The Effect Destination Familiarity and Brand Equality Perceptions of Tourists on Travel Intentions: The Case of İstanbul

Abstract

In the marketing of destinations; the uniqueness of the destinations, the variety and quality of the services they offer are emphasized intensively in order to emphasize the brand equality or superiority among the destinations. However, studies in the literature that measure the effect of destination brand equality dimensions and destination familiarity on the travel intentions of tourists are very limited. In this study, it is aimed to determine the effects of destination brand equality and destination familiarity dimensions on the travel intentions of tourists from the Middle East countries who visited the Istanbul destination in the August-November 2019 period. 430 questionnaire forms prepared within this scope were applied to the tourists by communicating face to face. The data obtained from the questionnaires (400 questionnaires) were analyzed by use of the SPSS program. As a result of the analyzes, it was concluded that the scale of destination brand equality consisted of the dimensions of destination awareness perception, destination image perception, destination quality perception and destination loyalty perception. In addition, it was determined that all of the destination brand equality dimensions and destination familiarity of tourists affected destination travel intentions of tourists at high and positive levels.