Factors Influencing Visitor Acceptance Awareness : A Regional Branding Perspective

The paper proposes brand-building with an underlying assumption that the area inhabitants’ visitors’ acceptance awareness is a key to regional activation; this is a concept that organically integrates the somewhat contradictory concept of “good living, good visit.” The results of a questionnaire survey point to the importance of affective commitment to the community as a significant factor influencing inhabitants’ acceptance awareness of visitors / strangers. Additionally, community satisfaction and the affective commitment and effectiveness of the community to the area are correlated. For successful regional activation, it is important to start the cycle; a functioning area community -> area satisfaction -> visitor acceptance is needed. Some regional brand-building strategies based on this concept are also suggested.