Visual Branding on Indonesian Tourism Destinations: Does it Affect Tourists?

Abstract

This study was conducted to reveal the interactions of the visual components of branding in Indonesia’s tourism destinations with tourists’ perceptions and affection. Shapes, colours, and slogans influence the perception of tourism destinations’ characteristics, affecting tourists’ choices in planning trips. A qualitative descriptive visual analysis was applied to review logos from a semiotic perspective. Sem-PLS analysis was used to uncover the relationships of the shape, colour, and slogan variables, involving data collected from 216 respondents. The study revealed that landscapes became the most common symbol in Indonesia’s visual branding of tourism destinations. Shape and colour were significant factors in building tourist perceptions of the characteristics of the tourism destinations, but the slogans were not. The perception of visual branding was found to influence travellers’ affection regarding interests, destination selection, and travel planning. This study contributes theoretically to the study of visual branding of tourism destinations by confirming the stimulus-perception-affection theory in the context of tourists. This study focuses on visual branding design for destination management organizations (DMOs).