Can Customer Based Brand Equity Help Destinations to Stay in Race? An Empirical Study of Kashmir Valley [Summary]

Purpose – Current study focus on measuring the customer based brand equity of a tourist destination (CBBETD) named Kashmir valley (India). Design – A structured questionnaire was prepared, using Man (2010) consisting of 21 items. Single stage cluster sampling and systematic simple random techniques were used to collect final responses of 290 responses with a response rate of 87%. Findings – Findings of the study revealed a high destination based brand equity for select destination. Analysis also revealed lowest mean for perceived service quality dimension for Kashmir which needs to be relooked into by policy makers. Age and length of stay were found to have associated with each other. Also, length of stay was found to have an impact on CBBETD. Originality – Originality and core beneficence of the current study lies in the fact that brand equity measurement of Kashmir valley (mini Switzerland of the world) as a destination brand has been taken for the first time with an empirical evidence supporting the findings. It is evident from the study that Kashmir as a destination is very popular among travelers and destination image dimension for Kashmir has a strong and affirmative influence on the overall development of the destination equity.