Brand equity of tourism destionations: The influence of country image and regional image.

ABSTRACT. This paper focuses on the customer-based brand equity for a regional tourist destination, and develops a theoretical model including the causal relationships between the dimensions of brand equity (awareness, image, perceived quality and loyalty). Accordingly, the loyalty of international...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Herrero Crespo, Angel|||0000-0001-8103-9174, San Martín Gutiérrez, Héctor|||0000-0003-0424-3088, García de los Salmones, María del Mar|||0000-0001-5217-4553, Collado Agudo, Jesús|||0000-0002-4152-4439
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2015
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Cantabria (UC)
Repositorio:UCrea Repositorio Abierto de la Universidad de Cantabria
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:repositorio.unican.es:10902/10477
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10902/10477
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Destination branding
Country destination
Regional destination
Brand equity
Image
Perceived quality
Awareness
Loyalty
Marca de destino
Destino país
Destino regional
Valor de marca
Imagen
Calidad percibida
Reconocimiento
Lealtad
Descripción
Sumario:ABSTRACT. This paper focuses on the customer-based brand equity for a regional tourist destination, and develops a theoretical model including the causal relationships between the dimensions of brand equity (awareness, image, perceived quality and loyalty). Accordingly, the loyalty of international tourists is considered as the main outcome variable for explanation in the theoretical model. Moreover, the paper adopts an international tourism approach and takes into account the hierarchy of destination brands, analyzing the influence of country destination image (i.e. country as umbrella brand) on the regional destination image. The empirical evidence obtained from a sample of 253 international tourists visiting a regional destination in Spain supports that loyalty towards the destination is positively influenced by the perceived quality of the destination, which in turn is directly influenced by the image and awareness of the destination. Additionally, our results support for the idea that the perceptions of international tourists of a regional destination are positively influenced by their perceptions of the country destination where the region is located. The country’s brand therefore acts as an “umbrella brand” for the region’s brand.