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.

Keywords:

• customer-based destination brand equity
• destination marketing
• domestic tourism
• tourist satisfaction

Acknowledgement

This work is based on the research supported by the National Research Foundation (NRF). This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors. The author is grateful to all the respondents willing to form part of the research. Any opinion, finding and conclusion or recommendation expressed in this material is that of the author and the NRF does not accept any liability in this regard.

Disclosure statement

The authors report there are no competing interests to declare.