Branding Strategies for the Revitalization of Local Equestrian Centers: A Delphi and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) Approach

This study aims to explore key branding strategy elements for revitalizing regional equestrian facilities and analyze the relative importance of each element. To this end, a panel of experts from the fields of equestrian sports, tourism, policy, and education was formed to conduct a three-phase Delphi survey. The first survey derived strategic elements based on prior research, while the second survey refined these elements through content validity ratio (CVR) analysis. The final third survey utilized AHP analysis to calculate the priority ranking among the strategic elements. The analysis revealed that ‘Stay-type Experience Infrastructure’ showed the highest importance, followed by ‘Value for Money’ and ‘Brand Trust’. This was followed by ‘distinctiveness of riding programs’ and ‘regional tourism linkage’. Notably, the top three elements accounted for a significant portion of the overall importance, confirming them as core drivers of branding. These results suggest that local riding facilities should be restructured beyond simple riding facilities into stay-type tourism hubs. This study holds academic significance as it presents an empirical branding structure based on expert consensus.