Egyptian crises and destination brand image: the resurrection of the mummy

Abstract

Previous research has shown that a country’s perceived image during and after the crisis affects tourism, yet the impact of communications on the holistic destination brand image in a sustained crisis remains limited. Based on a case study of Egypt of the Arab spring and the Covid-19 pandemic, this study investigates the effectiveness of strategies to alter one destination’s image. Due to the recurring recoveries in Egyptian tourism, we believe that strengthening the resilience of the destination brand image during a prolonged crisis can offer valuable insights to practitioners and academics. The researchers conducted a media content analysis and a sentiment analysis of 3662 online and social media publications to gauge the alignment between Egypt’s projected and perceived destination brand image. While the tourism literature has primarily focused on crisis communication and strategies to alter a negative destination brand image, few studies have examined strategies that focus on building an enduring, resilient destination brand. This study offers a normative and exploratory model of Adaptable Destination Strategies during crises (ADS). The ADS model contributes to existing literature and destination management organizations by suggesting an integrated strategy toolkit for extended destination brand image governance grounded in diversification, collaboration, communication, and consistency.