Abstract —In this study, questionnaire was conducted in the Netherlands in order to measure how Dutch people perceive tourism destination image (TDI) of Germany and Spain. Significant differences were identified with Wilcoxon T test between the countries. Cognitive and affective country image factors on destination beliefs were measured by correlation analysis. It was found that affective country image has more effect on destination beliefs than cognitive country image. Confirmatory factor and multiple regression analysis results were shown. Participants were also asked some open ended questions about tourism image of the mentioned countries and how/where they gathered information about them. Media and experiences were found to be important sources of information Index Terms—Country image, destination image, Germany, international tourism, Spain I. INTRODUCTION The concept of „„image‟‟ that has been studied for several decades in such disciplines as social and environmental psychology, marketing, and consumer behavior, was introduced into tourism studies in the early 1970s by Hunt [1], Mayo [2], and Gunn [3] and has since become one of the most researched topics in the field [4]. Image is the sum of beliefs, attitudes and impressions that a person or group has of an object. The object may be a company, product, brand, place or person. The impression may be true or false, real or imagined. Right or wrong, images guide and shape behavior. [5] Countries are also subject to comsumption like products. Country image is the sum of beliefs, ideas and impressions that a person has of a country [6]. It has been investigated in two relatively independent research streams, namely product-country image (PCI) and tourism destination image (TDI). The impact of country image on the response of consumers to products from a country has been termed the country of origin (COO) or product-country image (PCI) effect. [7] Tourism destination image is the expression of all objective knowledge, impressions, prejudice, imaginations and emotional thoughts an individual or group might have of a particular place. [8] In this study, a questionnaire was conducted with Dutch people to analyze the tourism destination image of Spain and Germany. II. CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK About destination image the first study is Hunt‟s study [1] about the importance of image on travel behavior. He concluded that place of residence is a significant factor in determining people‟s perceived image of a destination. Tourism is an industry that gains strength with image and tourism destination image have been studied for 35 years. Many researchers have investigated the image‟s effect on travelers [9]-[10], measurement of the image [11]-[12], and how it is formed [13]. It was accepted by many researchers [9], [12], [14]-[16] that the experiences of the visitors have significant effect on revisits. Pearce [9] found that the most important factors on TDI are shopping, people, culture, scene and beaches whereas Therkelsen [17] mentioned that the people‟s backgrounds also have a significant effect on the ideas of a country. Baloglu [18] found that the more destination familiarity, the better the image of a country. So in order to improve the familiarity, advertising, public relations and sales promotions should be used together in the marketing mix. A great number of researchers [13], [15], [19]-[25] support the view that image is a multidimensional construct comprising of two primary dimensions: cognitive and affective. Cognitive evaluation refers to beliefs and knowledge about an object whereas affective evaluation refers to feelings about the object [21], [26]-[28]. In other words, cognitive element of destination image describes the beliefs and information that people have about a place. Affective element describes what people feel about a place; it is about loving or not loving somewhere [29]. Social and environmental psychological tradition regards cognition and affect as interrelated elements, where affect is largely dependent on cognition. However, Russell and Snodgrass [30] argued that behavior may be influenced by the (estimated, perceived, or remembered) affective quality of an environment rather than by its objective properties directly. The affective component of destination image expresses feelings toward a destination, which can be favorable, unfavorable, or neutral [4]. Gartner [21] suggested that the affective component comes into play at the stage when different travel alternatives are evaluated. III. METHOLODOLOGY WITH FINDINGS In this study, cognitive image constructs (quality of life, wealth, technology level, education) were adapted from Orbaiz ve Papadopoulos [31] and affective image constructs from Beerli and Martin [32] (pleasant), Echtner and Ritchie [11] (safety), Heslop and Papadopoulos [33] (trustworthy), Orbaiz and Papadopoulos [31] (friendly). Destination beliefs constructs were adapted from Elliot [34] (appealing scenery, suitable accommodation, quality attractions, lots to see and do, value for money, good overall destination) and Perceived Image of Spain and Germany as a Tourist Destination for Dutch Travelers Hasan Ayyildiz and Gulcin Bilgin Turna Journal of Economics, Business and Management, Vol. 1, No. 1, February 2013 85 DOI: 10.7763/JOEBM.2013.V1.20 of a country. . Manuscript received December 1, 2012; revised February 3, 2013. Gulcin Bilgin Turna is with the Black Sea Technical University (e-mail: gulcinturna@gmail.com).