The image of Helsinki as a safe destination
Aromäki, Tiia (2022)
2022
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-202205108416
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-202205108416
Tiivistelmä
Tourism is experiencing safety issues constantly and the current Covid-19 pandemic has affected greatly on the hospitality and tourism industry. The feeling of safety and security is one of the main factors influencing tourists’ selection of travel destination, and, therefore, safety and security measures have become even more important.
This thesis was commissioned by the city of Helsinki and its division of Economic Development. The scope of this thesis was to study the destination image of Helsinki from the safety point of view and the goal was to provide insights regarding Helsinki’s image as a safe destination and about the attributes that affect to that image. The objective of this research was to provide the commissioner valuable information about tourists’ perceptions. These insights could be used when implementing destination marketing strategy which further will help the tourism industry to revive from the crisis.
The theoretical framework of this thesis defines key concepts, the destination image and its formation process, tourism safety and security and destination branding and marketing. Previous research in the field has suggested a two-phase methodology for measuring the destination image. In this thesis, the qualitative research was replaced with a literature review, where the attributes that characterize safety and security in destination image were defined. A quantitative approach to study the destination image of Helsinki as a safe destination was implemented by using an online survey. In the survey the respondents evaluated the attributes that were identified from the literature review.
The research was conducted with non-probability sampling method and the results were analysed with inferential statistics. The results indicate that Helsinki is seen as a safe destination and that attributes that affect the image positively were high hygiene and cleanliness level, good quality of life and good quality of airports and ports. Overall, the respondents were least concerned about kidnapping, civil unrest, natural disasters, corruption, terrorism and air and noise pollution. In addition, the results indicate that Covid-19 pandemic, health safety, racial and sexual harassment and theft were the most concerning attributes that affects to the safety perception.
Based on the results, country of residence, age and education are the most influential sociodemographic variables on the safety image of Helsinki. As a suggestion for the commissioner, Helsinki should be branded as a safe destination in order to revive from the pandemic. In addition, destination awareness should be increased by creating marketing strategies that consider the sociodemographic variables.
This thesis was commissioned by the city of Helsinki and its division of Economic Development. The scope of this thesis was to study the destination image of Helsinki from the safety point of view and the goal was to provide insights regarding Helsinki’s image as a safe destination and about the attributes that affect to that image. The objective of this research was to provide the commissioner valuable information about tourists’ perceptions. These insights could be used when implementing destination marketing strategy which further will help the tourism industry to revive from the crisis.
The theoretical framework of this thesis defines key concepts, the destination image and its formation process, tourism safety and security and destination branding and marketing. Previous research in the field has suggested a two-phase methodology for measuring the destination image. In this thesis, the qualitative research was replaced with a literature review, where the attributes that characterize safety and security in destination image were defined. A quantitative approach to study the destination image of Helsinki as a safe destination was implemented by using an online survey. In the survey the respondents evaluated the attributes that were identified from the literature review.
The research was conducted with non-probability sampling method and the results were analysed with inferential statistics. The results indicate that Helsinki is seen as a safe destination and that attributes that affect the image positively were high hygiene and cleanliness level, good quality of life and good quality of airports and ports. Overall, the respondents were least concerned about kidnapping, civil unrest, natural disasters, corruption, terrorism and air and noise pollution. In addition, the results indicate that Covid-19 pandemic, health safety, racial and sexual harassment and theft were the most concerning attributes that affects to the safety perception.
Based on the results, country of residence, age and education are the most influential sociodemographic variables on the safety image of Helsinki. As a suggestion for the commissioner, Helsinki should be branded as a safe destination in order to revive from the pandemic. In addition, destination awareness should be increased by creating marketing strategies that consider the sociodemographic variables.