Destination marketing and domestic tourist satisfaction: The intervening effect of customer-based destination brand equity.

Abstract

A mediation model of the interplay between customer-based destination brand equity and destination marketing in domestic tourists' satisfaction during a prolonged crisis is presented. The cross-sectional deductive study analyses data from n = 400 South African domestic tourists. The findings clarify destination marketing's direct positive effect on customer-based destination brand equity and domestic tourist satisfaction. Significantly, customer-based destination brand equity is an explanatory mechanism in destination marketing's influence on domestic tourists' satisfaction. This study contributes to the burgeoning but still limited knowledge of the role of destination marketing and destination-oriented brand equity in domestic tourists' responsive behavior amid crises.