Branding of Tourism in Rajgir as Green Tourism: Visitors’ Perceptions

Abstract

Tourism is a fast-growing industry; creating a national brand can be part of an effective strategy for managing the national growth of tourism. Rajgir is a historical and religious city. There are many destinations related to Hindu, Jain and Buddhist religions, but the present-day government has developed many green tourism sites in Rajgir and the government branding Rajgir as a destination of green tourism. As the development of green tourism in Rajgir is in the early stage, this paper aims to investigate tourist perception of green tourism in Rajgir. A study utilizing a questionnaire survey with tourists identified and tested the components and characteristics of a green city brand. The study used quantitative methods by surveying a total of 332 visitors to know the perception of Rajgir as a green destination. The visitors have a favourable opinion of Rajgir’s green resources based on observations of the overall mean scores since they have relatively higher average scores across most of the examined factors. These findings also benefit destination marketers and brand managers whose cities have attractive green resources and qualities with a framework for developing green brands.

Keywords

• green tourism
• Rajgir
• green landscapes
• heritage
• parks