Baku’s Destination Brand and Destination Ownership: A Research on Local Tourists

Abstract

Purpose – The main purpose of this study is to determine the destination brand image and destination attachment developed for the city of Baku by domestic tourists. In addition, the relationships between destination brand image and destination attachment were also examined. Design/methodology/approach – Questionnaire form was used in the research. The questionnaire form was applied to 429 domestic tourists visiting Baku with the convenience sampling method and a total of 408 usable data were obtained. First, the Skewness and Kurtosis values of the scale were calculated, and the non-parametric “Mann-Whitney U Test” and “Kruskal-Wallis H Test”, correlation test and factor analysis were applied considering that the data did not show normal distribution. Findings – As a result of the factor analysis, the destination brand image of domestic tourists visiting Baku has four dimensions; it has been determined that the destination belonging consists of one dimension. As a result of the correlation analysis carried out to determine the level and degree of relationship between destination brand image and destination belonging, it has been determined that there is a statistically positive and significant relationship between destination brand image perception of domestic tourists visiting Baku and destination belonging. Discussion – Meeting the demands and needs of the destinations, creating a unique image can lead to the fact that they are more preferred by the tourists and that they integrate themselves with that destination and reveal the sense of belonging. In this research, the destination brand image of the city of Baku and the subject of destination belonging were discussed and research was conducted on the domestic tourists visiting Baku. It has been determined that the development of the destination brand image of Baku increases the sense of belonging of the visitors to the destination, and various suggestions have been presented to increase the destination brand image.