What constitutes a favorable destination brand portfolio? Through the lens of coherence

Abstract

Managing different brands for a single tourism destination imposes challenges for destination marketers, particularly when incoherence arises therefrom. This research adopted a mixed-method approach to analyze what constitutes a favorable destination brand portfolio. Study 1 conducted a tourist survey in Macao where gaming and cultural heritage brand identities collide. It investigated the effects of destination brand portfolio coherence on tourists’ attitude toward this portfolio and their loyalty intentions. In addition, the moderating effects of self–brand congruity were examined. To complement the results, Study 2 conducted text mining by analyzing tourist reviews from a tourism social networking website. The findings suggested that while status coherence evokes positive attitudes and loyalty intentions, personality coherence does not have a significant impact. Self-congruity significantly moderates only the relationship between status coherence and attitude. Managerial implications are provided for destination marketers to effectively employ tourism diversification strategies and maintain overall destination brand portfolio coherence.