نوروژنتیک مقصدی : ایجاد نقشه های هنجار اجتماعی مقصد گردشگران  Destination Neurogenetics: Creation of destination meme maps of tourists

1. Introduction Dawkins (1976) defines a meme as a unit of cultural transmission that includes a piece of information stored in memory. A meme represents perceptions related to an image, brand, and all other real or fictional entities (Henderson, Iacobucci, & Calder, 1998; Krishnan, 1996). The Theory of Spreading Activation, as a foundational theoretical model of Memetics, postulates that memes link to each other in a person’s memory through semantic similarity lines that demonstrate the association between pairs of memes (Collins & Loftus, 1975; Quillian, 1967). A meme map is a generic network comprising of memes and the similarity lines between these memes. Foundational articles in the marketing field contribute to the evolution of Memetics knowledge and literature. For example, Krishnan (1996) examines the characteristics of brand associations following Keller’s (1993) consumer-based brand equity conceptualization. In marketing, the term “brand association” refers to a meme map. Similarly, Keller (1993, p. 3) defines an image as “perceptions about a brand as reflected by the brand associations held in consumer memory.” Even though image and brand of a destination are two different constructs, the brand’s existence depends on the destination’s image formation (Cai, 2002). Image formation is the construction of a destination’s mental representation influenced by the information cues transferred by image information agents and personal factors (Alhemoud & Armstrong, 1996; Gunn, 1972). Foundational travel decision-making models explicitly state that travelers’ perceived images of destinations play a signifi- cant role in their travel decisions, such as making the choice to return to a destination (e.g., Baloglu & McCleary, 1999; Um & Crompton, 1990; Woodside & Lysonski, 1989). At a theoretical level, parallel literature on the subject of destination image and Memetics point to a unifying postulation that destination images and meme maps are highly related mental constructs. Further, meme maps are antecedents of images whereas images are the byproducts of meme maps. Thus, the generation of travelers’ meme maps regarding a destination can thoroughly reflect their destination images for a specific destination. A review of the relevant marketing literature suggests highly developed and multi-dimensional meme maps represent well-known brands including favorite tourism destinations (e.g., Low & Lamb, 2000). Antalya, as the host city of EXPO2016, is the fourth most visited tourism destination in the world with around 300 sunny days in a year (EXPO, 2016). Antalya, known to the visitors as heaven on earth and the Turkish Riviera, is a mature and successful tourism destination. German and Russian travelers represent the top two source markets for Antalya (Turkish Ministry of Culture & Tourism, 2016), despite recent political events (e.g., violent tension between Turkey and Russia, and political instability) temporarily curtailing tourism activity. The current study’s purpose is twofold: (1) to identify the overall Destination Image Meme Maps (DIMMs) of Antalya, Turkey, and the tourists’ favorite tourism destination, and (2) to identify and evaluate the similarities and differences in the structures of the previously generated two categories of DIMMs. Both the Spreading Activation and the Symbolic Interaction Theories (Blumer, 1969; Quillian, 1967) provide the basis for the study. Although Memetics has been around for over two decades, researchers still consider Memetics a new paradigm in consumer research. To date, methodological challenges involving the conceptualization and operationalization of constructs limit Memetic’s use. The present study is likely the first in tourism and advances the knowledge and application of Memetics. This Memetics study’s methodology expands the contents of the toolbox available to tourism researchers by shedding a better light on decision-making processes and consumer behavior. This new research paradigm’s results will influence new marketing communication and positioning strategies that can activate the most influential and common brand memes stored within individuals’ minds as network of meme-maps.