Abstract: "Image" is becoming an essential topic of the multidisciplinary research in recent years. Based on the literature review, this article reviews and analyzes the research context and methods of city image and destination image comprehensively. The results of the research demonstrate that the occurrence and the development of city image and destination image have a significant relationship with the development level of the country and the world as well as the mankind’s social demand. Meanwhile, the two kinds of outside impetuses determine the direction of the research. The general tendency of the research on city image and destination image is convergent in the aspects of core content, research direction and methodology, and outside impetuses for research development. On the other hand, there exist obvious differences between the research from the standpoint of the group research and the certain subject research. At the same time, this article reveals the importance of paying close attention to the“sense of place”of image and puts forward some specific suggestions about the improvement of research technique to deepen the research on city image and destination image.

Key words: city image, convergence and divergence, destination image, research context, research methods