Measurement of consumer based brand equity perceptions for destinations: Case of Eskişehir

The purpose of this research is to find out whether the brand equity perceptions of domestic visitors arriving at Eskişehir indicate significant differences according to visitors' demographical and behavioural characteristics. In the scope of this research questionnaires were conducted to 397 domestic visitors who have arrived at Eskişehir in September, 2014. Measurement of consumer based brand equity for Eskişehir was performed with the help of brand awareness, perceived quality, brand image and brand loyalty, based on the dimensions of brand equity suggested by Aaker (1991) and Keller (1993). Factors that became evident as the result of exploratory factor analysis were named as "awareness", "loyalty", "perceived quality", "image of attractions", "event and support services", "basic competencies" and "unique attractions image" by utilizing the previous literature and further analysis were performed on these factors. Findings demonstrated that the perceptions of visitors relating to factors comprising the brand equity do not show significant differences according to visitors' gender, frequency of visit to Eskişehir, age and income level. However, it was determined that perceptions of visitors relating to factors comprising the brand equity differed significantly according to visitors' education level. Due to the findings of the study, suggestions for usable marketing strategies for Eskişehir are presented.