main marketing tools used by potential tourists for obtaining their California images; the images of California differed between potential tourists using marketing tools (including magazines or guidebooks, tourism brochure, television, the Internet, word-of-mouth, and other information materials) and not using; and potential tourists perceived the importance of marketing tools differently, in terms of gender, age, residential areas, educational levels, travel intentions, and travel expenditures. |
