【正文】 Baloglu 2021). Literature Review The first papers on branding appeared in the marketing literature during the 1940s (see for example Guest， 1942). The growth in interest in the field was evidenced during the second half of 13 the 20th century， when an estimated 766 major publications by 789 authors were published (Papadopolous 2021， in Anholt 2021). The first journal article explicitly concerned with research relating to the branding of destinations was Dosen， Vransevic and Prebezac?s (1998) analysis of the appropriateness of Croatia?s brand. During the same year， the first destination branding case study journal article， Pritchard and Man?s (1998) analysis of the brand strategy for Wales， was published. 。 Schoesser， 2021). The aim of this study was to track the brand positions held by a petitive set of nearhome destinations between 2021 and 2021. For this purpose the efficacy of a hierarchy of consumerbased brand equity (CBBE) was trialled. CBBE was first promoted by (Aaker， 1991) and (Aaker， 1996) and more recently by (Keller， 1993) and (Keller， 2021) to supplement traditional balance sheet brand equity measures. The rationale underpinning CBBE as a brand performance metric is that consumer perceptions of the brand underpin any financial estimate of future earnings estimated in the financial measure of brand equity. Since a financial balance sheet brand equity measure will be of little practical value to destination marketers， the concept of CBBE is worthy of consideration by DMOs. However， the potential of CBBE for destinations has only recently attracted the attention of academic researchers (see Koneic amp。 Gove 2021)， North America (Sheehan amp。s image in the marketplace (see Gartner amp。 positioning and repositioning campaigns have been effective in enhancing brand equity consistent with that intended in the brand identity. This is an important gap in the tourism literature， given: i) increasing petition (see Man， Pritchard amp。 Wood 1999， Hall 1999， May 2021， Man， Pritchard amp。 and that (4) reduce consumer search costs and perceived risk. Collectively， these activities serve to create a destination image that positively influences consumer destination choice. Branding is therefore considered mutually beneficial from both the supply and demand perspectives. Enhancing the ability of the brand to differentiate effectively can generate advantages for products and services， such as increased purchase intent (CobbWalgren， Bealamp。 that (2) consistently convey the expectation of a memorable travel experience that is uniquely associated with the destination。 Kozak 2021). The most prehensive definition to date has been that proposed by Blain et al. (2021， )， which followed Berthon， Hulbert， and Pitt39。 Petrick 2021， Blain， Levy amp。 Levy 1955， Aaker 1991， Keller 2021， Kotler et al 2021). For destinations， effective differentiation is critical given the increasingly 11 petitive nature of tourism markets， where many places offering similar features are being substitutable (Pike， 2021). For example， around 70% of international travellers visit only 10 countries， leaving the remainder of national tourism offices (NTOs) peting for 30% of total international arrivals (Man， Pritchard， amp。 Destination image。 Consumerbased brand equity。 managed by different stakeholders (tourism industry sector， public sector， government， destination management anisation， locals) with a variety of ownership forms and often without an appropriate hierarchy with a set of rules for stakeholders to adhere to. Within such context， a brand identity can serve as a work picture， which draws， in turn on historical， national and cultural relationships to develop a mon view， which bees the basis for joint action for / or against change. 9 The role of identity as a supplyside concept involving the decisionmaking powers of business owners and tourism managers is underpinned by previous ， some definitions identify the role of identity as having a dual purpose in analysing brands from the inside on the one hand， and on the other to subsequently calculate the brand equity that involves the accumulated sum of the value consumers attach to particular brands， as well as their confidence in and loyalty to a brand. The multiple roles of the brand identity concept are reflected in investigations. For example， Kapferer introduced a hexagonal model called the brand identity prism. It is based on six central ponents: physique， personality， culture， relationship， reflection or image and selfimage. Later， de Chernatony ?s model adapted Kapferer ?s brand identity former conceptualises brand identity in terms of its vision and culture， which， in turn， drive its desired positioning，personality and subsequent relationships ， all of which are later presented