The global luxury travel market is in a constant state of flux, and traditional players have to adapt to the rising challenges in various areas of their business model. As new players emerge, using technology and the global reach of the Internet and social media to reach out to a discerning group of travelers, they speak to the changing expectations and behavior of international consumers. Our study will shed light on these consumption and travel patterns, on ways new disruptors in the field of luxury hospitality successfully differentiate themselves from their more traditional competitors and on the implications this will have on the business models of five-star hotels in Switzerland. While limited in scope, this study will provide insight relevant to academics and professionals in the field of luxury hospitality.

The branding concept has been burgeoning from product branding and extending to service, corporate, and further nation branding (Papadopoulous & Heslop, 2002). The concept found in the tourism literature has been mostly adapted to a tourism destination (e.g., Gartner & Konecnik Ruzzier, 2011; Im, Kim, Elliot & Han, 2012). However, unlike characteristics of a manufactured product, a tourism destination has difficulties in terms of definition, measurement, and conceptualization (Murphy, Moscardo & Benckendorff, 2007). As a consequence, there has been a shortage of empirical research relating to the application of the branding concept to tourism destination management organizations spanning from national to local tourism organizations (Blain, Levy & Ritchie, 2005; Pike, 2010). To understand tourism destination branding, recently, studies have been conducted in the context of destination branding as a part of destination marketing strategy (Morgan, Prichard & Pride, 2001), brand identity and personality (Morgan et al., 2001; Murphy, Moscardo & Benckendorff, 2007), and brand logos and slogans (Blain et al., 2005; Hem & Iversen, 2004). The concept of the destination brand equity will be applied to Hong Kong tourists who are traveling to Switzerland. Switzerland is becoming a hot spot for Chinese long-haul trips following European destinations like UK, France, or Italy. Since a decade the core countries of the European Alps Switzerland concentrates more specifically on the Chinese market and with a time lag of a few years the overnight stays have started growing (Schmid, 2012). Since 2008 the overnight stays of Chinese touristsindicated a double- digit jump over the last five years and resulted in an accumulated growth rate of 246.9 percent, that is, the overnight stays per year climbed from 214,000 (2008) to 744,000 (2012) (BFS, 2009 & 2013). The Swiss Tourism Board estimated 2 million overnight stays from China in 2020. In this case China would overturn the neighboring country Italy as one of the key source markets for Switzerland (Schmid, 2012). The high increase in Chinese tourists led to marketing efforts of Switzerland Tourism and the Swiss Hotel Association hotelleriesuisse with their initiative “Hallo China” (Switzerland Tourism, 2004). At first, the main purpose of this study is to conceptualize destination brand equity. Second, it is to propose a destination brand equity model. Third, it is to test the model using a sample of Hong Kong tourists who travel to Switzerland. Fourth, it is to investigate characteristics of tourism products preferred by Hong Kong tourists. Fifth, it is to explore how their preferences for tourism products are different according to their travel-related or demographic variables. This study expects those outcomes and benefits. Frist, components consisting of destination brand equity model and conceptual model will be generated. Second, brand equity of Switzerland as perceived by Hong Kong tourists will be tested. Third, better understanding of Hong Kong tourists regarding their perception of Swiss image, level of awareness, overall quality, loyalty, and overall brand equity will be facilitated. Fourth, most previous studies focused only on preference, behavior or attitudes of Hong Kong tourists who travel in a short-haul distance. On the contrary, this study attempts to understand Hong Kong tourists to a long-haul tourism destination, here Europe. Fifth, according to specialization theory, more specialized tourists tend to select more far-way and more risky destination because their knowledge is growing and a range of their selection is diverse. In an increasing future trend in demand of overseas Chinese tourists, this study attempts to identify long-haul Hong Kong tourists’ preference, attitude or behavior in Europe.