Do Blue Flag promotions influence tourists’ willingness to pay a price premium for coastal destinations?

Ali Selcuk Can; Yuksel Ekinci; Setenay Dilek-Fidler

doi:10.1016/j.tourman.2023.104767

Do Blue Flag promotions influence tourists’ willingness to pay a price premium for coastal destinations?

Ali Selcuk Can, Yuksel Ekinci, Setenay Dilek-Fidler

University of Westminster

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

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Abstract

The Blue Flag is a popular eco-label in tourism. This study aims at examining the effectiveness of Blue Flag promotion on tourists' willingness to pay a price premium to coastal destinations via two online experiments. Study 1 shows (n = 152) that the Blue Flag stimulates higher willingness to pay a price premium for coastal destinations directly as well as indirectly through self-congruity and destination brand identification. Study 2 (n = 160) used a new sample to enhance external validity and generalizability of the Study 1 findings. Study 2 shows that destination brand quality and destination brand identification serially mediate the effect of Blue Flag promotions on the tourist's willingness to pay a price premium. The findings suggest that destination managers should deploy the Blue Flag Logo in destination promotions to enhance self-congruence, destination brand identification, perceived destination quality, and the tourist's willingness to pay a price premium.

Original language	English
Article number	104767
Number of pages	12
Journal	Tourism Management
Volume	98
Early online date	21 Apr 2023
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2023.104767
Publication status	Published - 1 Oct 2023

Keywords

Blue Flag
self-congruity
destination brand identification
sustainability
willingness to pay a price premium

Access to Document

10.1016/j.tourman.2023.104767

1-s2.0-S0261517723000493-mainFinal published version, 2.52 MBLicence: CC BY

Dataset for 'Do Blue Flag promotions influence tourists’ willingness to pay a price premium for coastal destinations?'.
Can, S. (Creator), University of Portsmouth, 25 Apr 2023
DOI: 10.17029/83666fa8-271f-4bb2-95dd-c1484a01c4f7
Dataset

File

Best International Collaboration
Can, S. (Recipient), 20 Jun 2024
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)

Study: Tourists willing to pay a premium for Blue Flag destinations
Can, S., Ekinci, Y. & Dilek Fidler, S.
10/05/23
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Research cited

Cite this

@article{d28cc5fb518048b7ac613944483e3439,

title = "Do Blue Flag promotions influence tourists{\textquoteright} willingness to pay a price premium for coastal destinations?",

abstract = "The Blue Flag is a popular eco-label in tourism. This study aims at examining the effectiveness of Blue Flag promotion on tourists' willingness to pay a price premium to coastal destinations via two online experiments. Study 1 shows (n = 152) that the Blue Flag stimulates higher willingness to pay a price premium for coastal destinations directly as well as indirectly through self-congruity and destination brand identification. Study 2 (n = 160) used a new sample to enhance external validity and generalizability of the Study 1 findings. Study 2 shows that destination brand quality and destination brand identification serially mediate the effect of Blue Flag promotions on the tourist's willingness to pay a price premium. The findings suggest that destination managers should deploy the Blue Flag Logo in destination promotions to enhance self-congruence, destination brand identification, perceived destination quality, and the tourist's willingness to pay a price premium.",

keywords = "Blue Flag, self-congruity, destination brand identification, sustainability, willingness to pay a price premium",

author = "Can, {Ali Selcuk} and Yuksel Ekinci and Setenay Dilek-Fidler",

year = "2023",

month = oct,

day = "1",

doi = "10.1016/j.tourman.2023.104767",

language = "English",

volume = "98",

journal = "Tourism Management",