Brand, Identity and Reputation: Exploring, Creating New Realities ...

Emotional Branding in Tourism
Marija Najdić, Singidunum University, Serbia
Verica Bulović, Singidunum University, Serbia
Abstract
KEYWORDS: brand experience, loyalty, consumer behaviour in tourism, destination image.
This study deals with detailed assessment of consumer behaviour on decision making of tourists holiday destination. Research combines the concepts
of destination loyalty and psychology of consumers in tourism, emphasizing influence of emotions on service evaluation. Our finds and conclusions
point out to strong correlation between consumer‘s personality and their choice of tourism destination. Results obtained from the studies of such kind
have the potentials to enhance the effects and efficiency of management in tourism, if focus on perceptions and motivations is considered in wider
scope and on holistic way, enabling better understanding of consumers perspectives and behaviour in tourism generally.
Introduction
In modern branding, presence of any brand on the market is not as much important as its participation in the
consciousness of (potential) consumer that provokes the question: How much is important any specific brand to the
consumer? In terms of innovation, in this research paper we attached special attention to creation of experiences as a
new kind of marketing approach targeted to create loyalty of consumers. Although modelling of demands in tourism is
hard for definition, due to the fact that concept of tourism involves wide spectre of activities in destination, nevertheless
question ‗why people travel?‘ should be replaced with a question ‗What factors influence consumers to choose one
destination over another‘?
The objective of this research paper is to find what reasons impact to tourists in process of choosing tourism destination.
Since, there were no possibilities for provision the sample as large as necessary to enable definition of specific rules; we
should concentrate to presentation of general correlation and connections of tourist‘s attitudes that prevail in process of
decision making. As services are never in directly correlation with material benefits, but with emotions with regard to
its consumption, therefore, lower level of conscious engagement would result in higher emotional engagement. If
emotional correlation between brand name and consumer is established, the goal – loyalty (that in economic view,
always stands for profit) - is achieved.
The emotional branding of tourism destinations: a literature review
The definition of a destination brand coined J. Ritchie and R. Ritchie (1998) as ‗a name, symbol, logo, word, mark or
other graphic that both identifies and differentiate destination; furthermore, it conveys the promise of a memorable
travel experience that is uniquely associated with the destination; it also serves to consolidate and reinforce the
recollection of pleasurable memories of the destination experience‘. Cai (2002) further defines destination branding as
selecting a consistent mix of brand elements in order to identify and distinguish a destination through positive image
building. All of the definitions of a destination brand outlined above show that branding of the destinations enable the
tourists to identify a destination and differentiate it from competitive offerings.
Destination branding involves the unique benefits that the tourists will experience while visiting the tourism destination
rather than destination itself. The brand perceived by tourists would influence their behaviour including awareness,
satisfaction, use, recommendation, trust and finally their loyalty. The new branding concept that emerged in the
marketing world is emotional branding. The concept that applies to the process of emotional branding commit to four
pillars: familiarity, sensory experiences, imagination and vision (Gobe, 2008). Clearly, the emotional connection
between consumers and destination are the basis for future buying decisions. Feelings of personal safety and confidence
which are projected on a specific destination have become synonymous with quality, and the destination alone become
identity of the consumers lifestyle.
Emotional branding provides solutions not specifically related to the characteristics of the product/service but for
consumers and their lifestyles. In tourism, the perceived quality is represented in experience contents those satisfy the
needs for individualism and unique experience. What is significant about the use of sensory stimuli in marketing is
bypassing the rational elements of products/services and address directly to emotions, because how stated (Bakic, 2009)
people don‘t buy products, but the expected benefits.
Consumer behaviour of tourists towards destinations
Holbrook and Hirschman (1982) had pointed out that the quest for authentic experience is the main motivation for any
consumption, including travel. Killion (1992) has defined the tourist experience continuing the work of Clawson as a
model that consists of the following phases: planning, travel, residence, return and memories. Further investigations
continued Johnson and Thomas introducing themes: the role of typologies of tourists, symbolic consumption, market
segmentation, destination image and satisfaction. Uysal (1994) research in his works, consumer expectations, the
behavior of individual tourists and those who use holiday packages and issues of cultural diversity. The dominant
paradigm is in explaining and predicting consumer behavior based on information process.
To investigate how people receive, maintain and use information researches use techniques such as surveys,
experiments and observations (Consumer Processing Model). As Miljevic (2006) stated effective use of information
implies a clear perception of reality, since according to Newcomb‘s model of communication (as cited in Fiske, 1990,
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