Exploring city image: residents’ versus tourists’ perceptions

City image has been defined as the sum of beliefs, ideas and impressions people hold regarding a city. While abundant literature has explored city image from tourists’ perspectives, few studies have explored residents’ perceptions, and even fewer have compared city image as perceived by tourists and residents. In addition, very few studies have compared tourists’ and residents’ perceptions of city image in small- to medium-sized destinations. Considering these research gaps, the purpose of this paper is to address city image in a medium-sized destination, Verona, in northern Italy with three specific objectives: to examine residents’ perceptions of the city of Verona’s image; to examine tourists’ perceptions of the city of Verona’s image and to compare the perceptions of the two groups.

The research was conducted through questionnaires collected among residents and tourists in Verona. Questionnaires were based on a multi-item scale addressing four dimensions of the city image.

The findings show that residents and tourists hold similar perceptions of city image regarding services and leisure, security and entertainment. The only significant difference in city image concerns the municipal facilities. Specifically, residents are more critical than tourists about this dimension of city image.

The research provides useful implications for policy makers and destination management organisations, and shows some strengths and weaknesses of Verona.

The study addresses the image of a medium-sized city that is typical in the Italian context, thus enhancing knowledge about city image. In addition, by testing and enhancing a scale previously used only to measure residents’ perceptions, the study provides a common measurement instrument to compare tourists’ and residents’ perceptions.