Tourists’ Perspective Of The Brand Image Of Mauritius

Brand image is a prominent marketing tool for many destination marketers. A strong brand image is equivalent to a rise in first-time customer purchase, positive word-of-mouth (WOM) and customer loyalty. Mauritius is a popular holiday destination for Europeans, however, there is a lack of research on the perceptions of its brand image among tourists visiting the island. The current study aims to fill this gap by investigating the brand image of Mauritius among European tourists. A conceptual framework that enables to establish the link between destination positioning, brand image, tourists’ expectations and perceptions, customer value, word-of-mouth and destination loyalty is proposed. Descriptive statistics and one-way ANOVA are used to analyze the results. The results reveal that the brand image of Mauritius is associated mostly with the Sun, Sea and Sand (3S), a peaceful and relaxing environment, and the hospitality of Mauritians. In order to consolidate the brand image of Mauritius, the weak brand image attributes have to be redressed. Results also reveal positive relationships among perceptions, customer value, loyalty and WOM. The ANOVA analysis reveals that gender and repeat visit have various degrees of influence on brand image, while age show no indication of significant impact.