Abstract:
This paper focuses on the customer
-
base
d 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 touri
sts 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 infl
uenced 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.
