Brand personality and destination image of Istanbul

Abstract

This study investigates brand personality and destination image of Istanbul, Turkey and compares the perceived image and personality across different nationalities visiting the city. The survey instrument included quantitative and qualitative (open ended) items and questions to better understand the first-time visitors' individual perceptions. Text analysis was utilized to reveal experiential image patterns in qualitative data. Respondents were grouped into four segments depending on the geographic and cultural proximity of their nationalities: USA, UK, Europe, and East Asia. Factor analyses were conducted to find underlying image and personality dimensions. Next one-way ANOVA was conducted to identify significant image and personality variations across different nationalities. The results showed that there are statistically significant perception differences across different nationalities for cognitive and overall image, as well as for brand personality perceptions and behavioral intention. Practical and theoretical implications are discussed.