Emotional Branding in Tourism

Marija Najdi, Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality Management, Singidunum University, Serbia Verica Bulovi, Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality Management, Singidunum University,Serbia Introduction In modern branding, presence of any brand on the market is not as much important as its participation in the consciousness of (potential) consumer that provokes the question: How much is important any specific brand to the consumer? In terms of innovation, in this research paper we attached special attention to creation of experiences as a new kind of marketing approach targeted to create loyalty of consumers. Although modelling of demands in tourism, is hard for definition, due to the fact that concept of tourism involves wide spectre of activities in tourist destination, nevertheless question why people travel? should be replaced with a question What factors influence consumers to choose one destination over another? The objective of this research paper is to find what reasons impact to tourists in process of choosing tourism destination. Since, there were no possibilities for provision the sample as large as necessary to enable definition of specific rules; we should concentrate to presentation of general correlation and connections of tourists attitudes that prevail in process of decision making. As services are never in directly correlation with material benefits, but with emotions with regard to its consumption, therefore, lower level of conscious engagement would result in higher emotional engagement. If emotional correlation between brand name and consumer is established, the goal loyalty (that in economic view, always stands for profit) - is achieved. The emotional branding of tourism destinations: a literature review The definition of a destination brand coined J. Ritchie and R. Ritchie (1998) as a name, symbol, logo, word, mark or other graphic that both identifies and differentiate destination; furthermore, it conveys the promise of a memorable travel experience that is uniquely associated with the destination; it also serves to consolidate and reinforce the recollection of pleasurable memories of the destination experience. Cai (2002) further defines destination branding as selecting a consistent mix of brand elements in order to identify and distinguish a destination through positive image building. All of the definitions of a destination brand outlined above show that branding of the destinations enable the tourists to identify a destination and differentiate it from competitive offerings. Destination branding involves the unique benefits that the tourists will experience while visiting the tourism destination rather than destination itself. The brand perceived by tourists would influence their behaviour including awareness, satisfaction, use, recommendation, trust and finally their loyalty. The new branding concept that emerged in the marketing world is emotional branding. The concept that applies to the process of emotional branding commit to four pillars: familiarity, sensory experiences, imagination and vision (Gobe, 2008). Clearly, the emotional connection between consumers and destination are the basis for future buying decisions. Feelings

of personal safety and confidence which are projected on a specific destination have become synonymous with quality, and the destination alone become identity of the consumers lifestyle. Emotional branding provides solutions not specifically related to the characteristics of the product/service but for consumers and their lifestyles. In tourism, the perceived quality is represented in experience contents those satisfy the needs for individualism and unique experience. What is significant about the use of sensory stimuli in marketing is bypassing the rational elements of products/services and address directly to emotions, because how stated (Bakic, 2009) people dont buy products, but the expected benefits. Consumer behaviour of tourists towards destinations Holbrook and Hirschman (1982) had pointed out that the quest for authentic experience is the main motivation for any consumption, including travel also. Killion (1992) has defined the tourist experience continuing the work of Clawson as a model that consists of the following phases: planning, travel, residence, return and memories. Further investigations continued Johnson and Thomas introducing themes: the role of typologies of tourists, symbolic consumption, market segmentation, destination image and satisfaction. Uysal (1994) research in his works, consumer expectations, the behavior of individual tourists and those who use holiday packages and issues of cultural diversity. The dominant paradigm is in explaining and predicting consumer behavior based on information process. To investigate how people receive, maintain and use information researches use techniques such as surveys, experiments and observations (Consumer Processing Model). As Miljevic (2006) stated effective use of information implies a clear perception of reality, since according to Newcombs model of communication (as cited in Fiske, 1990, p.31) consumers tend to those sources of information that are consistent with their existing viewpoints. In this sense, they confirm the theory of selective perception and the view that the most likely effect of communication, including mass media, are going to reinforce existing opinions, attitudes and behavioral tendencies. When choosing a tourism destination there is a set of different destination alternatives considered during the decision-making process: evoked set, excluding, alternative, inaccessible, dreaming and known set of destinations (Decropp, 2006). For research is the most complex and interesting affective decision-making process because it is holistic in nature (the decision is made on the basis of expected emotions and visualization of possible experiences, often based on recommendations). The recommendation is one way of sense-targeting the consumer by visualizing the destination through their personalities (the identification with a destination). Although consumers generally are more esteeming the quality of tangible products, we should never neglect the product brand and lifestyle that is associated with (Gobe, 2008). Thus, two decades ago Sirgy (1982) concluded that consumers evaluate a product in relation to their personality, whereas the product image shares certain degree of similarity with the image of the individual. Malhotra (1988) presented the results where consumers are more guided by an ideal which they have of themselves than the actual situation, to which were later linked Hong and Zinkhan (1995) pointing out that it was the ideal of self-preference indicator of adopting a

certain brand. Also, Daniel Miller (as cited in Erdei, 2008, p.47) has explained the essence of his concept of objectification on the following simple way: firstly people produce and classify objects, and then those the same, culturally classified and marked objects (such as those associated with the life style), produce and classify people who use or refuse them. Shimp and Saeed (as cited in Morgan et al, 2004, p.41) introduced the term Country equity referring to the emotional value that emerges as a result of consumer's associations for the brand destinations. In addition to the many authors who have studied the phenomenon of loyalty, Oppermann (2000) notes that as many times as tourists visit a certain destination, it was more likely to come back again. Thus, the Denison and Knox (1992) concluded, in order to save time, the loyalty of tourists is rapidly increasing. This trend reflects the intention of revisit destination, i.e. the same which has proved its quality in the previous visit. Methodology The topic of this research is perception of tourist toward chosen tourism destination, the impact of communication marketing media and external stimuli that affect the process of selecting holiday destination. The significance of this research is reflecting in definition of stimuli that influence on tourists on different ways, depending on whether they first travel to Greece or many times before. Some testing were performed that approved the theory of satisfaction which says that satisfaction occurs in case when tourist expectations are prevailed by tourist experience, as well as experience of the highest level of satisfaction leads to revisit and recommendation to the others (Cronin and Taylor, 1992). Our study involved total 740 participants in Serbia (Belgrade, Novi Sad, Nis) which were under survey in period July /August 2009., in the course of their trip to Greece. The questionnaire has had four parts: The first one, comprised volume of questions related to demographic characteristics of respondents (place where completed the payment of arrangement, age, and average income). The second volume of questions comprises such that reflect the image of destinations, or define the tourists experience of Greece brand. The third volume comprised open questions that more involved the respondents into research and investigating their intentions and expectations regarding future choice of tourism destination. The last, fourth part is related to the organization of trips and length of stay. Assuming Aaker, Kumar and Day (2008) that attitudes announce behaviour and it is easier to ask questions about attitudes than to observe and interpret the actual behaviour, data collection is used for measuring consumer attitudes, and scale (shown in Figure 1). The fact is that people do not make decisions on reality (with regard to tourism services cannot be seen before buying them) but on a personal perception of reality, hypotheses were tested: H1 If the destination brand is a key factor of choice for the tourists first visit, then experience in the destination is a key factor for destination loyalty. H2 The highest level of satisfaction is not necessary for tourists to revisit tourism destination.

Empirical results Contrary to the opinion presented by Hyde (2000) for tourists to first consider alternative routes, then the itinerary, and then the attractiveness of the destination and activities, our study gave the following results. The experience of Greece as the country's natural, historic beauty and friendly atmosphere clearly reflects the opinion of tourists that want to get in it feel 'at home' This issue is related to the scaling of the five given answers that are listed brand destinations (Figure 1). First pointed out the importance of these two factors are Ritchie and Zins (1978) who presented his research in the impact of social behavior of the local population on the attractiveness of tourism destinations. When tourists experienced a hostile atmosphere of the local population, in the same way they experienced and the destination. Further we can conclude that the natural beauty, although shown as the main driver for the trip, actually make the following element that fits into the picture type and brand personality to Greece and performances by Serbian tourists have of themselves (of its own brand and lifestyle) coincide to a large extent.The first is that in their research linked the personality of the consumer with a choice of routes is Plog (as cited in Richie et al, 1972, p.203). Contrary to claims by Cohen and Schmoll, who stated that experience and experience of destinations represent a minor factor in rebuilding the decision to return (Crouch, Perdue, Timmermans & Uysal, 2004), on the basis of these results, we see that the experience of destination, quality and value (prices) have a significant impact on the satisfaction of tourists. Experience the quality of services was crucial for satisfaction, but not for the intention to come again, while the value of the destination experience had an impact on the intention to come again, and on the recommendation. In order to determine the points of interest like these two groups of consumers, it is analyzed the reasons especially tourists who for the first time to travel to Greece and loyal visitors. Dominant influence on final decision for the first visit to Greece belongs to recommendations, with a 32% share. Then there is the affordability of prices and recommendations of employees in a travel agency. If we summarize the recommendation of friends or relatives with the recommendation of staff within the agency shows that 45% of the formation of a final decision to organize the first visit to Greece, made the recommendations. The quality of accommodation and services is in the fourth and fifth place (Figure 2). When analyzing the structure of reasons to travel to Greece loyal customers, we get the following results. The primary influence on determining the decision had cost advantage with a 28% share. The quality of accommodation and services is on the second and third with a total of 32%, while the fourth memories (past experience). The recommendation is on the fifth and sixth place with 11% and other causes (TV shows and commercials) have approximately the same impact in both cases (Figure 3). Although according to Aaker positive experience always creates loyal customers (Aaker, Kumar and Day, 2008) it was sufficient just to have their expectations in terms of accommodation and services quality met at a satisfactory level, i.e., to get exactly what they paid for value for money. The reason for visiting Greece prominent advantage of prices and therefore is a common factor in relevant reasons in the process of choosing travel destinations. If quoted Burkart (1984), who claims that the users manage packages benefits arising lower prices and are indifferent to the destination, it could be concluded that destination would not be the primary factor in the decision making process. Price, however, cited as the primary cause only after selecting the destination.

Conclusions and implications Marketing is increasingly developing communications that reinforce key aspects of shopping: the experience and the experience of an individual to purchase a stunning adventure or emphasize the importance and focus on value for money. A good marketing strategy begins with the emotions indicating that consumers have emotional benefits if they purchase product. Another important assumption is that the marketing strategies fit into the habits of consumers and provide the type of information that fit their lifestyle. When respondents are more related to satisfaction, what they got but the way they provided services and therefore, the level of satisfaction is not the right measure for determining loyalty. The most important result which confirmed the hypothesis is that the experience of destination attractiveness has a stronger impact on creating customer loyalty than satisfaction. And also the experience as a factor in creating customer satisfaction had the strongest impact. Therefore, the destination brand in terms of attractiveness, in terms of quality and respect the environment as a friendly atmosphere was a key factor in the election for the first visit, while the experience of destinations was a key factor for visiting. Destination organizations must therefore work to promote and build the brand through events organized by creating a special tourist experiences that remain in our memories, as well as training programs, employees and the local population since they represent a significant factor in the attractiveness of tourist destinations and affect its reputation.Loyal visitors are emotionally tied to the destination and looking for familiar surroundings for rest, while new visitors for the first visit is looking for new experiences. i.e. attractiveness, tourist experiences that remain in our memories, as well as training programs, employees and the local population since they are part of the attractiveness of tourism destinations and affect its reputation The research led to the conclusion that it was a combination of emotional connection to a destination and experience of its brand was decisive factor in the decision making process. Limitations and future research suggestion It should be noted that the study considered the visit destinations closer to where the recommendations, not price, was often crucial to the decision. The theory of satisfaction that occur when a tourist experience is beyond expectations, where the highest degree of satisfaction leads to re-visit and the recommendations, according to our research, is not fully proven. The results have both theoretical and practical application of topics such as expanding the attractiveness of tourism destinations, consumer behavior and their perception of the brand as a tourism destination and efficiency of methods of providing information. It is advisable to conduct research in a popular tourism destination in view of its members and as members of other nations in order to create the basic idea on which will be based national brand and enable the implementation of external benchmarking destination. Considering all these facts, a clear need for market research and discover the factors that influence the formation of consumers' perceptions and experiences with the specific tourism destinations, it will result in that direction and move on these factors and stimulants and their decisions based on the selection tourism destination and tourism product purchase.

Tables and figures Figure 1 - Perception of Serbian tourists on Greece as a tourism destination

Brand perception scale

5 4 3 2 1 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140

Number of responses Friendly destination Historical monumnets Geograpchical proximty Music and gastronomy Natural beauty

Figure 2 - Reasons of tourists for the first visit to Greece

13% 5% 3%

5%

24%

8% 32% Price advantage Good service Recommendation TV emissions on Greece EU Member 3% 7%

The quality of accommodation Memories Advertising Travel agencies

Figure 3- Reasons of loyal tourists to visit Greece

2% 2% 11%

11%

2% 28%

12% 14% Price advantage Good service Recommendation TV emissions on Greece EU Member

18% The quality of accommodation Memories Advertising Travel agencies

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