Towards a taxonomy of a golf-destination brand personality: Insights from the Algarve golf industry

This research explores how the golf industry in the Algarve positions golf destinations in terms of personality traits. It reveals the results of interviews conducted with tourism and golf-industry stakeholders in the Algarve. The objective of the study was to generate potential golf-destination-brand personality traits. Golf industry stakeholders tested the traits on the 'Big-five' model, on the Brand Personality Scale as well as the descriptors of destination image found in the literature, in order to identify the most appropriate ones to describe a golf destination. Free-elicitation interviews generated a total of 482 different potential golf destination brand personality traits, while 15 checklist interviews generated 92 items. From those, a set of 47 items was sent to a panel of eight expert judges for validation. The experts validated 30 potential golf-destination-brand personality traits while 17 items were eliminated. The findings also identified attributes that stakeholders consider to be essential for a golf destination, as well as specific characteristics of the Algarve that should be associated with the brand in order to guarantee differentiation. The paper concludes by stating how the scale can be useful for marketing and positioning purposes.