Evaluation of the cognitive image of a country/destination by the media during the coverage of mega-events: the case of UEFA EURO 2004TM in Portugal

By reporting a study undertaken during the final stages of the European Football Championships—UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) EURO 2004TM, this paper aims to evaluate the cognitive image of a country/destination by the media during the coverage of mega‐events, which may in turn contribute to the field of tourism promotion and planning. By applying various statistical methods, it is possible not only to assess and identify the aspects which have contributed the most to the opinion‐forming of autonomous agents, but also to present empirical evidence of the influence of the organisation of this event on the image formation of the destination as a whole. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.