THE ROLE OF TOURISM IN DEVELOPING A COUNTRY’S INTERNATIONAL IMAGE: THE CASE OF SOUTH KOREA

Abstract

This study was motivated by the recognition that tourism activities offer diverse economic and
cultural opportunities, which enable new pathways to strengthen international perception for both host countries
and the stakeholders that shape or influence the global image. It is further supported by the assumption that
the tourism sector can be used to promote and position the national identity within any country, whether that
involves improving the visibility of a destination or the reputation of a nation. The aim of this study was to
examine tourism development and international image formation among a sample of tourists. This study also
highlights tourism promotion, destination branding, and policy making, for the purpose of improving national
image for global audiences.
We examined the relationships through propensity score matching and regression analysis of the data:
once for the matched sample, once validated by the regression but adjusted for these structural relationships,
and the direct effects and indirect effects on outcomes. The analysis was conducted following procedures
of the assessment of constructs: a validation of measurement indicators for the model, the evaluation of the
model’s reliability, and once with an application to the robustness checks of the matching and regression
estimates of the study. In the context of a matched sample and regression results, we found that these two
approaches provided consistent, reliable, and significant evidence to support existing empirical findings like
tourism development and image formation, and receive higher evaluation scores (treated vs control). For
treated observations, international tourists were more likely to report positive perceptions as their evaluation
(higher vs lower), practice more than domestic comparisons (greater vs smaller), and show a stronger belief
inside the context of the country. Such empirical findings provide an insight in understanding international
image formation among the countries with active tourism sectors. Countries who are actively promoting tourism
show significantly different levels of international perception and could be a reference for other developing
economies.