An Insight Into City Branding: A Destination Brand Equity Approach

Although the development of the brand equity construct has been based on five dimensions, research on destination brand equity commonly refers to four dimensions; namely awareness, image, quality and loyalty. In order to integrate the fifth dimension, i.e. the brand assets dimension, into the brand equity model, the study focuses on cultural brand assets. The research addressed international tourists visiting three major cultural destinations, namely Athens, Istanbul and Rome. findings indicate that the five dimensions are important for the customers’ evaluation of a cultural destination. Conclusions imply that the five dimensions model stands in different destinations. The study assists practitioners towards getting a better understanding on which brand elements they should focus, in order to achieve favourable brand evaluations.