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.