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Falling in Love Again: Brand Love and Promotion of Tourist Destinations during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Pandemics and Travel

ISBN: 978-1-80071-071-9, eISBN: 978-1-80071-070-2

Publication date: 3 September 2021

Abstract

Brand love is a notion where feelings are developed towards a specific brand. This notion is more than just a preference, it is an emotional attachment with the consumed product and the brand that represents it. In tourism, destination marketing will increase the relationship between tourists and places using certain kind of messages and images whose goal is to stimulate their senses and feelings. In crisis management situations, it acts as a mediator, by assessing tourists' risk and safety perceptions, and helps mitigate lasting negative effects.

However, can destination brand love be promoted during these pandemic times? To get an in-deep understanding of the connections that exist between love and safety in tourism, this study explores two concepts through an extended literature review and a qualitative methodological approach using content analysis procedures that will focus on international marketing strategies during the ongoing pandemic crisis.

The qualitative approach was conducted through a survey composed of a set of open-ended questions (N = 31) where respondents were asked to identify their feelings after viewing the promotional tourism campaigns released after the significant increase in cases of COVID-19 worldwide.

The main results demonstrate the existence of brand love antecedents – brand trust and a sense of community, and an overall positive reaction to the images and messages promoted. Also, the existence of brand love antecedents demonstrates the brands' capacity to adapt to crisis events and its ability to outline the kind of paths that have to be defined for tourists to remain passionate about destinations.

Keywords

Citation

Pereira, A., Frias, C. and Jerónimo, A.P. (2021), "Falling in Love Again: Brand Love and Promotion of Tourist Destinations during the COVID-19 Pandemic", Seabra, C., Paiva, O., Silva, C. and Abrantes, J.L. (Ed.) Pandemics and Travel (Tourism Security-Safety and Post Conflict Destinations), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 227-241. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-80071-070-220211014

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

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