Marketing destinations through image repair and tourist identity : an evaluation study of destination management organizations (DMOs)‎ in Egypt

Abstract EN

The increasing competition between destinations has led (DMOs) to innovate new marketing techniques so as to attract tourists and get their satisfaction and loyalty.

Image plays a crucial role in tourist travel intention to a destination as it affects destination choices.

The concepts of destination image repair and tourist identity are closely interrelated.

Moreover, they affect destination marketing in the global competition.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the retrospective efforts of (DMOs) in marketing the Egyptian destination through repairing destination's image and confirming its tourist identity.

A quantitative analysis is employed based on 250 questionnaires distributed among employees working for (DMOs) in the Egyptian destination.

 The study emphasized that marketing the Egyptian destination depends on the commonality role between destination image repair and its tourism identity confirmation.

On the other hand, there is a deficiency in marketing efforts exploited by (DMOs) in Egypt, which in turn, leads to the lateness of tourism recovery in Egypt.

Tourism marketers in the Egyptian destination should realize the importance of embedding the connotation of destination image repair and tourist identity confirmation in marketing destinations and affecting tourist's travel behavior.

This paper suggests executable recommendations proposed for (DMOs') decision makers in Egypt to market the Egyptian destination through destination image repair and confirming the Egyptian destination identity.