Investigating the brand image of Nigeria and its implication for marketing this country as a tourism destination: UK perspective

Recently, there has been an increase in studies on branding and tourism consumer destinations. These studies identify the major brand-related factors or the key reasons for destination choice among tourists, but these studies are Euro-American-centric. Little is known about this subject in developing economies like Nigeria. Nigeria is blessed with countless tourist attractions and events that are sufficient to stimulate the country's economic and social expansion. Yet, the country's attraction as a tourism destination among Europeans continues to decline. This study, therefore, is driven by the need to understand how Nigeria’s brand image and her tourism sector’s marketing activities influence British tourists’ choice of destination. This study is underpinned by five consumer behaviour theories, including the Nicosia Model, Engel-Kollat-Blackwell Model, Howard-Sheth Model, Classical Purchase Behaviour Models, and Theory of Planned Behaviour. Both the positivist and interpretivism paradigms research designs were adopted, using a carefully structured questionnaire embedded with a structured interview guide to collect data from 171 British tourists from 12 selected tourism organisations/agents in the UK. These data were analysed using descriptive statistics, independent samples t-test, components factor analysis, and multiple linear. Findings showed that Nigeria’s negative brand image, coupled with the ineffective and inefficient marketing strategies of the Nigeria Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC), negatively influenced British tourists’ choice of Nigeria. At the same time, they visit some African countries that share similar cultures and tourism experiences with Nigeria. Conclusions were drawn based on these findings, and recommendations were offered for future improvements. Keywords: Consumer Behaviour, Tourist Destination, Brand Value, Destination Image, Marketing Activities, British Tourists, Choice of Destination