The measure of a destination image: the case of Turin

In the last three years performances of tourism have been affected by the current crisis and the identification of key elements of tourist consumer behaviors has become fundamental. The image perception of a territory is the most important factor and, in order to understand how a destination image can be created, marketers must take into account target market and audience affecting factors, expectations and needs; they must apply the fundamentals of marketing analysis to find out how to communicate - and inform about - most valuable aspects of the territory they want to promote. Gathering information from local people is a great chance to understand how to improve the image value of a territory itself. This exploratory study aims at reviewing destination image doctrinal contributions, creating an alternative measurement for destination image and applying this measure to a urban destination: the city of Turin - first Italy capital in which many changes have been happening in last few years - drawing future possible paths of action.