| Summary: | Tourism destination brand essence entails the functional and emotional benefits that tourists enjoy for visiting the destination. This study explored how tourists perceive the destination brand essence of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. These perceptions were compared with tourists’ socio-demographic characteristics. Much of the models and earlier studies on destination brand essence were respectively constructed and conducted outside the KwaZulu-Natal region of South Africa. This research conducted in KwaZulu-Natal Province of South Africa is more exploratory than conclusive in nature but used a market-orientated approach to identify the tourists’ brand essence perceptions of this destination. A structured questionnaire survey of 406 tourists (domestic and international) in KwaZulu-Natal provided data for analyses. Tourists surveyed reported a very positive brand essence perception of KwaZuluNatal as a tourism destination, especially in terms of the emotional benefit of the positive memory the destination evokes. The study results will help the destination managers in KwaZulu-Natal to continue to develop the functional attributes that will evoke positive emotions among visitors. Comparative studies in other African regions to seek comparable and differentiated regional attributes, will add to the knowledge and enhancement of individual brand positioning in the global tourism marketplace.
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