American Journal of Tourism Management 2015, 4(2): 27-34 DOI: 10.5923/j.tourism.20150402.01 Building a Strong Brand Image of Cox’s Bazar as a Tourist Destination: An Empirical Analysis on Cox’s Bazar Biplab Roy 1,* , Rajidul Hoque 2 1 Dept. of Tourism and Hospitality Management, University of Dhaka, Dhaka, Bangladesh 2 Faculty of Business Administration, Cox’s bazar International University, Cox’s bazar, Bangladesh Abstract The study was carried on Cox’s bazar, the longest unbroken sandy sea beach also known as a tourist hub of Bangladesh. The aim of the study is to build strong brand image of Cox’s bazar as a tourist destination on the basis of tourist’s perception regarding different attributes of tourism. Building a strong brand image of a destination is the process of earning reputation for a destination by utilizing its resources and opportunities, which are original and inspiring to the outer world. The study was based on primary as well as secondary data; applied quantitative method and 106 questionnaires were used. Multiple regression analysis, correlations and a model fit to destination loyalty is being constructed to analyze different attributes of tourism. From the study it is stated that there is significant relationship between image attribute and overall image of tourists towards Cox’s bazar as a destination and a positive correlation between destination overall brand image and tourist’s loyalty. The findings of the research are expected to assist concerned authorities, planners, and marketers to ensure availability and quality of necessary tourism components that will help to build strong brand image of Cox’s bazar as a tourist destination. Keywords Brand image, Brand loyalty, Destination Management Organization (DMO), Quality-Price ratio, Stakeholder, Tourists’ perception, Tourism attribute 1. Introduction Tourism is one of the fastest growing industries which united the whole world in a village and contributing more to the world economy. International tourism receipts increased by $48 billion in 2014 to reach records $1245 billion, an increase of 3.7% in real terms. International tourists’ arrival also increased by 4.4% in 2014, reaching a total 1135 million, up from 1087 million in 2013. International tourism (travel and passenger transport) represents 30% of the world’s exports of services and 6% of overall exports of goods and services. As a worldwide export category, tourism ranks fourth after fuels, chemicals and food, ranking first in many developing countries [1]. Perception about a destination is called brand image of a tourist destination. Otherwise, brand image is the current view of the customer about a brand and a unique bundle of belief within the minds of tourists. On the basis of perception tourists choose their holiday destination. In the modern world where large quantity of information is available and * Corresponding author: royduroydu@gmail.com (Biplab Roy) Published online at http://journal.sapub.org/tourism Copyright © 2015 Scientific & Academic Publishing. All Rights Reserved tourists are educated, brand image of a destination play a central role for selecting a destination. Building destination brand image is first step to building destination branding. So it is clear that branding is the second stage of building a favorable destination image. The affect of brand image on tourists’ destination choice is huge, because it is believed that brand image is a mental representation of a set of variables that can motivate and change tourist behavior. In the context of modern marketing, brand image becomes a major factor in the success of any organization [2], and is the result of sensory experiences and internal limitation created by perceptual processes. Brand image can vary from tourists to tourist, time to time because sometimes brand image works as fiction, sometimes as icon. Destinations need to work carefully with brand image because it is defined as sensitive and difficult to work with which will effect on the reputation of a destination. If there is any mismatch between reality and brand perception than it creates negative brand image. Brand image of a destination is formed from several sources and types of information, tourism components of destination, age and level of education, motivation to travel and tourist’s personality. Numerous studies have found that brand image strongly influences both the emotional response of consumers to products and their purchasing behavior. So, it is very much clear that brand image of a destination is a