*2.1. Landscape*

According to Oxford Dictionaries, a landscape is a picture representing an area of the countryside. Furthermore, landscape refers to natural terrain and topography. Sauer [7] indicated that the study of landscapes originated in Germany, where landschaftskunde means knowledge of land. Sauer, in his book The Morphology of Landscape, defined a landscape as the combined physical representation of both natural and cultural elements. He stated that a landscape is an organic unit on the Earth's surface where land and living beings are interconnected. Such a region has its own unique morphology, structure, and functions. In Readings in Cultural Geography, Wagner and Mikesell [17] defined the cultural landscape as follows:

The cultural landscape is a concrete and characteristic product of the complicated interplay between a given human community, embodying certain cultural preferences and potentials, and a particular set of natural circumstances. It is the heritage of many eras of natural evolution and of many generations of human e ffort.

Daniel and Cosgrove [18] suggested that a landscape is a cultural image, an illustrated method of representing, structuring, or symbolizing surroundings. Stamp [19] argued that a landscape represents the visible features of an area, including virtual and cultural dimensions. Moreover, landscape refers to the surface features of an area [20] and reflects the interactions between people and their living environment, as well as the outcome of a dynamic system that grows and evolves over time [8,9]. In addition, a landscape does not only involve how people view an area but also how they describe the place and experience its cultural elements [21]. In summary, landscape resources can be classified into physical and nonphysical resources, natural and artificial landscapes, tangible and nontangible landscapes, inherent and symbolic significance, as well as other symbolisms. Additionally, landscape resources are considered a dynamic system that is growing and evolving.

Carneiro et al. [22] explored the relationship between rural landscapes and experience, conducting empirical analysis on tourists who visited two villages in Spain. The results showed that the visual experience of the tangible landscape is a crucial experiential source; moreover, sound, smell, taste, and contexts associated with the past formed a quiet and relaxing intangible environmental atmosphere, which was also a critical experiential source and could be used to shape the countryside and attract tourists. Utilizing natural landscapes and artificial facilities can further bolster a travel destination's unique brand equity. Various factors attract visitors to a travel destination. For example, in an organic agriculture village, tourists can enjoy the beauty of biodiversity, such as in fern ecological zones, mud volcanoes, and waterfalls [23]. Moreover, people living in urban areas tend to seek a clean, pleasant, and comfortable environment in which to relax [23,24]. Additionally, farm-based products and activities and the relaxing atmosphere of organic agritourism can provide unique travel experiences for tourists [23,24]. Farm life has the power to provoke feelings of nostalgia [23,24]. People feel nostalgic for farm life, which takes them on a mental journey to visit a memory from their past [23]. Furthermore, people's attitudes toward nature have changed considerably. Considering the necessity of protecting the environment and the importance of maintaining ecological integrity [25], staying in organic agriculture villages has become an attractive option for people living in urban areas [23]. Visitors like the idea of relaxing in an agriculture-oriented property and enjoying its daily lifestyle.

In summary, landscape resources form the core foundation of organic agriculture village development. The e ffective utilization of these resources is critical to the success of such developments. In this study, natural, country, and artificial landscapes, as well as people's experiences of farm stays and organic farming, were evaluated.

## *2.2. Brand Equity*

Branding is an e ffective method used by a company to di fferentiate its products from those of other companies. Moreover, it is a tool that an enterprise can used to strengthen its competitiveness. Through endearing a particular product or service to customers, an enterprise ensures that the intrinsic value of that product or service will be acknowledged. That value can be considered brand value for customers [26]. A brand can be considered a physical or service product for customers. The ultimate goal of marketing is to establish a high level of brand equity. Marketers attempt to create positive and favorable brand images because such images can generate positive attitudes toward the brand [27–29].

In terms of marketing strategies, brand equity is an e ffective tool for increasing di fferential competitiveness [12–14]. It refers to the added value endowed on products and services [12,27,30,31]. A strong brand identity can lead consumers to make brand associations, which in turn creates brand equity [12]. Brand equity has been adopted in the hospitality industry in recent years [15,32–34].

Brand equity comprises five elements: brand loyalty, brand awareness, perceived quality, brand association, and proprietary brand assets. Aaker [12] indicated that brand equity is manifested through the associations that consumers make with a brand, whereas brand association is the result of brand recognition. Many studies have used four dimensions—awareness, image, quality, and loyalty—as the basis for measuring brand equity [16,29,35–42]. Zavattaro et al. [43] conducted a qualitative study to assess a method for managing local brand equity, and they used brand awareness, perceived quality, brand loyalty, and brand association to evaluate local brand equity. Tran et al. [44] conducted a study on the brand equity of tourist destinations and adopted brand loyalty, brand awareness, perceived quality, and brand image to assess brand equity.

In the present study, the following dimensions were used to measure the brand equity of Luoshan Organic Agriculture Village: (1) awareness, (2) the image of organic farming, (3) quality, (4) loyalty, and (5) unique resources. Quality is the perception that customers have of the product or service of a brand, and in this study it comprised travel services, comprehensive facilities, and tourists' experience of organic farming. Images of organic farming comprised environmental sustainability, images of healthy tourism, and feelings when traveling to rural areas. Unique resources relate to an excellent geographical location and uniqueness of organic farming.

#### **3. Material and Methods**
