Brand experience applied to tourism: an exploratory analysis in the Peneda-Geres National Park (Portugal)

There are many marketing concepts related to brands that aim to study consumer behaviour and how to make it create loyalty. These same concepts are being used in the tourism area: destination image, destination personality, destination identity, brand experience, among others. The aim of this exploratory study seeks to study one of these concepts in its subdimensions, the destination brand experience, still little analysed in the context of tourism destinations. The method of study applied was the quantitative methodology having the data collection been done through the use of a questionnaire survey to tourists in a given territory. This territory under analysis was the Peneda-Geres, the only Portuguese national park and which has registered a high growth of visitors. A total of 507 valid questionnaires were collected and subsequently coded. It was possible to observe that sensory experiences stood out clearly, followed by affective experiences. It should also be noted that intellectual experiences were not very evident, probably due to the type of tourist destination.