Brand Co-Creation Tourism Research: Contemporary Issues and Challenges

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Brand Co-Creation Tourism Research: Contemporary Issues and Challenges. Raouf Ahmad Rather (Ed.)

CHAPTER 4

Branding and Co-Creation in Emerging

Tourist Destinations: A Content Hotel

Website Analysis

ERISHER WOYO1, MOHSIN ABDUR REHMAN2, and

RAOUF AHMAD RATHER3

1Tourism Research in Economic Environs & Society (TREES), Faculty

of Economic and Management Sciences, North-West University,

Potchefstroom, South Africa

2Department of Marketing, Management and International Business,

Oulu Business School, University of Oulu, Finland

3Scientific Independent Researcher, Jammu and Kashmir, India

ABSTRACT

In the digital era, branding and co-creation of tourism experiences are

catching new heights. The brand value continuum is considered an essen-

tial source of value co-creation. Most recently, the quality of websites in the

tourism and hospitality industry has been examined, focusing more on the

booking intentions. However, a qualitative exploration of branding efforts

and orientations of co-creation using websites is still required, especially

in emerging economies. Thus, this chapter examines the branding of two

tourism destinations, including Zimbabwe and Dubai. This chapter also

compares the two destinations’ co-creation processes using symbolic and

narrative representations of hotel websites within the destinations. This

chapter undertakes a content analysis of the hotels’ websites in Victoria

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Brand Cocreation Tourism Research

Falls, Zimbabwe, and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, to reach mean-

ingful conclusions about branding efforts and orientations. The findings

of this chapter have added to the debate on destination branding and

co-creation. The close comparison shows that four-star hotels in Dubai

offer overall more co-creation value exchange than those in Victoria Falls,

Zimbabwe.

4.1 INTRODUCTION

With advances in information and communication technologies, brand

cocreating and branding of tourist destinations are catching new heights.

The brand value continuum is considered an essential source of brand

value co-creation (Buonincontri et al., 2017; Lund et al., 2020). Most

recently, the quality of hospitality websites has been examined the booking

intentions (Wang and Law, 2020). Kanazawa et al. (2021) argue that desti-

nation websites are critical in influencing destination choice, especially

during this ongoing COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic. Consequently,

the websites of a destination and its supply-side organizations are critical

for destination branding, especially building a positive destination brand

image (Foroudi et al., 2018). These aspects are considered crucial for influ-

encing the tourists’ return visit intentions and word-of-mouth recommen-

dations (Kanazawa et al., 2021; Rather et al., 2020; Mathis et al., 2016).

While it has been acknowledged in research that online communica-

tion is critical for destination branding (Standing et al., 2014; Foroudi

et al., 2018; Kanazawa et al., 2021), limited studies have been done to

investigate the role that hotel websites play in destination branding and

brand co-creation, especially in the empirical contexts of Victoria Falls

and Dubai. This is despite the rise of information ubiquity which makes

communication channels to become more accessible. It is argued that

prospective travelers perceive the available information as the place’s

reality through the websites. Similarly, Giannopoulos et al. (2020) note

that destinations are often embedded with specific brand values that

need to be communicated to demonstrate the credibility of the destina-

tion brand.

In several destination studies, the concept of branding has largely

been investigated using demand perspectives (Chang et al., 2020;

Hultman et al., 2017; Trembath et al., 2011). Those that have explored

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Branding and Co-Creation in Emerging Tourist Destinations

the concept using supply data are relatively fewer (Balakrishnan, 2009).

Brand co-creation is a young discipline (Giannopoulos et al., 2020),

and its application in destination contexts is very recent (Oliveira and

Panyik, 2015). For example, Giannopoulos et al. (2020) applied desti-

nation-branding co-creation in the hospitality context by analyzing data

collected from regional destination management organizations, hotels,

and restaurants. González-Mansilla et al. (2019) investigated customers’

perceptions concerning the hotel’s co-creation strategy and the impacts

it has on their degree of participation during service provision. Addi-

tionally, studies have argued that technology plays a critical role in the

co-creation process (Kennedy, 2017; Lee and Soon, 2017). However,

Merrilees (2016) argues that despite acknowledging the role of tech-

nology in the co-creation process, the discussion of the construct of

brand co-creation is limited. A qualitative exploration of branding efforts

and orientations using hotel websites is still required. The literature on

value co-creation identifies which factors drive customers’ participation

with brands across different consumption contexts. This chapter provides

evidence that confirms, from hotel websites’ point of view, that website

quality is one of these critical factors that enhance user’s co-creation

with a destination.

This chapter aims to bridge the gap by analyzing destination branding

and brand co-creation using websites of hotels found in two tourism desti-

nations: Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe and Dubai in the United Arab Emir-

ates. Furthermore, this chapter compares these two destinations’ branding

co-creation processes using symbolic and narrative representations of

the hotel websites. The following sections detail the literature review,

methods adopted, and results followed by implications, limitations, and

future research areas.

4.2 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND AND LITERATURE REVIEW

4.2.1 DESTINATION BRANDING

Competition for tourism arrivals has been high before the coronavirus

pandemic (Rather, 2021a). Global tourism competition “poses challenges

for destinations, including efforts to access to ideas, finance, talent, and

visitors” (Giannopoulos et al., 2020, p. 148). To compete globally, tourism

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Brand Cocreation Tourism Research

destinations must have an overall positive destination brand image (Parrey

et al., 2019; Rather et al., 2020; Rather and Camilleri, 2019a, b; Woyo,

2018). Brand branding helps destinations and companies within the desti-

nation compete using other features apart from prices (Bailey and Ball,

2006; Rather, 2020: Rather et al., 2021c; Woyo, 2018). Giannopoulos et

al. (2020, p. 148) argue that “the need for differentiation is increasing in

an era of reduced barriers, in terms of investment, information generation

and dissemination, travel accessibility and means of transport.” Like the

wider tourism industry, the hotel service industry is also characterized by

global competition (González-Mansilla et al., 2019: Rather and Shakir,

2018; Rather and Sharma, 2017, 2019).

A literature review shows that destinations will not successfully

compete globally (Michaelidou et al., 2013; Stylidis and Cherifi, 2018;

Giannopoulos et al., 2020; Woyo, 2018). The same view is also appli-

cable to the hotel and/or hospitality industry (e.g., Rather, 2017, 2019;

Rather and Hollebeek, 2019; Rather et al., 2018: Shams et al., 2020b).

Thus, there is a need for distinctive brands that cannot be overempha-

sized (Buil et al., 2013) for co-creation processes. Research focusing

on destination branding is still emerging (Almeyda-Ibáñez and Babu,

2017; Tran et al., 2019; Woyo, 2018), and much of the debate in these

studies have questioned the application of branding principles to a

destination context (Pedeliento and Kavaratzis, 2019; Woyo, 2018).

However, a growing stream of literature has shown that destinations,

like products, can be branded (e.g., Cai, 2002; Kotler and Gertner,

2002).

As branding continues to be applied and researched in destina-

tion contexts, technology is argued to be a critical enabler for destina-

tion branding co-creation (Kaufmann et al., 2016; Revilla Hernández

et al., 2016; Kennedy, 2017; Lee and Soon, 2017). Regardless of the

importance technology plays, Merrilees (2016) argues that the concept

of brand co-creation in destinations is not well explored and requires

further research. Giannopoulos et al. (2020, p. 150) argue that the

emphasis on past literature on destination branding has been on deliv-

ering brand experiences to tourists than “the co-creation of brand expe-

rience with them.” Past definitions of destination branding appear to

emphasize the notion that “destination branding is the creation of an

image that influences consumer’s decision to visit the destination in

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Branding and Co-Creation in Emerging Tourist Destinations

question, as opposed to an alternative destination” (Giannopoulos et al.,

2020, p. 150).

4.2.2 DESTINATION BRANDING AND BRAND CO-CREATION

Co-Creation is a concept that has been under investigation for close to

two decades now (Buhalis and Sinarta, 2019; Iglesias et al., 2017; Mathis

et al., 2016; Rasoolimanesh et al., 2021). It is defined as an approach

where consumers are regarded as active participants in creating products

and services (Prahalad and Ramaswamy, 2004; Rather, 2021a: Rather

et al., 2021a, b). Merz et al. (2009) define brand co-creation as the

co-created value through the engagement in specific activities related

to the brand. These aspects are often triggered by new design features

that make social commerce. In this chapter, brand co-creation is based

guided by Coupland (2005, p. 107), who stated, “the consumer is an

active partner with the marketer in brand-meaning formation.” González-

Mansilla et al. (2019) argue that creating value for customers is perhaps

the core reason for any business, including hotels/restaurants (Vo-Thanh

et al., 2021). Consequently, customers play a critical role “as decision-

makers and product information transmitters to other consumers” (Kim

et al., 2018). This shows a shift from traditional ways of doing things,

where the supplier was dominantly involved in creating value for the

customers (González-Mansilla et al., 2019; Hollebeek and Rather, 2019).

Co-Creation is critical for various brands/companies, including hotels, to

identify their customer’s needs in a manner that increases overall satis-

faction, strengthens brand loyalty, and improves the company’s bottom

line (Buonincontri et al., 2017; Kim et al., 2018; Rather, 2018; Rather et

al., 2019, 2021a; Shams et al., 2020a). As consumers of tourism prod-

ucts, tourists are thus regarded as cocreators in the tourism ecosystem

(Cooper and Hall, 2016).

Companies must apply their initiatives and innovation with

customers rather than customers (Buhalis and Sinarta, 2019; Hollebeek

and Rather, 2019: Taghizadeh et al., 2016). However, studies investi-

gating these aspects from hotels operating in Victoria Falls and Dubai

are limited and required. Co-Creation is primarily borrowed from the

traditional marketing sciences, and its application in the tourism context

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is generally recent. Though value co-creation has been attracting a lot

of research interest in recent years (González-Mansilla et al., 2019),

research investigating co-creation of destination brands is limited

(Aitken and Campelo, 2011; Oliveira and Panyik, 2015; Rather, 2021b;

Rather and Hollebeek, 2020, 2021; Suntikul and Jachna, 2016), leaving

much to be explored especially when it comes to its strategic utility

for destination branding (Kim et al., 2018). This is specifically so in

the empirical context of a destination like Zimbabwe, which has expe-

rienced political and economic challenges for more than two decades

(Woyo and Slabbert, 2020, 2021).

Through Web 2.0, the interaction between firms and customers

was enhanced, and Web 2.0 has been instrumental in understanding

and improving value co-creation with customers (Bahri-Ammari et

al., 2021). Therefore, understanding how hotels in Victoria Falls and

Dubai have been using their websites to cocreate positive experiences

is critical, especially with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. González-

Mansilla et al. (2019, p. 52) note that “despite the widespread recog-

nition of the importance of value co-creation with customers, as well

as recent contributions, there is still a relative lack of research on this

topic in general management literature.” Studies that compare the

co-creation of destination brands are also limited, and this current study

seeks to fill in this gap by looking at a destination in crisis (Zimbabwe)

and a popular destination among the gulf countries, which is dubbed in

the literature as a star in the Middle East (Dubai) (Balakrishnan, 2009).

Furthermore, a literature review suggests that destination branding has

been investigated using demand and supply perspectives (Rather et

al., 2020). Of these perspectives, much focus has been done using the

demand side (Chang et al., 2020; Hultman et al., 2017; Woyo, 2018)

compared to the supply-side views (Cai, 2002; Balakrishnan, 2009;

Woyo, 2018).

4.3 RESEARCH METHODS

This current chapter examines the hotel branding of two tourism desti-

nations, including Zimbabwe and Dubai. Zimbabwe is a destination

that is currently faced with ongoing political and economic challenges

(Woyo and Slabbert, 2020), while Dubai is a popular emerging desti-

nation among the Gulf countries. Furthermore, this compares the two

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Branding and Co-Creation in Emerging Tourist Destinations

destinations’ brand co-creation processes using symbolic and narra-

tive representations of the websites of four-star hotels. A content anal-

ysis was employed in analyzing the narrative representations of hotel

websites in the resort town of Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, and Dubai,

UAE, to reach meaningful conclusions about branding efforts and

orientations.

We selected four-star hotels based on Forbes Travel Guide ranking

from both destinations Victoria Falls and Dubai. Forbes Travel Guide

was adopted to provide an independent global luxury hotel rating

(Minazzi, 2010). According to the latest Forbes Travel Guide (2021),

four hotels were chosen Kingdom Hotel, Elephant Hills Hotel, Safari

Lodge, and A’ Zambezi River Lodge Hotel in Zimbabwe’s resort town

of Victoria Falls. Alternatively, four hotels within the four-star category

were also chosen from Dubai, and these included Anantara the Palm

Dubai Resort, Armani Hotel Dubai, Emerald Palace Kempinski Dubai,

and Fairmont the Palm. Numerous previous research studies followed

a similar research approach (Govers and Go, 2004; Nyahunzvi, 2013;

Salem and Čavlek, 2016). In the race of enhancing tourism customer

experiences, researchers tried to understand the narratives and symbolic

aspects of the websites and how they enhanced the co-creation of tourist

experiences within the destination (Mak, 2017). Keeping the study’s

main objective in mind, the authors assessed the hotels’ websites in

Dubai and Victoria Falls as attractive destinations, using content anal-

ysis. This information is summarized in Table 4.1, detailing the basic

information about the four-star hotels that formed the sample for this

chapter, including the pop-up, website view, positioning, and COVID-19

information.

Content analysis of their websites was carried out to identify rele-

vant categories (Downe and Wamboldt, 1992). One expert coder from

the authors’ team completed the content analysis from all those selected

websites of four-star hotels for both destinations. The coding process

was executed by comparing the content at websites and the study themes

such as branding and co-creation in the tourist destinations. Another

author from the research team then verified the codes that were created.

Detailing the content and coding processes, authors have adopted a set

of criteria to establish a sense of “branding” and “co-creation” efforts by

hotels in the selected tourism destinations.

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4.4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS

4.4.1 HOTEL WEBSITES AND COVID-19 INFORMATION

The results presented in Table 4.1 show the first four hotels selected

from Dubai and the last four from Victoria Falls tourism destinations.

The information related to sensitivity toward the global pandemic

(COVID-19) was given by three out of four hotels sampled in Dubai.

This finding implies a more strategic role of hotels in Dubai in ensuring

and guaranteeing travelers that their safety is prioritized during the

COVID-19 pandemic. Communicating COVID-19 messages on the

websites is part of personalization of the service offered to customers

and could help reduce uncertainty among travelers during COVID-

19, thus enhancing value co-creation and brand equity of the hotels

concerned. These aspects of communication through websites have

been critical in facilitating that organizations can meet the customers’

needs (Nguyen, Nguyen, and Pervan, 2020).

However, the analysis of the results shows that there was no infor-

mation about COVID-19 protocols or safety measures at the hotels’

websites in the resort town of Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. This raises

critical concerns, especially around the safety of tourists and the priori-

ties of managers of hotels during the ongoing pandemic, and can worsen

the destination’s image, which is already identified as negative in past

studies (Parrey et al., 2019; Woyo, 2018; Woyo and Slabbert, 2020).

These differences in the information provided by hotel websites, though

in different destinations, give different signals on the sensitivity about

safety protocols around these destinations. Jiménez-Barreto et al. (2021)

argue that communication, especially during COVID-19, is important

in achieving the new normal and showing tourists how they are dealing

with the pandemic. The findings of this chapter show that based on

analyzed websites, marketing managers of hotels in Dubai seem to be

effectively communicating in the current pandemic environment, while

those in Victoria Falls are not, and this could have negative repercus-

sions, especially in assuring travelers that hotels in Victoria Falls are

effectively dealing with the pandemic.

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TABLE 4.1 Basic Information.

Hotel name

Pop-up

Website view

COVID-19

information

Anantara the Palm Dubai Resort Available about promotions Dynamic, 360° Available

Armani Hotel Dubai

Available about promotions Dynamic

Available

Emerald Palace Kempinski Dubai Available about closure

Static, yet drone Not available

Fairmont the Palm Dubai

Not available

Static

Available

Kingdom Hotel

Not available

Static, yet flipped Not available

Elephant Hills Hotel

Not available

Static, yet drone Not available

Victoria Falls Safari Lodge

Not available

Static, yet flipped Not available

A’ Zambezi River Lodge Hotel

Not available

Static, yet drone Not available

Note: All hotels are four stars.

Source: Prepared by the authors.

4.4.2 HOTEL WEBSITES DYNAMISM

Dubai is an international tourist destination, perhaps one of the busiest

airports globally. This could explain why the hotels are careful about

having the global tourism safety measures concerning COVID-19 being

broadcasted on their websites. Further analysis of the results shows that

the website view of Dubai hotels was quite attractive compared to those

in Victoria Falls. Notably, of the four hotels in Dubai that formed part of

the study’s sample, two have a dynamic view that enhances the overall

tourism experience and improves the brand image and equity of the hotels.

This implies that hotels in Dubai believe that their websites are an impor-

tant aspect that helps in cocreating positive hotel brand experiences, and

thus, an investment making these websites quite attractive and easy to

navigate. Furthermore, investing in attractive hotel websites is important

for building hotel brands to convey information, like COVID-19 updates

and the hotel’s brand, which is generally important for the customer

co-creation process.

Past studies have argued that providing a seamless and attractive

website experience is important for hotel business (Li et al., 2017; Wang et

al., 2015). However, based on the content analysis of their websites, hotels

in Victoria Falls appear to be not seamless and attractive. Furthermore,

the hotels’ websites analyzed in this chapter show that four-star hotels in

Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, have static websites and drone view, which can

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negatively affect their hotels’ competitiveness in the long term. This indi-

cates the deep-seated economic challenges that the destination is facing

could affect hotels’ information and communication technology infrastruc-

ture. Further analysis of the results showed that only two hotels in Victoria

Falls were having flipped views of different sites of tourism experience.

The trend of advancement in reflecting and engaging website visitors of

hotels get a more dynamic view of tourism experience, creating more

versatility for customers to perceive and interact through a co-creation

mindset. Therefore, hotels in Dubai as tourist destination offer a more

dynamic view of their websites to engage customers, which is crucial in

destination branding and the co-creation of experiences.

Alternatively, hotels in Zimbabwe show static yet flipped view with a

memorial view of tourism experiences. The study’s findings confirm the

views mentioned in earlier studies for the need for hotels to ensure they

can implement crisis management and protocols during and after a crisis

(Garrido-Moreno et al., 2021).

4.4.3 HOTEL WEBSITES AND POP-UP

Li et al. (2015) argue that websites are important in hotels as they create a

direct interface with the customers. Based on this, the data analysis shows

that four-star hotels in Dubai could create an interface with customers

compared to hotels in Victoria Falls. Generally, a pop-up screen appears to

announce or convey a specific message to all the website traffic. Table 4.1

shows only three hotels in Dubai presenting a pop-up screen for website

visitors to know more about the offers (daily, weekly, monthly, occasion-

ally, or event specific). This finding supports past studies that argue that

ICT plays an integral role in communicating the hotel experience (Benck-

endorff et al., 2019; Chen et al., 2016). These pop-ups and the information

they provide, especially now during a pandemic, are critical in shaping the

hotel’s brand perceptions and even purchasing considerations. Stankov et

al. (2019) argue that hotels must have ICT solutions that enable them to

interact with guests, including app working in the background and noti-

fying end users when needed.

However, the data analyzed in this chapter show that there has not been

any pop-up screen for the hotels in Victoria Falls to announce or commu-

nicate any alert or discounted offerings for the tourism experiences. In

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Branding and Co-Creation in Emerging Tourist Destinations

this sense, it implies that hotels in Victoria Falls are not perhaps inter-

acting with guests, limiting value co-creation and negatively conno-

tating the brand image of the tourist destination. Since the emergence of

the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been so much discussion about the

increased uptake of ICT as a means of decreasing personal contact. Earlier

studies argued that their ICT usage could accelerate due to COVID-19

(Jiang and Wen, 2020; Woyo and Nyamandi, 2021); our findings in terms

of website pop-ups in Victoria Falls are contrary, and this could further

create a lot of insecurities among guests.

4.4.4 HOTEL BRAND POSITIONING

Stankov et al. (2019) note a symbiotic relationship between hotel branding

and intentional effort to implement ICT efforts. Table 4.2 outlines help

explicitly to understand the branding efforts of selected hotels in both

tourism destinations. A deeper look into the conceptual background of

brand positioning around customization, connectivity, full-of-style tourism

experiences, and best value-for-money realization were categorized as the

branding efforts among four-star hotels in Dubai. As was echoed in earlier

studies, it appears that four-star hotels in Dubai are embracing the use of

websites as an approach through which they brand themselves in line with

technological trends (Stankov et al., 2019).

TABLE 4.2 Brand Positioning.

Hotel name

Brand positioning

Anantara the Palm Dubai Resort

Best Rate Guarantee

Armani Hotel Dubai

Tailored Hospitality, stay with Armani

Emerald Palace Kempinski Dubai

Travel the world in style

Fairmont the Palm Dubai

Soulful Hospitality

Kingdom Hotel

Diversified Hospitality

Elephant Hills Hotel

Relax and play in Victoria Falls

Victoria Falls Safari Lodge

Capturing the very essence of Africa

A’ Zambezi River Lodge

The only hotel with a river frontage

Note: All hotels are four stars.

Source: Prepared by the authors.

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The analysis of hotels in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, shows that most

of the branding of these hotels is themed along with the aspects of nature

and featuring leisure time and tends to promote diversified tourism experi-

ences based on natural attractions. Furthermore, for most of the hotels in

Victoria Falls, the Zambezi River stood out as the most important posi-

tioning element of the destination. This is so because the Victoria Falls

deemed the largest waterfall in Africa and the seventh wonder of the world

(Woyo and Slabbert, 2019), along the Zambezi River. Consequently, the

branding of the hotels is based on nature, and this approach helps in offering

co-creation opportunities in the tourism experience right at the start of the

journey, among all the four-star hotels selected, through a virtual agent to

address website visitor concerns (Fig. 4.1).

FIGURE 4.1 Snapshot from the website of A’Zambezi River Hotel.

Source: http://www.azambezi-hotel.com/

4.4.5 CO-CREATION VALUE PROPOSITION

Table 4.3 explains the co-creation value proposition categories heavily

designed through websites of selected hotels from both tourist destina-

tions. Offers with elements of value exchange have been significantly

dominated in Dubai’s four-star hotels. However, creating and offering

tourism experience in hotels in Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe was neces-

sary through the value co-creation processes. The count at a higher level,

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Branding and Co-Creation in Emerging Tourist Destinations

Dubai as a tourist destination, offers more features than Victoria Falls,

Zimbabwe. However, activities surrounded by nature are offered and

presented here in the Zimbabwean four-star hotels. Also, the set of activi-

ties are penetrating more in the overall co-creation value proposition. The

data analysis shows that the design aspects of the hotel websites can make

an important contribution to the co-creation value proposition. An invest-

ment in the aesthetics and symbolism of the hotel websites was critical in

influencing booking intentions (Baek and Ok, 2017).

TABLE 4.3 Co-Creation Value Proposition.

Co-Creation value

Dubai

Zimbabwe

Offers

40%

17%

Facilities

18%

35%

Accommodation

17%

12%

Activities

12%

30%

Events

13%

Total

109

100%

Figure 4.2 represents the Anantara The Palm Dubai Resort’s dynamic

view by timing the day and viewing the theme of “skyscapes inspire” at

11:00 AM.

FIGURE 4.2 Snapshot from the website of Anantara The Palm Dubai Resort.

Source: https://www.anantara.com/en/palm-dubai

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4.5 CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS

This chapter explores destination branding and brand co-creation, which

is found in two tourism destinations, namely, Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe

and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. This chapter also compares these

two destinations branding co-creation processes using symbolic and narra-

tive representations of the hotel websites. This chapter’s findings revealed

that the comparison shows that four-star hotels in Dubai offer overall

more co-creation value exchange than hotels in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe.

Another key finding of the study was that the websites of hotels in Dubai

were more attractive and dynamic than those in Victoria Falls. Dubai, being

a busy getaway to the world, could be a critical driver of using websites to

present and position the brand using attractive and dynamic websites. On

the other hand, the numerous economic challenges obtaining in Zimbabwe

could be affecting the investment budget for creating attractive websites.

This chapter has contributed to the tourism destination branding and

co-creation efforts through website content analysis from Zimbabwe (a

destination facing political and economic challenges but natural adventures)

and Dubai (a popular destination among Gulf countries). It has compared

the two destinations’ co-creation processes; four-star hotels in Dubai offer

more branding and co-creation value proposition than Zimbabwe. Interest-

ingly, the orientation of sensitivity toward the safety of tourists has been

displayed in four-star hotels in Dubai. More importantly, brand position

activities “things to do” while at Victoria Falls as a tourist destination

in the four-star hotels offer more natural activities, waterfalls, and river

views. Alternatively, four-star hotels in Dubai offer more connectivity,

full of style tourism experiences, and the best value for money realization.

Hotels have critical stakeholders, and customers are expecting more safety

in the tourism and hospitality service context. The findings show that the

COVID-19 safety measures have been heavily cautioned on the hotels in

Dubai. The standout point attribute of co-creation from four-star hotels in

Dubai was “offers,” while Zimbabwean hotels were the “facilities.” There-

fore, hospitality or hotel managers and marketers should engage customers

and strategically integrate the website content for co-creation efforts and

destination branding (Buonincontri et al., 2017; González-Mansilla et

al., 2019; Merz et al., 2009). The research on value co-creation identifies

which factors drive customers’ participation with brands across different

consumption contexts (Giannopoulos et al., 2020; Mathis et al., 2016;

Rather et al., 2021a, b). This chapter provides evidence that confirms, from

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Branding and Co-Creation in Emerging Tourist Destinations

hotel websites’ point of view, that website quality is one of these critical

factors that enhance user’s co-creation with a destination.

The findings of this chapter may serve hotel marketing managers with

insights in terms of how to develop effective brand management strate-

gies that enhance customer co-creation. Following our findings, marketing

managers may better engage customers and increase their brand image.

Given the ongoing pandemic, hotel marketing managers must constantly

postnews about COVID-19 in their destinations, how hotels are being

cleaned, newly launched products, and discounts (Rather, 2021a, b). Addi-

tionally, there is a need for further investment in hotel websites to enhance

destination branding co-creation. This could be achieved by allowing

customers to share their experiences and information to be shared on the

hotel’s websites. Through this, hotel marketing managers will be able to

manage relationships with their customers, which is critical in improving

destination brand image.

4.6 LIMITATIONS AND FUTURE RESEARCH

This chapter is not without limitations. First, we employed exploratory

qualitative research. Future studies may need to improve data collection

and conduct large quantitative studies of tourism-brand co-creation and

destination branding to increase the generalizability of the findings (Rather

et al., 2020, 2021c). Second, we only explored four-star hotels’ websites to

understand brand co-creation in destinations. Bigger and varied samples

that collect sufficient data from other star-rated hotels in various destina-

tions in Zimbabwe and the UAE may offer insights into how websites are

affecting brand co-creation and destination branding.

KEYWORDS

• branding

• co-creation

• tourism destinations

• hotel websites

• emerging economies

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