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Image Assessment Before and After the Storm by Length of Time From Catastrophe
Group
Fall 2005
(n=25)
January -
March 2006
(n=46)
April - June
2006
(n=63)
July - October
2006 (n=63)
Variables
p
=
value
Mean Ranks
Mean Ranks
Mean Ranks
Mean Ranks
Overall Image Before Katrina
0.067
77.28
103.05
93.12
110.54
Overall Image After Katrina
0.001
51.05 94.72 101.61 104.24
2007 Annual International CHRIE Conference & Exposition
327
DISCUSSION
According to these research findings, practically everyone’s image of New Orleans as a tourist destination
significantly changed for the worst; however, findings also revealed that visitor perceptions were beginning to
improve. Image of a destination is a critical factor to potential travelers’ decision-making processes. The literature
also indicated that the mass media effects image creation among travelers. Many have also said that media
sensationalism associated with Hurricane Katrina has created a negative impression of the area, which in turn has
devastated the New Orleans travel & tourism industry. A changing of the widespread negative images of the city has
been requested by stakeholders therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate leisure travelers’ perceptions
of New Orleans before and after the storm. The results of this research provide fundamental implications for
strategic destination image management, which can assist in designing and implementing marketing campaigns to
enhance tourism destination images and to correct the prevailing negative images.
Several areas were explored regarding destination image and some new aspects of image creation were
revealed. Additionally, this study’s findings will serve as baseline data for comparisons to future New Orleans
image studies as well as provide valuable input to the development of a image recovery plan. An open-ended
question item asked, “if you would not come back to the city, why?” and the following sentiments were expressed:
“its not safe, New Orleans needs time to rebuild herself, too much violence/murders/crime ridden, I have other
vacation options, and its not a family friendly destination.” These findings can be used to combat existing negative
imagery assisting in advertising copy development to address these identified areas of concern. Currently, the
Louisiana Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism and the Louisiana Recovery Authority are formulating
strategies to allocate $28.5 million awarded to rebuild the region. Marketing and public relations programs will be
relied upon throughout this task and these research findings may provide insight to target markets and campaign
strategy. Image impression management will be key to their success and to the rebuilding of New Orleans and the
Gulf Coast tourism industry.
Image and perception variables were measured and thru this research practitioners are better informed to
guide tactical implementation. For example: 1) respondents feel that the culture of the area is intact, 2) they feel that
the restaurant supply is weak, 3) the ease of access throughout the city is poor, and 4) the area is still not seen as safe
are very specific and should assist in problem resolution. Anyone that has ever been to the city would agree on some
level in saying that these areas are in need of improvement. Conversely, one of the most frequent reasons listed
among the open-items for coming back to visit for a leisure vacation was that they “simply love New Orleans.” The
data indicated that over half of visitors were repeat visitors. This research documented some important findings
pertaining to target marketing after a natural disaster. Specifically, study respondents that had visited the destination
prior to the event would have more favorable images than those who have never visited destination in question. This
may be explained by the strength of organically formed impressions. This finding may indicate that post-Katrina
marketing efforts targeted to those visitors who have previously been to the destination (repeat visitors) will be more
effective and efficient. This approach may yield enhanced results in ameliorating negative destination images among
potential visitors and assist in jump-starting industry-wide recovery.
The power of mass media is evident. Today thru modern technology we can see world changing events as
they happen. Many saw the twin towers go down, many saw the levies give way to the raging waters, many saw the
citizens of New Orleans as they exited the Superdome, all possible because of communication technologies and the
dedicated journalists covering the story. However, many have said that the media had taken the Katrina story to new
heights of sensationalism for ratings points. This research touched upon the influence of media exposure as it related
to destination image development. Positively, the data indicated that everyone who filled out the survey was
exposed to high levels of mass media especially when considering the fact that this data was collected via the
Internet it should not have been that surprising. Specifically, this research found that there was a very small
relationship regarding image formation and increasing levels of mass media exposure. However, this finding may
not extend beyond the sample population and may apply only to the image ratings prior to the storm. What does this
weak relationship mean? Which leads to another area for further exploration also raising another question, “is it
possible that the live coverage of the storm resulted in an almost ‘first-hand’ experiencing the destination for
viewers?”
This study also examined the effect of geographic point of origin on the assessment of New Orleans as a
tourist destination. In agreement with previous literature Leisen (2001), findings indicated that as the respondents’
residence gets further away from New Orleans they report more favorable images. Having this insight enables
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