Repositioning the tourism brand for Bangladesh

Abstract

Tourism is one of the largest and fastest growing economic sectors worldwide. Developing economies especially of South and Southeast Asia have emerged as major players in international tourism, whereas foreign tourist arrivals to Bangladesh are very few. Brand image of the country plays critical role in attracting foreign tourists. This research identified a new positioning for Bangladesh to build a strong, attractive and unique tourism brand. It surveyed the foreign tourists visiting Bangladesh in the first quarter of 2018 to capture cognitive, affective and unique image of Bangladesh. The study used t-test, ANOVA, Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), and Multi-group Analysis as tools of data analysis.

A total of 46 cognitive image variables were evaluated by the study. The top ten cognitive image items of Bangladesh were friendliness and hospitability of the people, caring attitude of the people, royal Bengal tiger, responsiveness to needs of guests, lifestyle and culture, folk cultural assets, festivals and fairs, Muslim religious sites, tribal lifestyle and rivers in descending order of mean image. The most negative cognitive image items were cleanliness of environment, nightlife facility, ease of getting around, taxi service, bar facility, language barrier, hygiene in food and drinks, tourist information centres and outdoor activities in ascending order of mean size. A total of 4 affective image variables were evaluated, all of which had positive but weak image.

The latent constructs (factors) of feelings, natural attractions, entertainment attractions, cultural attractions, infrastructures, tourism services and hospitality were tested for causal relationship with overall tourist image of Bangladesh. Among them „feelings‟ significantly affects the „overall image‟ of Bangladesh. On the other hand „overall image‟ significantly affect „tourists‟ intent to recommend Bangladesh to others to visit‟ and „tourists‟ intent to revisit Bangladesh‟. Multi-group analysis reveals that „feelings‟ influences overall image among all tourists: males and females, of all regions of the world, and of all age groups, young and old. Other factors (constructs) are found to be insignificant for different groups of tourists. The overall analysis supports use of „feelings‟ as a positioning brand element for the tourism brand of Bangladesh among all groups of people: male and female, young and old, and of the east and west. The study provides empirical evidence, for the first time, that the current tourism slogan of Bangladesh „Beautiful Bangladesh‟ does not contribute to the improvement of its overall image and hence does not influence the tourist behaviour. The findings contribute to knowledge on tourism branding and have got policy implications for Bangladesh.