In a highly competitive market, marketing staff are always looking for solutions to strengthen what can be called their destination values (unique place, services, and human resources, etc.). They do this by concentrating on vital factors which can enhance their brand equity. Nevertheless, there is a shortage of studies about how destination brand evaluations are related to visitor appraisals. Using the opinions of 531 foreign tourists visiting a destination in Vietnam and a partial least squares (PLS) approach, this study examines four elements of destination brand equity (perceived quality, loyalty, awareness, image) regarding travel intentions and the moderating effect of destination familiarity. Results revealed that brand equity is positively related to travel intentions. Additionally, destination familiarity has positive moderating effects on destination awareness and perceived quality of travel intentions. This study offers some managerial insights into the effective building of destination brand equity. •Elements of destination brand equity are evaluated from a tourist perspective.•Destination brand equity positively related to travel intentions.•Destination familiarity has positively moderating effects of destination awareness and perceived quality on travel intentions.•Contributes to understanding of enhancing, improving and developing equity in their destination brands.•Provides theoretical and practical implication of destination brand equity management.