A conceptual instrument to measure the success of branding in the tourism industry

Abstract

Several studies have been completed on branding within the tourism industry and it is therefore an active research field. The problem is that all of these studies made use of different measuring instruments to measure branding. These evaluation methods were mostly adopted from the manufacturing field and applied to the tourism industry. This research therefore attempts to fill the branding gap in tourism literature by developing a conceptual instrument (a questionnaire) to measure branding in the tourism industry. This will give the owner/management an overall view of the performance of the tourism brand and will allow the owner/management to identify under-performing brand categories of their overall brand. The method of research for this study is exploratory by nature and conducted in different phases. Phase A consisted of a literature analysis whereas phase B consisted of qualitative research. During phases C and D a quantitative research approach was followed. Since this research focus on developing a brand measure instrument (questionnaire) directed at the tourism industry, data was gathered from two major tourism resort groups. A high reliability and inter-item correlation was the result of a statistical analysis of the initial five brand categories identified through the literature review. An additional three brand categories were identified during this study. The measuring instrument therefore has a practical application that can assist the tourism product to compete at higher levels of branding. This may result in having a competitive edge that can draw more tourists, retain existing tourists and ultimately result in a higher turnover.