The role of destination image on holiday purchasing decision making

The tourism sector is one of the most important sectors in Turkey. The perceieved destination image of Turkey plays an important role in order to increase the tourism market share of Turkey among world tourism market. It is an important subject to know destination image of Turkey in target market in order to tourism policy making. Furthermore knowing the factors which effect image formation may be one of the determining factors of the image formation process in the target markets.The aim of this research is finding out the image of Greece and Turkey which have similar touristic features among Lithuanian people. Furthermore the impact of previous visitation, information sources, travel motivations and demographic variables on image formation of related country were also raised in the research.The datas which was collected during research analysed with related statistical analysis. The findings of the statistical analysises demonstarated that destination image of both countries are different and this differences is important for country choice. The analysis demonstrated that Greece has more positive image then Turkey and the country which has more positive destination image is choosen for holiday. This research demonstrated that destination image is changed depending on previous visit and previous visit effects destination choice, information sources and travel motivations also effect destination image. As a result of this research some suggestions offered for relating to tourism sector and researcher.2012, 70 PagesKey Words: Consumer behaviour, Purchase decision process, Image, Destination image.Science Code:1127