Destination images of non-visitors

•Non-visitors imagine the destination through comparisons.•Archetypal images exist and inform the destination image.•Images are characterized by their persistence and unknowability.•Image sources are wide-ranging; the non-commercial are most credible.•Different types of non-visitors have different image formation processes.

This article provides much needed understanding of destination images held by non-visitors. Recognizing the characteristics of non-visitor images and their formation is important in order to understand images more widely. This qualitative study assesses images of London. The views of three hundred people in the Czech Republic who have never visited London were obtained via an innovative open-ended research instrument. The study showed that non-visitors imagine destinations through comparisons with their own experiences of places. Findings indicate that images can be very persistent and that the first images formed of a destination endure over time. Although the research is based on people with no direct experience of London, the research highlights that a range of secondary ‘experiences’ influence image formation.