High-end Brand Museums as Drivers of Tourists’ Visiting Decisions

This research tackles the underexplored phenomenon of luxury brands establishing their own museums, which we label as High-End Fashion Brand Museums (HEFBMs). These are cultural institutions that both celebrate the luxury brand and its history and promote arts and cultural heritage. As such, HEFBMs are at the crossroad between cultural and fashion tourist attractions and offer a response to tourists’ growing demand for unique, memorable, immersive, and multifaceted travel experiences. Through a multi-method qualitative and quantitative research approach conducted on one Italian and one French HEFBM with a total sample of about 1,500 respondents, the present study reveals attitudes and emotions elicited by HEFBMs, suggesting that HEFBMs could improve tourists’ perceptions of a destination, potentially influencing their decision to visit and extend their stay. This study advances extant knowledge in luxury and travel marketing and offers novel insights to marketers and institutions interested in attracting highend tourist flows