Destination Brand Experience and Authenticity

Miska Irani Tarigan

, Arlina Nurbaity Lubis

, Endang Sulistya Rini

, and Beby Karina F. Sembiring

Student of Doctoral Program in Management Science, Universitas Sumatera Utara, Medan Indonesia

Lecturer of Doctoral Program in Management Science, Universitas Sumatera Utara, Medan, Indonesia

Keywords: Destination Brand Experience, Authenticity, Semiotic, Destination Marketing.

Abstract: Tourism has an essential role in the development of the national economy and especially in North Sumatra.

The Tourism Sector is a leading sector as a support for the economy outside the oil and gas sector. The

government pays special attention to the tourism sector because Indonesian tourism has a competitive

advantage and comparative advantage. The competitive advantage and comparative advantage mean that

tourism is expected to be the largest foreign exchange earner, also expected to be the best in the region.

Experience-based marketing paradigms want to gain through customer satisfaction when consuming by

including the influence of the authenticity of a product to achieve customer loyalty.

1 INTRODUCTION

Brand experience conceptualized as sensations,

feelings, cognitions, and behavioral responses arising

from brand-related stimuli that are part of brand

design and identity, packaging, communication, and

the environment (Brakus, et al. 2009). This view is

following Zaltman (1997) who revealed that;

Consumer preferences and motivation are far less

influenced by the functional attributes of products and

services than the unconscious and emotional elements

that are inherited by the total experience. Loyalty

characterized by a commitment to buy products or

services. This view is following Zaltman (1997) who

revealed that; Consumer preferences and motivation

are far less influenced by the functional attributes of

products and services than the unconscious and

emotional elements that are inherited by the total

experience. Loyalty characterized by a commitment

to buy products or services.

Destinations are considered as a mix of individual

products and knowledge opportunities that combine

to form the total experience of the area visited

(Murphy, Pritchard, and Smith, 2000). Therefore, in

creating experiences in the context of objectives,

natural settings and city views become visual symbols

of expertise, while place names become brands

(Morgan, 2006).

Authenticity is known as purity. authenticity in

tradition or authenticity in aura. Postrel (2003)

proposes several subjective forms of genuineneess,

namely authenticity as formal harmony, balance, or

pleasure. Then explained that is authenticity as a

connection to time and place is essential for

consumers because it contains the value of tradition

(Postrel,2003).

Wang (1999) distinguishes authenticity in

tourism in two ways: one related to tourism

experiences (or authentic experiences) and the other

refers to attractions, also called objective and

constructive (or symbolic) authenticity. Although it

was proposed decoupling from the experience of

tourism and appeal, Wang suggested that the terms

co-exist. In this case, the tourist experience is not

always related to the authenticity of the attraction.

For example, Wang (1999) proposes an analysis

of tourists who walk in the desert or do it themselves.

In this type of tour, tourists are not concerned with

finding authentic attractions but with the authenticity

of the experience of living on a journey. For them,

involvement in unusual activities, free from the

constraints of everyday life, becomes far more

relevant. In this case, the existential experience

involves personal feelings that are marked as being

more authentic to tourists than visiting attractions.

The relationship between brand experience and

authenticity is developed from two perspectives. The

first is a direct relationship that states that elements of

brand experience (Behavior, Affective, Intellectual,

and Sensory) contribute to generating genuine

feelings. According to Derre (2010), activities and

632

Tarigan, M., Lubis, A., Rini, E. and F. Sembiring, B.

Destination Brand Experience and Authenticity.

DOI: 10.5220/0009328906320636

In Proceedings of the 2nd Economics and Business International Conference (EBIC 2019) - Economics and Business in Industrial Revolution 4.0, pages 632-636

ISBN: 978-989-758-498-5

experiences can refer to authentic exposures.

Exposure can produce authenticity, brand experience

can create authentic flavor; by doing it consistently.

Second is the indirect relationship where the

antecedents of brand experience contributes to

authenticity. In this case, destination interaction

favorability as an antecedent of brand experience

adds to the knowledge that will provide an assessment

for its authenticity. The interaction between guides,

tour leaders and fellow tourists and this authenticity

are important for the evaluation of tourist experiences

(Buchmann et al. 2010)

Tourism has an essential role in the development

of the national economy in general and North Sumatra

in particular. The tourism sector is the leading sector

as a support for the economy outside the oil and gas

sector. The government pays special attention to the

tourism sector because Indonesian tourism has

competitive advantages and comparative advantages.

The competitive advantage and comparative

advantage in question is that tourism is expected to be

the largest foreign exchange earner in 2019,

Indonesian tourism is also likely to be the best in the

region, making Indonesia Incorporated. Followed by

making Indonesia a Tourism Hub, the last is the

allocation of resources where tourism is the

Government's priority, especially in terms of the

budget.

The decline in the foreign exchange target was

carried out by the Government through the Ministry

of Tourism because it saw that up to the first quarter

of 2019 it had not shown significant progress towards

the target. The number of Nusantara tourist trips in

Indonesia during 2017 reached 270.82 million visits,

an increase of 2.45 percent compared to 2016, which

reached 264.34 million visits.

Based on the above explanation, researchers are

interested in studying that semiotic perspective may

explain these phenomena.

2 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Destination Brand Experience

Investigated brand experience in the context of

destination is unique because unlike product or

service where the offerings consist of majority of

goods or services, tourism destinations may be

regarded as an amalgam of individual product and

experience opportunities that combine to form a total

experience of the area visited (Murphy, Pritchard, and

Smith, 2000). Another distinct feature of experience

in destination is that the experience needs to be

delivered in every phase of the transaction. This is

due to the nature of tourism products, which required

in front purchase and delay consumption.

Destinations are considered as a mix of individual

products and experience opportunities that combine

to form the total experience of the area visited

(Murphy, Pritchard, and Smith, 2000). Therefore, in

creating experiences in the context of destinations,

natural settings and city views become visual symbols

of experience, while place names become brands

(Morgan, 2006).

Thus, marketing activities in destination branding

aimed at offering tourism destination centers. The

goal of branding is defined as a series of marketing

activities consisting of the creation of a graphical

identity, communication of impressive travel

experiences and associations, strengthening the

emotional connection between visitors and goals and

finally, it serves to reduce the cost of finding

consumers and perceived risk.

2.2 Authenticity

Recent studies showed that marketing practices that

concentrate solely on consumer satisfaction are not

sufficient to enhance the holistic consumer experience

(Tsai, 2005), McCole (2004) stated that the heard of

the experiential marketing paradigm lies in extending

the concern of marketers beyond the realm of

consumer satisfaction into that of attaching the

consumer experientially to the product/service. Thus,

research considered to add other value indicators that

encompass social value and hedonic value to

complement satisfaction. Authenticity concept as it is

found to indicate the consequences of experience and

leads to loyalty (Kolar and Zabkar, 2010; Lewis, 2010;

Shuling and Ma, 2009)

According to Beverland (2005), researchers in

psychology and marketing have studied authenticity,

but this concept is lacking for a general definition.

This may be because the concept of authenticity in

marketing is still limited but is developing. On the

other hand, authenticity in tourism has taken root since

McCannel (1973) but conceptualization is still

questionable (Wang, 1999). There are two approaches

to defining authenticity in the world of Marketing. The

first group tries to define the synonym of the word.

Authenticity refers to the quality of authenticity, truth,

and reality (Grayson and Martinec, 2004; Rose and

Wood, 2005). Synonyms of authenticity include

ethical, natural, honest, simple, impeccable,

sustainable, beautiful, rooted, and humane (Boyle,

2003). Often called words: original, unique,

Destination Brand Experience and Authenticity

633

traditional, and real (Munoz et al., 2006) by modern

consumers.

The second approach tries to define authenticity

by explaining and describing the term. Arnould and

Price (2000) state authenticity according to how

individual behavior is consistent with their thoughts

and feelings, which express their true identity, as

opposed to the outside roles they play. While Pine and

Gilmore (2007) define authenticity as a purchase base

on self-adjustment.

2.3 Semiotic

Previous research (Mick, D. G., 2003) related to

codes, symbols, and myths that developed among

social communities in tourist destinations. Mick

(2003) is still a gap where semiotics refer to systems,

symbols, and rules that underlie interpersonal and

intrapersonal communication in residents, which will

appear to be authenticity in these populations

(Echtner, 1999). Furthermore, Semiotic elements are

included as indicators on the authenticity variable.

The semiotic of the local population, namely

signs, meanings, symbols, metaphors, and knowledge.

Research in the field of linguistics generally examines

semiotics about concerning brands (logos as signs,

symbols, metaphors, and information) but what

researchers think are symbols, metaphors, and

information on the authenticity of the destinations

represented by residents, events displayed to tourists.

Semiotic approach to the qualitative method, in

which this approach is to look and dig more in-depth

information and phenomena that exist in the tourist

area of Lake Toba, North Sumatra. The aspect that

found at several tourist spots complained about the

arrogant impression of the seller, as well as from other

officers. This creates a feeling of insecurity to conduct

transactions so that the lack of interest in shopping.

The Semiotic approach will introduce further the local

population's communication system because it is

associated with icons, symbols, and indexes.

The author conducts this research to provide a new

perspective that semiotics in local communities can be

a strategy that can advance the Lake Toba tourism area

on an ongoing basis.

3 DISCUSSION

3.1 Authenticity with Semiotic

Semiotics refers to philosopher Charles Peirce’s

theory which stipulates a triadic relationship between

sign, designatum, and interpretant. On the other hand,

linguist Ferdinand Saussure coined the term

semiology for his opinion which specifies a dyadic

relationship between signifier and signified. Despite

some commonalities, the two opinions are different,

for example, Saussure, but not Peirce,

methodologically abstracts from extra-linguistic

referents (see Noth 1990 on Peirce’s and Saussure’s

theories). In postmodernist opinion, the reference is

usually to Saussure, but the term semiotics is often

used. I follow this conventionalized usage.

Saussure argues that the relationship between

signifier (e.g., the word or sound ‘cat’) and signified

(the idea or concept of cat) is entirely arbitrary, i.e.,

that a particular word/sound should means a specific

tought is due not to anything intrinsic about the

word/sound, but purely a matter of convention.

Within the sign system, a specific word/sound

signifies what it signifies solely because it is different

from other words/sounds. Hence, meaning derives

from difference, instead of essence (something

intrinsic to the signifier). This view, known as anti-

essentialism, constitutes a core postmodernist

theoretical position (Barker 2003, p 435).

In suggesting that ‘tourist attractions are signs,

‘MacCannell equates tourist sight to signified and

what he calls marker to signifier. He defines tag as

‘any information about a sight,’ including name,

picture, plan or map, and information ‘found in travel

books, museum guides [etc.].’ Thus, the signifier

(marker) signifies (explains) the meant (what the

sight is). MacCannell argues how ‘a specific sight is

hardly worth seeing, but the information associated

with it [i.e., the marker] makes a visit worthwhile

anyway.

MacCannell’s conceptualization of marker as

signifier seems problematic. Firstly, signifier simply

signifies a concept, it does not provide any

information or talk about it. The marker is in many

cases (e.g. in travel writing) more like discourse than

anything else. It is remarkable that Culler, a Saussure

scholar, misses this point in taking up MacCannell’s

argument. He refers to as markers such discourses as

the ‘symbolic encrustations [i.e. ideas, folklores, etc.]

with which a culture has surrounded the sight’ that

mediate a tourist’s experience of the sight, and an

authority’s certification of the authenticity of a tourist

object (Culler, 1981). Sign, symbolic at the local of

destination parts of authenticity.

3.2 Authenticity as Consequence of

Brand Experience

Sharpley believes that this search for authenticity is

directly related to nostalgia, where longing for the

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634

past is driven by dissatisfaction with the present or

fear of the future. As such, he considers the search for

authenticity in tourism based on myths and ideals of

cultural ideals (Sharpley, 1994).

Wang (1999) distinguishes authenticity in

tourism in two ways: one related to tourism

experiences (or authentic experiences) and the other

refers to attractions, also called objective and

constructive (or symbolic) authenticity. Although it

was proposed decoupling from the experience of

tourism and attractions, Wang suggested that the

terms co-exist. In this case, the tourist experience is

not always related to the authenticity of the appeal.

To apply authenticity in the context of purpose

and branding, literature from both fields was

investigated. In the area of branding, the definition of

authenticity is brings into brand characteristics. Like

Beverland's (2005) findings of investigations in

luxury wine brands, which found that brand

authenticity translates in terms of inheritance and

genealogy, style consistency, quality commitment,

place relationships, and production methods, thus

discouraging commercial motives. The study of the

characteristics of authenticity by Liao and Ma (2009)

identified six attributes of authenticity: originality,

commitment to quality and credibility, inheritance

and persistence, scarcity, purity, and purity. This

approach focuses on the evaluation object.

In the context of the destination, authenticity has

been investigated within the frame of the tourist

experience. Cohen (1979) proposed five primary

modes of travel experience: Recreation Mode,

Diversionary Mode, Experiential Mode, Experiment

Mode, and Existential Mode. Typology is arranged as

a series of tourist experiences, starting from the

conception of the modern tourism charismatic space

in one pole and pilgrimage trips at another pole. The

five types of phenomenology conclude that the search

for authentic experience inexperience and the level of

emotional attachment to the destination increases

when the experience is closer to the mode of

existential experience (Padget & Allen, 1997).

In recreational mode, travel is seen as a mere form

of entertainment and is not personally significant as a

means of self-realization or self-expression. Although

the trip may have a high level of impurity, that does

not mean that authenticity is irrelevant in this kind of

travel experience.

Experiential Mode sees travel experience as a way

to look for the meaning of one's life by looking at the

lives of others (McCannell, 1976). These are the

direction of tourism's perception as a form of seeking

authenticity while modern life is considered as not

authentic. The Experimental Mode is characterized

by experiences where people are involved in the

search for alternatives from spiritual centers

elsewhere than in their communities. Tourists engage

in authentic life but refuse to be fully committed.

Finally, the Existential Mode is an extreme pole

where tourists are fully committed to the spiritual

center. At some extreme, pilgrimage may be

permanently attached to the center and begin a new

life by surrendering to society and cultural society.

These five modes of travel experience imply that the

desire to seek authenticity from a tourist experience

exists even though it may have a different intensity

level for each tourist

4 CONCLUSIONS

To apply authenticity in the context of purpose and

branding, literature from both fields was investigated.

In the area of branding, the definition of authenticity

is translated into brand characteristics. The study of

the aspects of authenticity by Liao and Ma (2009)

identified six attributes of authenticity: originality,

commitment to quality and credibility, inheritance

and persistence, scarcity, purity, and purity. This

approach focuses on the evaluation object. For other

types of tourism, such as cultural tourism and ethnic

tourism, authenticity is an essential factor insofar as

these types of tourism involve representations from

others or the past

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors gratefully acknowledge that the present

research is supported by The Ministry of Research

and Technology and Higher Education Republic of

Indonesia of the Year 2019.

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