There has been limited published research examining travellers’ perceptions of international stopover destinations. This manuscript reports the modelling of consumer-based brand equity (CBBE) for Dubai, the first CBBE study to do so in the context of a stopover destination. Dubai has emerged relatively recently as a stopover destination option during long haul travel between UK/Europe and Australia/South Pacific, to rival traditional destinations such as Hong Kong and Singapore. The CBBE model was tested using survey data from samples of consumers in two geographically distant markets; France (n = 365) and Australia (n = 403). The findings suggest destination brand awareness, destination brand image and destination brand value are positively related to attitudinal destination loyalty. However, destination brand quality was not positively associated with loyalty. As a relatively new stopover destination for long haul travellers, Dubai is perceived more positively by previous visitors than those who have never visited the destination.

Introduction

Measurement of the perceptions of destinations has been a popular theme within the tourism literature since the first studies were published in the early 1970s (see for example Anderssen & Colberg, 1973; Gearing, Swart, & Var, 1974) through the 1980s and 1990s (see for example Phelps, 1986; Selby & Morgan, 1996; Uysal, Chen, & Williams, 2000; Yau & Chan, 1990), to the current period (see for example Marine-Roig & Ferrer-Rosell, 2018). This is not surprising given the prominent role destinations play within the tourism system with most tourism activities taking place at destinations (see Leiper, 1979). Given the intangible nature of tourism services provided at destinations, it has long been recognised that consumers’ perceptions can be as influential in travel decision making as a destination’s tangible features (see Chon, 1990; Hunt, 1975; Ritchie & Crouch, 2003). While measuring destination image has been the most popular theme within the destination marketing literature (Pike & Page, 2014), the model of consumer-based brand equity (CBBE) only emerged in the past decade, as a means to assess destination attractiveness. Conceptually, CBBE goes beyond measuring destination image, by exploring the relationship between consumers’ perceptions of a destination and their attitudinal loyalty as the dependent variable. A key practical implication of the CBBE model is the potential to assess the effectiveness of past marketing communications, as well as provide indicators of possible future performance (Aaker, 1996). A small but growing number of destination CBBE studies has been reported since the first was published by Konečnic (2006). For lists of these studies see Pike (2016, p. 326) and Tasci (2018). This study aims to contribute to the destination marketing literature by testing CBBE theory in the context of a stopover destination for long haul international air travellers. No previous study in this travel context has been reported in the first 12 years of destination CBBE research. The findings will add to the debate around which latent variables are positively related to the dependent variable in the destination CBBE model. The destination of interest in this study is Dubai, which emerged relatively recently as a major stopover destination during air travel between UK/Europe and Australia/South Pacific, to rival the traditional destinations of Singapore and Hong Kong. One of seven emirates comprising the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Dubai is located on the eastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, adjacent to Saudi Arabia, Oman and Qatar. This location has enabled Dubai to serve as a major hub for airline Emirates to operate direct services to most major European airports as well as direct flights to cities in Australia and New Zealand, and therefore as a stopover destination option during travel between UK/Europe and Australia/South Pacific.