The Effects of Destination Personality Items on Destination Brand Image

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to investigate the perceived destination brand personality of Istanbul and to examine the relationships among destination brand personality and destination brand image. A convenience sample of 200 visitors to Istanbul was surveyedvia face-to-face interviews. Initially, a series of exploratory factor analyses (EFA) were conducted for each measurement scales (brand personality and destination brand image) in order to identify the potential underlying factor structure of the data. Then multiple regression analysis was used to investigate the relationship between variables using PASW 18. The findings of this study indicate that destination brand personality has a positive impact on destination brand image. However, the results are not fully represent all personality traits associated with tourism destinations.While four dimensions of the destination brand personality scales (vibrancy, competence, contemporary and sincerity) are found to be significantly related to the destination brand image, sophistication dimension is not significant in predicting destination brand image.