Edison Effer Apaza Tarqui

The new modality caused by COVID-19 has significantly affected tourism, from the decrease in demand and the deterioration of facilities due to lack of budget to the point of becoming unattractive. In response to this, the objective of this research work is to design and validate a scale to measure Brand Personality in Tourist Destinations (BPTD). The results were structured in three phases. In the first phase, an exhaustive search of the bibliography and first version of the instrument were generated. Moreover, a panel of 12 professionals between academics and managers was held, who evaluated the features and content validation by a panel of 7 experts. In the second phase, data collection was carried out with the participation of 998 tourists. In the third phase, exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis was carried out, obtaining a KMO of 0.979 and a p-value of 0.000. The total explained variance of the 21 items grouped in three dimensions represents 87.27%. In the confirmatory analysis, χ2 = 921.57, p = 0.000, RMR = 0.069, GFI = 0.917, AGFI = 0.829, CFI = 0.980, TLI = 0.976, NFI = 0.975, IFI = 0.980 and RMSA = 0.065, with an appropriate internal consistency (performance: α = 0.984; social innovation α = 0.982; honesty α = 0.964). Composite reliability was CR > 0.70 and convergent validity was AVE > 0.5. In conclusion, the values imply an acceptable adjustment, for which the model is adequate, and the scale is valid to be applied in tourism.

Undeniably, the new normality caused by COVID-19 presents an enormous challenge for tourist destinations to become more attractive to visitors. Thus, the purpose of this study is to analyze the impact of destination personality and image on tourist behavior in Peru. This quantitative and cross-sectional analysis targeted 998 national tourists via a non-probabilistic convenience sampling. The study employed AMOS 24 statistical software for exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. The results showed positive effects of social innovativeness (β = 0.374), performance (β = 0.404), and honesty (β = 0.191) on an affective image. Likewise, the study confirms the favorable effects of social innovativeness (β = 0.524), performance (β = 0.156), and honesty (β = 0.280) on a cognitive image. Furthermore, the effects of a cognitive image on the intention to revisit (β = –0.756) and intention to recommend (β = –0.756) are also measured. In addition, the findings support the positive effects of an affective image in intention to revisit (β = 1.549) and intention to recommend (β = 1.547); all results obtained a significance less than 0.05 (p < 0.001). This study concludes that brand personality is a valuable concept that can suggest strategies to improve the brand image, so the personality of tourist destinations should be congruent with the personality of tourists.