Destination brand positions of a competitive set of near-home destinations
Introduction
Ever since the brand literature commenced in the 1940s (see for example Guest, 1942), there has been consistent recognition that branding offers organisations a means for differentiation in markets crowded with similar offerings (Aaker, 1991, Gardner and Levy, 1955, Keller, 2003, Kotler et al., 2007). For destinations, effective differentiation is critical given the increasingly competitive nature of tourism markets, where many places offering similar features are becoming substitutable (Pike, 2005). For example, around 70% of international travellers visit only 10 countries, leaving the remainder of national tourism offices (NTOs) competing for 30% of total international arrivals (Morgan, Pritchard, & Pride, 2002). The pursuit of differentiation is explicit in brand definitions, which have most commonly been variations of that proposed by Aaker (1991, p. 7):
A brand is a distinguishing name and/or symbol (such as a logo, trademark, or package design) intended to identify the goods or services of either one seller or a group of sellers, and to differentiate those goods from those of competitors.
However, in the foreword to the first issue of Place Branding and Public Policy, editor Simon Anholt (2004, p. 4) suggested “almost nobody agrees on what, exactly, branding means” in describing place branding practice as akin to the Wild West. There has been a lack of consistency in defining what constitutes destination branding, both within industry and within academia (see Blain et al., 2005, Park and Petrick, 2006, Tasci and Kozak, 2006). The most comprehensive definition to date has been that proposed by Blain et al. (2005, p. 337), which followed Berthon, Hulbert, and Pitt's (1999) model of the functions of a brand from both the buyer and seller perspectives:
Destination branding is the set of marketing activities that (1) support the creation of a name, symbol, logo, word mark or other graphic that readily identifies and differentiates a destination; that (2) consistently convey the expectation of a memorable travel experience that is uniquely associated with the destination; that (3) serve to consolidate and reinforce the emotional connection between the visitor and the destination; and that (4) reduce consumer search costs and perceived risk. Collectively, these activities serve to create a destination image that positively influences consumer destination choice.
Branding is therefore considered mutually beneficial from both the supply and demand perspectives. Enhancing the ability of the brand to differentiate effectively can generate advantages for products and services, such as increased purchase intent (Cobb-Walgren, Beal, & Donthu, 1995), lower costs (Keller, 1993), increased sales, price premiums, and customer loyalty (Aaker, 1991, Aaker, 1996). Advantages for destination marketing organisations (DMO) include increased potential to differentiate against places offering similar benefits, increased destination loyalty and increased yield for stakeholders such as local tourism businesses and travel intermediaries. Benefits for the traveller include ease of decision making through reduced search costs, reduced risk, and possibly enhanced brag value.
The focus of most research reported to date has been concerned with the development of destination brand identities and the implementation of campaigns (see for example, Crockett and Wood, 1999, Hall, 1999, May, 2001, Morgan et al., 2002). One area requiring increased attention is that of tracking the performance of destination brand positions over time. That is, the extent to which destination brands' positioning and repositioning campaigns have been effective in enhancing brand equity consistent with that intended in the brand identity. This is an important gap in the tourism literature, given: i) increasing competition (see Morgan, Pritchard, & Piggot, 2002), ii) the increasing level of investment by destination marketing organisations (DMO) in branding since the 1990s, iii) the complex political nature of DMO brand decision making and increasing accountability to stakeholders (see Pike, 2005), and iv) the long-term nature of repositioning a destination's image in the marketplace (see Gartner & Hunt, 1987). In terms of metrics for DMOs in general, a number of researchers in various parts of the world have pointed to a lack of market research monitoring effectiveness of destination marketing objectives, such as in Australia (see Carson et al., 2003, Prosser et al., 2000), North America (Masberg, 1999, Sheehan and Ritchie, 1997), and Europe (Dolnicar & Schoesser, 2003).
The aim of this study was to track the brand positions held by a competitive set of near-home destinations between 2003 and 2007. For this purpose the efficacy of a hierarchy of consumer-based brand equity (CBBE) was trialled. CBBE was first promoted by Aaker, 1991, Aaker, 1996 and more recently by Keller, 1993, Keller, 2003 to supplement traditional balance sheet brand equity measures. The rationale underpinning CBBE as a brand performance metric is that consumer perceptions of the brand underpin any financial estimate of future earnings estimated in the financial measure of brand equity. Since a financial balance sheet brand equity measure will be of little practical value to destination marketers, the concept of CBBE is worthy of consideration by DMOs. However, the potential of CBBE for destinations has only recently attracted the attention of academic researchers (see Boo et al., 2009, Konecknik and Gartner, 2007).
Section snippets
Literature review
The first papers on branding appeared in the marketing literature during the 1940s (see for example Guest, 1942). The growth in interest in the field was evidenced during the second half of the 20th century, when an estimated 766 major publications by 789 authors were published (Papadopolous, 2002, in Anholt, 2002). The first journal article explicitly concerned with research relating to the branding of destinations was Dosen, Vransevic, and Prebezac's (1998) analysis of the appropriateness of
Method
The research involved two questionnaires distributed to Brisbane residents in 2003, and another in 2007. The 2003 study was undertaken longitudinally, with two questionnaires distributed three months apart. The first questionnaire was mailed in April to a systematic random sample of 3000 Brisbane households selected from the telephone white pages. The purpose was to investigate characteristics of short breaks, including unaided destination preferences to identify the competitive set of
Results
The 2007 survey generated 447 completed questionnaires, representing a useable response rate of 17%, which was similar to the 19% obtained in April 2003. While this was not a longitudinal study, the characteristics of the 2003 and 2007 samples were similar, as shown in Table 5, and also generally comparable to the characteristics of the 2001 Brisbane Census population. The exceptions were a higher ratio of females and lower ratio of those aged 18–24 years.
The characteristics of short breaks by
Conclusions
It has been argued destinations are tourism's biggest brands (Morgan, Pritchard, & Pride, 2002). Given the increasing levels of investments being made by DMOs at NTO, STO, RTO and CVB levels around the world, and the extent that a destination's umbrella theme must somehow represents the interests of a diverse range of active stakeholders, it is surprising that academic interest in the field has not been stronger. While there were 102 authors associated with the 74 publications tabled in the
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