Branding Ethiopia as a Tourist Destination: Domestic Tourists Perspective
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Date
2014-05
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Purpose – Although the branding literature emerged during the 1940s, research relating to tourism destination branding has only gained momentum since the late 1990s. There still exists a lack of theory that particularly addressing the measurement of the effectiveness of destination branding from domestic tourists perspective. The purpose of this paper is to test the effectiveness of Consumer-Based Brand Equity (CBBE) model for a country as a tourist destination.
Design/methodology/approach – A model of CBBE was adapted from previous marketing literatures and applied to the national context of Ethiopia. The model was tested by using structural equation modeling with data collected from a sample of Ethiopian citizens (n = 350).
Findings – The paper reports the results of an investigation into brand equity for Ethiopia as a tourist destination among its own citizens. The results indicate Ethiopia as a tourist destination is well known among its citizens but its tourist destinations quality is perceived to be very low. Despite this poor quality its citizens are still loyal to visiting the country’s tourist attractions.
Practical Implications – The paper recommended that a standard CBBE model could provide enduring effective performance measures regardless of changes in staff, other stakeholders and budge
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Keywords
tourism destination, branding, domestic tourists perspective