Cultural Identity:The Engine Of Tourism Destination Brand Preference

With the deepening of C hina's new round of economic reforms, The driving effects of tourism and cultural diffusion effect, has been further concern over the government. Destination brand building and promotion thus also attract more attention by the destination brand managers. In particular, some 4A level, 3A level non- famous scenic spots, how to get a place with strong competition in the 5A level scenic spots, become a real problem for these non-famous brands to be solved.Therefore, in this study, we will cut from the cultural factors that affect the most basic human desires and behavior. Based on the theories of cultural identity and cultural marketing, we distinguish between the influences of cultural identity, in order to provide more targeted destination branding strategy.This study closely around the theme, we distinguish cultural identity into temporary activation state of cultural identity and steady state cultural identity, and were carried out to explore its influence. When we explore the influence of temporary activation state of cultural identity, we design three experimental studies in order to verify cultural identity's effect and analysis its constraint condition. Study 1 show that cultural identity can enhance out- group destination brand evaluations but cannot influence in-group destination brand evaluations. Study 2 shows that cultural identity can convert the negative evaluations by decreasing psychological distance to out- group brands. Besides we find advertisement can also prime identities. Study 3 shows that the moderating effect of tourists' cultural identity on the effect of destination brand group membership on destination brand evaluation is influenced by destination brand type. When a destination brand is of natural or cultural, cultural identity and destination brand group membership do not influence brand evaluation. In contrast, when destination brand is of both cultural and natural properties, cultural identity enhances out-group destination brand evaluation.When we explore the influence of steady state cultural identity, through the method of structural equation, combining with the related variable of sensation seeking,destination brand knowledge and destination perceived value, find that:steady state cultural identity has a significant impact on tourists perceived value. Sensation seeking doesn't have an significant influence on destination perceived value,however, Sensation seeking has a significant impact on tourists' steady state cultural identity. Destination brand knowledge as a source of information for tourists has a significant impact on tourists' destination perceived value, sensation seeking, and steady state cultural identity.As a result, in the process of promoting the destination brand, not only in the tourist season to carry out a wide range of publicity, and to insist for a long time, let the tourists in the gradually accumulate more knowledge about the destination brand. These findings have important implications for the destination brands managers who want to expand the existing niche market.