Fame Is Not Always a Positive Asset for Heritage Equity! Some Clues from Buying Intentions of National Tourists

Abstract This article presents an analysis of the impact of fame on tourist intentions to pay for visiting heritage sites. Thanks to a comparison of intentions to buy a visit when the heritage site is famous (heritage brand name awareness) versus not famous (no heritage brand name awareness), the objective is to verify if strong brand awareness could have a negative impact on tourist buyer behaviors. Results show that, regarding national tourists, brand awareness is not always a guarantee of commercial success for heritage places. In fact, fame is a poor asset for well known national heritage sites: It drives site‐seeing (coming to the heritage place), but not site‐visiting (consuming cultural products: i.e., the entrance fees, the guided tours, etc.). Since fame and strong brand awareness are not always synonymous with good reputation and favorable brand equity, some implications for heritage site branding are proposed. Keywords: Brand equityname awarenessbuyer behaviorheritage sitesfamebranding