Destination brand experience and visitor behavior: Testing a scale in the tourism context

• A new scale and model is tested in tourism: destination brand experience (DBE).
• The scale is tested using three purposively selected destination brands.
• DBE, particularly sensory DBE, is found to significantly determine outcomes.
• Satisfaction is found to mediate relationships between DBE and outcomes.
• Implications for providers in designing tourism experiences are discussed.

Destination branding has developed considerably as a topic area in the last decade with numerous conceptualizations focusing on different aspects of the brand. However, a unified view has not yet emerged. This paper examines destination branding via a new conceptualization, destination brand experience (DBE), which provides a more holistic and unified view of the destination brand. It examines the direct and mediated role of DBE components in determining revisit intentions and word-of-mouth recommendations. The findings suggest that DBE is an important determinant of all study outcomes, but that there is a strong mediating role of satisfaction and distinct variation in significant DBE components, with sensory DBE playing a leading role. The paper concludes with implications for research and practice.