How do people choose a place to vacation? Destination image and familiarity play a large role in that choice. Hospitality Management Program Director Kimberly Severt along with colleague, Jeeyeon (Jeannie) Hahm of the University of Central Florida, explored how Alabama is perceived and recently published an insightful article on the state’s destination image. The “Importance of destination marketing on image and familiarity” was published in the Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Insights on January 9, 2018. Dr. Severt was also called upon by AL.com to comment in a December article “Boycott threats to positive press: How Alabama's Senate election swung state tourism.” The pair plans to continue to their research with a follow-up study about the impact of the election on Alabama’s image.