Kyriakou D., Sdrolias L. Koustelios A., Blanas N., Belias D. (2015). Destination Re-Branding Through Experiential Tourism: An Alternative Solution For Greek Tourism?. International Scientific Conference eRA – 10, Piraeus, Greece, 23- 25 September 2015.

In today’s global, informational economy of rapid change, opportunities and threats arise equally for tourism organisations as well as tourism destinations. Unexploited Emerging Consumer Markets (ECM’s) on the one hand, and fragmented, dominated markets in the western world on the other call for a more than ever need for competent and effective management and strategy. ‘As tourism destinations become more substitutable due to increasing competition in global tourism markets, destination personality is seen as a viable metaphor for building destination brands and crafting a unique identity for tourism places’ (Caprara, Barbaranelli, and Guido 2001). Following this latter, the purpose of this study is firstly to identify and clarify how Greece's destination personality and branding is perceived by respondents who have visited the country as well as by those who have not and secondly to analyse the relationship between tourists intention to recommend due to the experiences offered to them during their stay. The contribution of the study hopefully will provide nutrition to improve the marketing strategy of the destinations and to provide data for further research regarding the perception of destination personality both on the pre-purchase and post- consumption phase. Keywords: Destination Branding, Brand Personality, Tourism Planning, Experiential Tourism, Consumer Behavior JEL: M31, L83