STUDYING THE RELATION „BRAND – LEADERSHIP” ON THE INTERNATIONAL MARKET OF SEASIDE TOURIST DESTINATIONS
The leadership of a certain tourist destination on the international market is intrinsically related in customers’ minds to the identity and popularity of the destination, which have been formed as a result of a focused strategically intended behaviour on the target market audiences, both by the businesses providing tourist services (tour operators, tour agents, hotels, restaurants, aqua parks, museums), and by the government and municipal authorities. Namely, the interrelation between the image of the destination on the market and the customers’ preferences form the relation „brand – leadership” on the international tourism market. The present study is based on a questionnaire survey conducted in three countries providing seaside tourist packages (Bulgaria, Turkey and Greece), where respondents were 550 tourists of 5 nationalities. The study has shown that the brand positions the respective destination on the market, creates its reputation and wins customers’ loyalty over time on the basis of the vision, quality and invoked trust epitomized by the destination