Destination Personality: An Application of Brand Personality to Tourism Destinations

Ekinci, Yuksel and Hosany, Sameer

(2006)

Ekinci, Yuksel and Hosany, Sameer (2006) Destination Personality: An Application of Brand Personality to Tourism Destinations. Journal of Travel Research, 45 (2).

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Abstract

In an increasingly competitive tourism market place, destination marketers face the challenge of attracting tourists through destination branding and destination personality building practices. As places become substitutable, destination personality, defined as the set of human characteristics associated with a destination, is seen as a viable metaphor for crafting a destination’s unique identity. At the conceptual level, the importance of destination personality has been widely acknowledged, but to date, no empirical research has yet identified its dimensions. This research, adopting Aaker’s (1997) Brand Personality Scale, seeks to identify whether tourists ascribe personality traits to destinations. The study results indicate that tourists do indeed use personality attributes in their evaluation of tourism destinations. Destination personality was found to be a three dimensional construct consisting of sincerity, excitement and conviviality. The findings of the study also suggest that destination personality influences destination image and tourists’ intention to recommend. In particular, the conviviality dimension moderates the impact of cognitive image on intention to recommend. The study offers implications for destination marketing strategies and future research areas.

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This is a Published version
This version's date is: 11/2006
This item is not peer reviewed

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https://repository.royalholloway.ac.uk/items/d0f06112-7686-ef9d-fed2-c191121bc387/1/

Item TypeJournal Article
TitleDestination Personality: An Application of Brand Personality to Tourism Destinations
AuthorsEkinci, Yuksel
Hosany, Sameer
Uncontrolled Keywordsdestination image, destination personality, tourists’ behavioural intention, destination branding, product and brand personality
DepartmentsFaculty of History and Social Science\Management

Identifiers
doi10.1177/0047287506291603

Deposited by () on 23-Dec-2009 in Royal Holloway Research Online.Last modified on 23-Dec-2009

Notes

This paper was awarded Winner of the Charles R. Goeldner Article of Excellence Award for the most significant work published in the Journal of Travel Research during 2006.

This is the final draft version of the paper that appeared in the Journal of Travel Research, November 2006.

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