Antecedents customer decision to visit Yogyakarta as special regions in Indonesia

Abstract

This study aims to clarify the strategies implemented by the government in managing city branding and city image on behavioral interest and to prove the impact of intention to visit on the decision to visit. This research is explanatory research using a quantitative approach, namely conducting a survey directly to respondents using a questionnaire. The population of this study was all domestic tourists in Yogyakarta, a special area in Indonesia who were visiting and obtained a total sample of 280 respondents. Data analysis was carried out using SEM-PLS and processed through the SmartPLS application. The results show that city image has the most dominant influence on intention to visit and then to visit. Therefore, city branding must be appropriately implemented to increase intention and visit to form a positive city image. Intention to visit has proven to mediate city branding and city image on the decision to visit. The study results clarify that the decision to visit can be formed based on the intention to visit, which comes from the stimulus about city branding and city image. This research contributes to the government formulating a strategy for implementing city branding and city image to make the appearance and brand more attractive to create interest in visiting.

Keywords:

• City branding
• city image
• intention to visit
• decision to visit
• tourism policy

PUBLIC INTEREST STATEMENT

Yogyakarta, Indonesia, is one of the most popular destinations in Indonesia, which offers many exciting destinations and is ready to pamper domestic and international tourists. In tourism marketing, the tourist experience is essential; hence knowledge is needed regarding what factors attract tourists’ attention in determining visiting decisions. This study highlights determinant factors that attracted tourists to visit the unique area of Yogyakarta, including its city branding and city image. This research is essential to improve government services in providing facilities and infrastructure for tourists to travel. Tourists who get easy access to travel will feel happy and willing to return to visit other tourist destinations that have not been visited. Additionally, tourists will perceive that the city branding of Yogyakarta is indeed exciting and is a beautiful city to visit every time. This study emphasizes the contribution of city branding and city image to enhance tourist intention and resulting in visiting decisions.

1. Introduction

The application of marketing about tourist destinations is starting to be known among the people of Indonesia. Several regions have begun to market tourist destinations in their area to impact the formation of the city’s image, interest in visiting, and the decision to visit tourists due to the many city brand destinations offered. (Kusumawati et al,2020) revealed that several sustainability studies on destinations have not been combined with destination quality as an exogenous variable that can more accurately predict behavioral intentions. This study reviews the quality of destinations consisting of city branding and city image to predict behavioral intentions and visiting decisions. Improper application of city branding strategy will result in a negative city image. A negative city image will impact tourist interest in visiting the city. The loss of interest in visiting will not result in a tourist’s decision to visit the city. Several previous studies have stated a relationship between the variables of city branding, city image, intention to visit, and decision to visit, which have an attachment to one another. The city’s image that produces a positive experience will encourage and produce a positive city image. The quality of a city as a destination and attitude will reflect the city’s image, which will affect the city’s image in the eyes of tourists (Gómez et al., 2018). (Wang et al., 2012) states that the image of a country directly affects buying interest or visiting interest generated by tourists. The interest generated by tourists will encourage decisions made by these tourists, and the decision is a tourist’s decision to visit or not visit the desired tourist destination.

A positive city image will generate tourist confidence in the city’s brand, making tourists interested in visiting the city. (Pujiastuti et al., 2017) states that the trust felt by tourists is because tourists feel they are treated well at tourist destinations., tourists will have a positive perception and generate interest in visiting the same tourist destination. (Hassen & Giovanardi, 2018) the existence of a government program by opening the door of migration and guaranteeing the provision and cultural activities will generate interest and decisions to visit the city. Interest in visiting significantly influences visiting decisions (Putra, 2015). (Sánchez et al., 2018) found the effect of interest visiting was not always significant depending on which country the tourists were going to. (Nguyen Viet et al., 2020) revealed that the attractiveness of city branding can directly affect visiting intentions. It is interesting to study to ascertain behavioral intentions towards visiting decisions.

The city of Yogyakarta is one of the special regions in Indonesia that implements a city branding strategy to introduce and market the city of Yogyakarta, which aims to attract tourists. The achievements and achievements of the city of Yogyakarta were reviewed in various media. One of the achievements achieved by the city of Yogyakarta was in 2014 winning the gold category “The Best Performance Tourism” award from the Ministry of Tourism of the Republic of Indonesia in the Travel Club Tourism Award (TCTA), this award due to the government’s consistency in developing and fostering the tourism sector (Performance). (Gibson, 2021) revealed that a smart city seeks to consolidate the relationship between urban areas and citizens in terms of social justice, environmental sustainability, and economic development so that it is used to make long-term plans, one of which attracts the attention of tourists. According to (Pitana & Surya, 2009), tourists are one or more people who travel far from their place of residence at a particular time to seek an impressive experience with some of the characteristics of the place chosen to be visited. The role of tourists is important for a city as a benchmark for the various tourist destinations that the city has to offer.

The presence of tourists will encourage a city to create a city branding strategy in the hope of being able to produce a solid and positive city image. A solid and positive city image is expected to attract tourists who want to visit the city. The image of a city that can attract tourists’ attention can provide economic resilience wisely and collaboratively in using existing resources (Graessley et al., 2019). It is interesting to conduct research related to tourism where the variables to be studied are city branding and city image, which influence intention to visit and decision to visit. The research on city branding, city image, intention to visit, and decision to visit is because these variables are crucial aspects of marketing. A city can determine a strategy in providing a city brand following the city’s goals through city branding. City image is the perception of the image of a city about tourists’ beliefs about the city. The intention to visit will appear along with the tourists’ belief in a city and will encourage the decision to visit generated by tourists. This study aims to analyze the implementation of city branding and city image carried out by the government to increase tourist interest in visiting behavior. In this case, behavioral intentions are also predicted to influence the decision to visit directly. This research contributes to marketing theory, especially in tourist behavior, in determining the decision to visit. This research also contributes to the government developing strategies to create city branding and image to increase intention to visit and decide to visit.

2. Literature review and hypothesis development

The theory that underlies this research is the theory of reason action (TRA) reviewed in (Fishbein, 2008) to predict behavioral intentions and is supported by several literature from previous studies.

2.1. City branding

City branding in tourism is assumed to be the same brand or brand. A brand is an identity that cannot separate from a product, either in the form of goods or services. City branding is a concept that is generally practiced by several cities in the context of competition in attracting tourists and intensive environmental investment; this is done to promote regional development (Kavaratzis & Ashworth, 2005). City branding manages a destination through strategic innovation and coordinating economic, commercial, social and cultural, and government regulations (Gómez et al., 2018). (Anholt, 2007) created hexogen city branding as a tool to measure the effectiveness of city branding. The measurement of the effectiveness of city branding consists of: Six aspects: presence, potential, place, pulse, people, and Prerequisite.

2.2. City image

The image of a destination is important for attracting visitors, and related research has been prevalent in tourism studies (Richards & Wilson, 2004). (Ramkissoon & Nunkoo, 2011) also found that local people’s perceptions of the region affect their political support for tourism. All variables of the social image, transportation, government services, and spending, except transportation, affect tourism support. Not many studies have considered the city’s image as a separate concept. Still, some research on the image of a destination is more focused on the city as a destination because the city itself is a destination from the visitor’s point of view (Busby et al., 2013). City image and tourist destinations can have personalities and images, influencing tourist behavioral responses (Kim & Lee, 2015). City image may have concrete consequences regarding the attitudes and behavior of residents and tourists (Gilboa et al., 2015). (Stylidis, 2018) identifies the natural environment, amenities, attractions, accessibility, and social environment as dimensions of city image.

2.3. Intention to visit

Tourist intentions have always been the focus of tourism research. Intention to visit or interest in visiting in the world of tourism is assumed to be the same as buying interest. Purchase intention refers to the possibility that the customer intends to buy a particular product or service (Dodds et al., 1991). In tourism, it is called intention to visit. According to (Zeithaml et al., 1996), the intention to visit is the possibility that tourists will visit a destination. Tourist intentions and behavior can be partially predicted by the city’s image and influence the city selection process (Jalilvand et al., 2013). Tourist cities with a more substantial and main image than other cities guarantee better tourist welfare, so they have wise intentions to choose them (Lopes, 2011).

2.4. Decision to visit

The decision to visit in the world of tourism is assumed to be the same as a purchase decision. Based on the theory of planned behavior (TBP) by (Dash, 2020), this study argues that city branding, city image, and intention to visit will influence tourist visitation. (Moore et al., 2012) investigated the dynamics of tourism decision-making. The study uncovered four new dimensions of decision-making. The dimensions are “flexibility” in decision making, “location and travel time,” “social composition,” and “stage of travel.” Flexibility allows for changes in decisions at later stages of the decision-making process. Visiting decision theory has the same analogy as the purchase decision, as research conducted by (Jalilvand & Samiei, 2012) equates that the decision of tourists to visit is the same as the consumer’s purchase decision. The decision is when visitors assess and choose the required alternative based on specific considerations (Satyarini et al., 2017).

2.5. Conceptual framework and hypothesis development

A city that is famous or has a good brand will produce a positive image. The city’s image influences people or communities inside and outside the city, having assumptions about the city, how they behave towards the state of the city, and how they respond to all things that happen. Within the city (Anholt, 2007). The city’s image in the study refers to the theory of brand image, where the brand can provide an overview of a product where the product is a tourist destination. (Lynch, 1959) states that an image of a city has components that include identity, structure, and meaning. A city image is formed based on five elements: paths, edges, districts, nodes, and landmarks; this will make it easier for tourists to get to know an area. (Wang et al., 2012) stated that the image of a country directly affects buying interest or visiting interest generated by tourists. The interest generated by tourists will encourage the decisions made by the tourists; the decision is the tourist’s decision to visit or not visit the desired tourist destination. The relationship between these variables is also supported based on the results of previous research, such as research (Matzler et al., 2016), which states that city branding is an effective and helpful strategy to gain competitive advantage. It is related to competition for planning strategies in each region. A city that does branding will produce a competitive advantage that will generate positive perceptions from tourists. A positive brand perception reflects the image of the brand. City branding using an urban icon to provide easy access for tourists will produce a positive experience, and positive tourist experiences will produce a positive city image (Villar et al., 2015). The positive image of a city will be a stimulus for tourists to foster interest in visiting and, in the end, will determine the decisions that tourists will take. (Hassen & Giovanardi, 2018) stated that the existence of a government program by opening the door of migration and guaranteeing the provision and cultural activities will generate interest and decisions to visit the city. Strong city branding can create a smart city following sustainable development goals (Bibri, 2019). Consistent with these findings (Qu et al., 2011), tourist destinations with an excellent image directly affect interest in revisiting, and tourists will recommend these tourist destinations to others. Based on this, the following hypothesis can be formulated:

H1: City branding has a significant effect on the intention to visit

H2: City branding has a significant effect on the decision to visit

H3: City Image has a significant effect on the intention to visit

H4: City image has a significant effect on the intention to visit

H5: Intention to visit has a significant effect on the decision to visit

This research is based on the theory of reason action (TRA), which is reviewed in (Fishbein, 2008) to predict behavioral intentions. Behavioral outcomes can be seen from the two fundamental determinants of behavior: attitude towards behavior and subjective norm. In this study, TRA is operationalized into beliefs (city branding and city image), attitudes (intention to visit), and behavior (decision to visit). Based on this, the conceptual model in this study is as follows:

3. Research method

This type of research is explanatory research using a quantitative approach (positivist research). The object of this research is a tourism destination in a special area of Indonesia, namely the city of Yogyakarta, which has implemented city branding for 13 years. (Asnawi et al., 2018) revealed that city marketing can be set not only for cities but also for regions so that this research chooses in a special area of Indonesia, namely Yogyakarta. This research was conducted by direct survey using a questionnaire from November 2019 to January 2021. The population in this study were domestic visitors who visited tourism destinations in Yogyakarta. The number of domestic visitors visiting tourist destinations in the city of Yogyakarta varies from time to time, so the total population cannot be known so that the determination of the number of samples in this study uses the formula (Machin & Campbell, 2012) and obtains a total sample of 280 respondents. This research uses two-stage sampling. In the first stage, by determining the choice of tourism icons and destinations in Yogyakarta, using area sampling techniques based on the tourism criteria offered, namely culture tourism, commercial tourism, and social tourism. In the second stage, by determining the respondents selected using the purposive sampling technique based on the criteria of the research population. The data in this study used primary data obtained directly from the object of research, namely the results of filling out questionnaires from respondents using a Likert scale of 1–5, which could form the basis of the questionnaire used to collect data for each construct the research model. The research questionnaire instrument (Table 1.) was adopted from several previous studies; city branding was adopted from (Putra et al., 2019). City image was adopted from research (Stylidis, 2018), intention to visit was modified from research (Dash, 2020), and the decision to visit was adopted from the research (Moore et al., 2012). The data analysis technique used in this study was SEM-PLS and processed using the SmartPLS3 application, then conclusions were drawn from the study results. SEM is the dominant multivariate data analysis method commonly used in tourism research (Bandyopadhyay & Nair, 2019).

Table 1. Item scale

Items	Author
City Branding. Yogyakarta is a famous city for tourism diversity.Yogyakarta contributes to the culture and science field.Yogyakarta is a pleasant city to open a business.Yogyakarta is a pleasant city for entrepreneurial activities.Yogyakarta provides knowledge of Javanese culture.Yogyakarta is attractive in terms of the uniqueness of historical buildings.Yogyakarta is a beautiful city.Yogyakarta has a characteristic compared to other cities.Yogyakarta is attractive in terms of culture and history.The locals are friendly. Easily adapts to the local. Feel excited to visit the city of Yogyakarta. The ease of finding new things in the city of Yogyakarta. The city of Yogyakarta has good public facilities.	(Putra et al., 2019)
City Image. Yogyakarta has an attractive scenic beautythe beaches in Yogyakarta are wonderful. Quality hotels in Yogyakarta are excellent. The interesting restaurants in Yogyakarta are delicious. Excellent service quality at tourist attractions in Yogyakarta. Yogyakarta has a variety of shopsYogyakarta has an interesting festival. Variety of Yogyakarta Tourism Activities. Convenient transportation in Yogyakarta. The infrastructure in Yogyakarta is beautiful. Ease of access in Yogyakarta Personal safety in Yogyakarta. Friendly local people in Yogyakarta Good value for money in Yogyakarta. Yogyakarta has a clean environment	(Stylidis, 2018)
Intention To Visit. I intend to travel to Yogyakarta for a holiday. I would seriously consider Yogyakarta as a visit destination. I am enthusiastic about the prospect of destination facilities available in Yogyakarta	(Dash, 2020)
Decision To Visit. I feel flexible to visit Yogyakarta. Location and travel time are exciting to visit. Yogyakarta city has a social composition that is easy to adapt to make it easier to visit Yogyakarta. The journey stages are elementary to arrange to make it easier to visit Yogyakarta.	(Moore et al., 2012)

4. Results and discusion

4.1. Respondent profile

The descriptive statistics of the distribution respondents’ demographic characteristics showed that 280 respondents, 120 (42.9%) respondents are male, and 160 (57.1%) respondents are female. As for the frequency and percentage of the respondent’s age, most of the respondents’ age category is 23–28 years old, most dominating in this study. As for the respondents in the education levels category, most of the respondents are bachelor’s degrees dominating in this study 165 (59%) respondents. As for the respondents in the occupation category, most of the respondents are students dominating this study, 83 (30%). As for respondents in the regular incomes category, mainly from the IDR 700,000–3.100.000 dominating 124 (44.28) respondents in this study. Furthermore, most traveling activities dominated the study; 141 (52.85%) respondents visited.

4.2. Result

Based on the analysis results using smartPLS, it can be concluded into three parts. The first is the outer model to clarify validity and reliability. The second is the inner model to determine the effect of the relationship between variables. The third is a hypothesis test to determine the effect of each variable. The rule of thumb for the validity value of the smartPLS test results is at least 0.7 (Hair et al., 2019). The results of the outer model show that the outer loading value on convergent validity and Composite Reliability of the entire research instrument shows a number above 0.5 (see, Figure 2). Therefore, research (Kusumawati & Rahayu,) shows that the instrument used as a variable measurement is valid and reliable. Furthermore, the results of the AVE value also show a value above 0.5, so it can be said to be ideal (Chin, 2010).

Figure 1. Conceptual model.

Figure 2. Report SmartPLS.

The results of the inner model explain the R-square and Q-Square values. (Hair et al., 2019) explain that R2 values of 0.75, 0.50, and 0.25 are considered substantial, moderate, and weak, R2 values of 0.90 and higher typically indicate overfitting. Based on Figure 1. It can be seen that the R-square value of the intention to visit variable is 0.556 and the decision to visit is 0.555, so it can be concluded that the intention to visit and the decision to visit have a moderate influence. Furthermore, based on the R-square value, the Q-square value can be calculated using the following formula:

$\begin{array}{rl}& {\mathbf{Q}}^{\mathbf{2}}= \mathbf{1} - (\mathbf{1} - {\mathbf{R}}^{\mathbf{2}}\mathbf{1}) (\mathbf{1} - {\mathbf{R}}^{\mathbf{2}}\mathbf{2})\\ & = \mathbf{1} - \left(\mathbf{0}.\mathbf{444}\right) \mathbf{X} \left(\mathbf{0}.\mathbf{445}\right)\\ & = \mathbf{1} - \mathbf{0}.\mathbf{197}\\ & = \mathbf{0}.\mathbf{803}\end{array}$

The results of the Q-square calculation based on these calculations are known that the Q-square has a value of 0.803 which means that the amount of diversity based on the research data obtained is explained through the structural model has a value of 80.3%. The remaining 19.7% is explained by other factors outside the research model under study. Therefore, based on these results, it can be concluded that the structural model in this study can be stated to have excellent and strong goodness of fit (F. Hair et al., 2014).

Next to research hypotheses, research hypotheses testing is made by bootstrapping smartPLS3. The study results show the value of the relationship between the variables in Table 2. that city branding has a positive and significant effect on the intention to visit and then decision to visit. Furthermore, city image has a positive and significant effect on the intention to visit and then to visit. Finally, intention to visit has a positive and significant effect on the decision to visit.

Table 2. Results of path coefficient values

	Original Sample	Sample Mean	Standard Deviation	T Statistics	P Values
City Branding -> Decision To Visit	0.167	0.175	0.082	2.032	0.043
City Branding -> Intention To Visit	0.268	0.268	0.081	3.303	0.001
City Image -> Decision To Visit	0.361	0.360	0.101	3.564	0.000
City Image -> Intention To Visit	0.505	0.508	0.086	5.880	0.000
Intention To Visit -> Decision To Visit	0.283	0.278	0.084	3.360	0.001

The results of testing the effect of city branding on intention to visit show a path correlation coefficient of 0.268 with a p-value of 0.001. It can be said that city branding has a positive and significant effect on the intention to visit; this proves that the first hypothesis proposed is accepted. The results of testing the influence of city branding on the decision to visit show a path correlation coefficient of 0.167 with a p-value of 0.043, so city branding has a positive and significant effect on the decision to visit; this proves that the second hypothesis proposed is accepted. City image has a positive and significant effect on the intention to visit. This can be seen in the path correlation showing a value of 0.505, so it can be concluded that the third hypothesis proposed is accepted. Likewise, the decision to visit also shows a positive relationship based on the city image with a coefficient value of 0.361 with a p-value of 0.000. Therefore, it can state that the fourth hypothesis is accepted. The last hypothesis also proves that intention to visit impacts the decision to visit with a correlation of 0.283 and a p-value of 0.001. Based on this, it can be concluded that all hypotheses proposed in this study are accepted.

4.3. Discussion

City branding is a strategy by giving a brand to a city that serves as a tool to introduce and promote the potential of an area to all stakeholders, including presence, potential, place, pulse, people, and prerequisites (Anholt, 2007). In this case, the city of Jogjakarta, Indonesia, has implemented a city branding strategy well to influence visiting interests. Tourists will evaluate which tourism brand to choose. A stronger tourism brand will result in higher visiting interest (H. bumm Kim & Lee, 2015). This is following research (Sahin & Baloglu, 2014) which states that city branding by using advertising aims as a means of marketing communication to provide the understanding and get results in the form of tourist interest to visit. Research (Kim et al., 2009) states that tourism advertising through the establishment of city branding can influence the interest of visiting tourists; besides that, tourists who have already visited are educated to provide information about existing tourism and increase the interest of new tourists. Based on this statement, it can be seen that a good city branding strategy can provide information to tourists and will generate interest in making visits. City branding is a variable that can be a stimulus for visitors and potential visitors to have an intention to visit. A good city branding will provide information as a stimulus for visitors and eventually generate interest in visiting. Based on TRA, city branding is proven to be a consumer belief that produces an attitude, namely the intention to visit. After consumers feel confident and believe in their choice to visit, they decide to come to visit, resulting from behavior. Research reveals (Bratu, 2019) that creating a brand is important in determining behavioral outcomes, especially in the digital era. Regarding the decision to visit, (Drugău-Constantin, 2019) proves that a neuromarketing approach by understanding consumer behavior in detail can create opportunities in decision making.

Several studies show that the city image in tourism is assumed to be the same as the brand image. Based on the results of hypothesis testing, it shows that city image has a positive and significant effect on the intention to visit with a path correlation coefficient value of 0.505 with a p-value of 0.000, so it can be said that city image affects intention to visit directly. Based on the results of hypothesis testing, it shows that city image has a positive and significant effect on the decision to visit with a path correlation coefficient of 0.361 with a p-value of 0.000. The results of this study are in line with the findings made by (Qu et al., 2011), which states that the city’s image directly affects an interest in visiting. The Destination image is assumed to be the same as the city image, which directly affects the decision to visit and is the willingness to recommend tourist destinations to others. The results of research conducted by (Wang et al., 2012) stated that the image of the affective city was a predictor of interest in visiting compared to the image of the cognitive city, and the image of the city had a direct and significant effect on interest in visiting. The results of this study are in line with the findings (Hassen & Giovanardi, 2018), which states that the image of a city that has a good reputation is based on government intervention in regulating strategies and policies in the city so that in the end the implementation of the strategy that has been made will make visitors make decisions to visit. A positive image will increase behavioral intentions and result in a decision (Pujiastuti et al., 2017). These findings are the same as the results of this study using cognitive and affective image indicators. In addition, (Cohen, 2021) reveals that a good smart city can also increase the city’s sovereignty to attract the attention of tourists. The TRA city image is proven to be a consumer belief that produces an attitude, namely a decision to visit. After consumers feel confident and believe in their choice to visit, they decide to come to visit, resulting from behavior. A city image in good condition will generate a stimulus for visitors and will eventually lead to a decision to visit.

The decision to visit in the world of tourism is assumed to be the same as purchasing decisions. Based on the results of hypothesis testing, it shows that the intention to visit has a positive and significant effect on the decision to visit with a path correlation coefficient value of 0.283 with a p-value of 0.000. Visitors who have a higher evaluation of their interest in visiting will result in higher visiting decisions; the more the individual can assess their interests and desires, the faster the decisions will be made (Sánchez et al., 2018). In addition to indirect effects, indirect analysis results will automatically appear when we use the SmartPLS3 application. Intention to visit is proven to mediate the relationship between city branding and decision to visit and city image with the decision to visit. Specifically, city branding indirectly affects the decision to visit through intention to visit with a path coefficient value of 0.076 with a p-value of 0.030. City image indirectly affects the decision to visit through the intention to visit with a path coefficient value of 0.143 and a p-value of 0.002. Based on this, it can be said that city branding and city image can attract behavioral interest to decide to visit. The decision-making process varies greatly that several strategies need to be analyzed and applied based on several factors that can be used as a reference for forming decisions based on a twist (Mirică, 2019). This SEM method was also carried out in previous research and resulted in an excellent strategy to get a visiting decision by using the right strategy in improving the city’s image (Kim & Lee, 2015).

5. Conclusion

This study aims to prove the effect of city branding and city image on the intention to visit and then the impact on the decision to visit. The results showed that the city branding strategy was proven to positively influence the intention to visit so that it could impact the decision to visit. Likewise, city image is also proven to positively influence intention to visit and ultimately impacts the decision to visit. Intention to visit is also proven to have a role as a mediating variable between city branding and city image on intention to visit. Based on the results of the hypothesis, city image is proven to have the most dominant influence on intention to visit and then has an impact on the decision to visit. In this case, it can be seen that the main thing that attracts behavior to visit is the city image, although the city branding strategy implemented is excellent. This has practical implications for managerial parties that the government of Yogyakarta, Indonesia, needs to form a good city image in implementing a city branding strategy so that it can attract visiting interest, which impacts visiting decisions. This study also provides a theoretical contribution to the TRA theory that city branding and city image can determine behavior, namely intention to visit, and ultimately produce a behavior, namely decision to visit. This study clarifies that the intention to visit must impact the decision to visit, so in this case, the strategy about city branding and city image in the tourism industry needs to be considered to create an intention to visit and can make a decision to visit. The results of this study clarify research (Hassen & Giovanardi, 2018) that a good reputation from a city will encourage interest in visiting. The city government’s program provides benefits for visitors such as access to open a business or even living permanently in the city can encourage interest in visiting, resulting in higher visiting decisions.

This study has several limitations regarding the object under study, which is a special area in Indonesia that has implemented city branding for 13 years; some regions in Indonesia have not implemented city branding. Based on this, the results of this study cannot be applied to areas that have not implemented city branding. However, further research can conduct comparative studies related to several cities that have implemented city branding and do not yet have special characteristics to attract the attention of tourists. Furthermore, related to city branding and city image, it is necessary to add several moderating variables to the decision process to visit with different objects to make a theoretical contribution to the development of a conceptual research model.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The authors received no direct funding for this research.

Notes on contributors

Andriani Kusumawati

Andriani Kusumawati is an associate professor specializing in Business Marketing at the Department of Business Administration Brawijaya University, Indonesia. She obtained a doctorate from the University of Wollongong (2013). Her specializations in marketing include consumer behavior, marketing management, entrepreneurship also tourism marketing. She has written several books, namely Consumer Behavior and Marketing in Higher Education, City Branding: Concepts and Issues in Tourism Marketing, and Attracting Tourist After Covid-19 Pandemic. Also, she has published several articles in reputable international journals such as the Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research, Journal of Tourism Cities, Journal of Educational Management, Management of Environmental Quality: An International Journal, SAGE Open, and Human Systems Management. Karisma Sri Rahayu is a doctoral student in Administrative Sciences, Brawijaya University. Now she is a practitioner lecturer at Vocational Education Brawijaya University. Endhar Widjaya Putra is a master student at the Department of Business Administration Brawijaya University, Indonesia. Currently, he is City Head at ULA also a manager at PT HM Sampoerna Tbk.