Dimensions of the tourist destination brand (mental image of the tourist destination brand)
Hadi Razak Karim
Supervised by Lect. Ahmed Naji Hussein
Kotler defined the image of the tourist destination as: “The sum of beliefs and impressions of individuals about a tourist destination. This image represents a simplification of a larger number of their perceptions and information about this tourist destination. Both define it as a set of impressions, beliefs, ideas, expectations and feelings accumulated towards a place over time.
The brand image of a destination is defined as the mental representation of the destination as depicted by the tourist’s mind, where the attributes of the product or destination are linked to symbolic meanings in the tourist’s mind. The brand image of a tourist destination is the product of tourists’ experiences resulting from their own experience, and the image of the destination promoted by marketers. The brand image of a tourist destination is a cognitive concept, which is interpreted subjectively by tourists, depending on the travel experience, cultural background, purpose of the visit, psychological and demographic characteristics, and tourists’ experience of the destination that they have formed after their experience visiting the destination and consuming the various services provided by stakeholders. These effects create mental images, or perceptions that display what tourists have noticed and felt in their experience of the destination. The researcher agreed with many studies & that it is a multidimensional construct characterized by a set of specific features and characteristics, affected by cognitive and emotional evaluations alike in understanding the general image of the tourist destination. These features consist of two parts: the tourists’ experience of the destination that they have formed after their experience visiting it and consuming the services provided by stakeholders, and the image of the destination that marketers promote. Destination brands in general generate a set of quality expectations or images of the destination that individuals usually desire before visiting.
