e-Marketing Influence on Rural Tourism Destination Sustainability: A Conceptual Approach

Abstract

As the demand for rural tourism destinations increases, the relevancy of the tourism sector to the overall destination sustainability becomes even more significant, and the existing tourism operators transition their marketing initiatives to a digital nature, it is critical to understand how the global quality of the implemented e-marketing initiatives are impacting rural destinations image and brand equity, how they trigger tourists’ intention to visit, and as a consequence foster overall destination sustainability. Hence, a novel conceptual model, drawn on Delone & McLean Information Systems Success model, Tan & Wu model on the relations between destination image and future visit behavior, and on the overall brand equity context presented by Verma, is proposed and the multiple implications on the presented artefact are discussed.