Using social network analysis, the current study examines the image of a unique festival in a well-established tourist destination on the East coast of the United State of America, the Myrtle Beach area of South Carolina. Social Network Analysis (SNA) emphasizes the importance of constructing interconnectedness among concepts and knowledge networks in respondents’ minds (Hanneman & Riddle, 2011; Scott & Carrington, 2011). The technique visualizes complicated perception of tourists in a most simple but scientific way. Using concept maps and degree centralities derived from social network analysis as well as dendrograms, this study provides insights on wine and food festival in Myrtle Beach Area. Together with cluster analysis, the SNA suggests unique contributions to the understanding of tourist behaviour in tourism destination research.

• Bomi Kang(Coastal Carolina University, USA)
• Taylor Damonte(Coastal Carolina University, USA)
• Young-Jae Kim(Chung-Ang University, Republic of Korea)
• Eun-Joo Cha(Chung-Ang University, Republic of Korea)