Personal Cultural Orientation, Destination Brand Equity and Revisit Intention: Implications for Destination Branding in Latin America

Abstract

Destination branding has become an increasingly important area of focus for academics and business communities. Destination brand equity is a strategic asset that can be the basis of competitive advantage and long-term profitability. Assessing the equity of destination brands provides destination marketers with information about the specific determinants that can help strengthen a destination brand (Floreck et al. 2006). The literature on destination marketing focuses on the three major dimensions of brand equity: brand image, brand value, and brand quality (De Chernatony and McDonald 2003). This study focused on tourists’ perceptions of destination brand image, brand value, and brand quality as factors in determining their future revisit intention in the Latin American destination Quepos, Costa Rica. No study thus far has simultaneously modeled the constructs hereby proposed into one theoretical model and assessed relationships among personal cultural orientation, destination brand equity, and revisit intention. This study filled these knowledge gaps by examining how destination brand equity is affected by the tourist’s personal cultural orientation and investigating the roles of destination brand equity and personal cultural orientation on revisit intention.