Brand Reputation and its Influence on Consumers’ Behavior

A review of the marketing and tourism literatures revealed that brand ­reputation is a powerful tool that affects not only the image of the product or destination, but also purchase/visit decisions. The cost of failure in building a product image is high, but not as fatal as in the case of a destination. Moreover, destination branding is considered as a tool of competitive advantage, on the principles of value-added effect and equity criteria. Destination is an amalgam of geographic, economic, demographic, climatic, technological, environmental, political, and demographic factors which influence the competitive advantage, if built effectively. Anholt (2007)finds evidence of a correlation between the positive experience of visiting a country and positive feeling about its products, its government, its culture, and its people. Deeper understanding of place brands in tourism destinations and reputation might be helpful for improving competitiveness. One example of implementing a measurement of a country’s performance and reputation is the Anholt-GMI Brand Index, which evaluates the perception of countries as brands and measures the power and appeal of a nation’s brand image. This approach can be helpful to understand behavior and decisions of visitors to the destinations and to improve their competitiveness. The purpose of the chapter will be to explain how brand reputation influences consumers’ behavior.