Are We Really Measuring What We Think We're Measuring? Assessing Attitudes towards Destinations with the Implicit Association Test

The study examines individuals' attitudes toward destinations by comparing the results of traditional self-report surveys with those of the implicit association test (IAT). A total of 84 college students (30 Caucasian, 27 Chinese and 27 Korean) were employed to complete self-report surveys and computer-based IATs. The results show that participants' attitudes toward selected destinations (i.e. China and England) vary depending on which of the two different attitude measures is employed. Specifically, it appears that attitudes toward the two countries are not significantly different in self-report survey, but differences in attitudes are significant in the IAT. This result indicates that greater use of the IAT would enhance our understanding of tourist responses, particularly those related to ability and willingness issues. The implications of the IAT results for tourism destination studies and its relation to explicit measures of attitudes are discussed. Copyright (C) 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.