German Students' Perceptions of Bulgaria as a Tourist Destination - A Molecular Approach to Destination Image Assessment

The paper presents the results of a study of the image of Bulgaria as a tourist destination among a group of German students visiting Bulgaria for a first time. Similarly to Ivanov and Illum (2010) the paper adopts the Lederer and Hill (2001) and Silver and Hill (2002) molecular approach to branding and combines it with the John et al (2006) brand concept mapping technique. Respondents prepared individual concept maps of Bulgaria as a tourist destination which were consequently aggregated to derive a group consensus cognitive map. Results show that respondents have very narrow perceptions about Bulgaria as a tourist destination. Managerial implications of the study are also discussed