Travel in the mirror: How home stereotypes shape travel intentions

Tourists develop expectations and behaviors based on stereotypes about destinations; however, the anchoring role of home place stereotypes in contrasting home with destination stereotypes - “inside” (home) versus “out” (destination) perspective remains unexplored. These differences have important implications for how travelers evaluate and select destinations. Drawing on the stereotype content model, social comparison and reference point theory, we examine empirically how home place stereotypes act as cognitive anchors shaping the comparative evaluation of destination stereotypes (warmth and competence) and in turn, how these comparisons inform travel intentions (N = 497). Contrary to the similarity-attraction paradigm, our findings reveal that greater home-destination stereotype differences strengthen the warmth/competence–visit intention link. By linking our data with secondary data, we show that destination smartness amplifies the role of competence differences in these travel intentions. These insights challenge one-sided views: travelers see destinations through the “mirror” of home-place stereotypes, with the destination's environmental context shaping decisions.