Despite the importance of destination image in market competitiveness, and the popularity of the field
within tourism literature, there remains a dearth of published research examining travellers’ perceptions
of destinations in South America. This manuscript addresses this gap by testing a model of consumerbased
brand equity (CBBE) associated with three South American countries; Chile, Brazil and
Argentina. The introduction of direct air links and a free-trade agreement in 2008 has led destination
marketing organisations (DMOs) in these countries to increase promotional efforts in the Australian
market. This study shows that the CBBE model is an appropriate tool to explore consumers’ attitudes in
the long-haul travel context. The findings provide DMOs of the three countries studied, with benchmarks
against which to compare the impact of future marketing communications in Australia. The results
provide increased transparency and accountability to stakeholders, such as South American tourism
businesses and Australian travel intermediaries.