Destination Personality: An Application of Brand Personality to Tourism Destinations

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.