Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
phases of developing a destination brand strategy and in doing so introduces some of the key
challenges in destination brand management: leadership; partnership; authenticity; sense of place;
digital platforms; evaluation. First, however, it is essential to delineate the topic of destination
brand strategy.
What is a destination brand?
Branding has its origins in pre-history and the word itself is derived from the Old Norse
'brandr' - to burn, referring to the practice of burning producers' marks onto goods. Consumer
brands emerged with the advent of packaged goods and the industrial revolution, but the notion
of tourism destinations pursuing formalised brand strategies as we understand them today
only dates from the 1990s. Whereas earlier 1980s sloganeering such as 'I love New York' and
'Glasgow's miles better' presaged it, a strategic approach to destination brand management was
fi rst introduced at a national level in countries such as Spain, Hong Kong and Australia. Later a
host of countries, regions and cities - like the US cities of Seattle, Las Vegas and Pittsburgh -
embraced it largely as a response to a need to compete more effectively (Morgan and Pritchard
2004). Of course, we need to ask whether a destination can actually be a brand (Hankinson
2010). Certainly countries have equity and there is an extensive literature on the country-of-
origin effect which refers to the emotional value resulting from consumers' association of a
brand with a country (Kotler and Gertner 2012). Perhaps in strict marketing terms destinations
cannot be brands, which is why some commentators talk of reputation management or
competitive identity rather than branding (Anholt 2006, 2012). Whilst this is useful, we have
elsewhere coined the term 'reputation stewardship' to refl ect the reality that destination reputation
is derived from a host of sources, of which tourism marketing is but a minor one, that in our
disintermediated world dominated by social media DMOs do not control the destination story
or its image and that they do not control the destination (Morgan, Pritchard and Pride 2011b).
In other words, a destination has an organic reputation regardless of what marketing its DMO
does. In essence, that reputation is the culmination of three factors: fi rstly, conversation -
reputation is something you talk about; secondly, discrimination - reputation is something you
critically assess; and thirdly differentiation - reputation is something distinctive (Parjanen,
Harmaakorpi and Kari 2012). Of course this organic reputation could be positive or negative
and responsible governments, regional administrations and DMOs need to identify that
reputation and develop a strategy to manage and, where possible enhance it. A destination's key
stakeholders can have a vision of how they want their place to be perceived internally and
externally and brand management techniques can enable them to achieve differentiation and to
secure a competitive identity and future success for their city, region or country. On the other
hand, ignoring or mismanaging the opportunity to engage in strategic branding could result in
a lack of visibility, less perceived relevance and low levels of emotional attachment or closeness
to a destination - all of which may result in less differentiation and motivational 'pull' for visitors.
In simple terms, a destination brand is a promise to the tourist, an expectation of a set of
experiences and a mark of integrity and reputation; it builds up continuously in the minds of the
destination's consumers and it is affected by interactions and memories (Travis 2000). Broadly
speaking, a destination brand can be derived from:
1 existing assets of the place such as its value offering or organic reputation;
2 created assets, such as sports and cultural events, landmark buildings and facilities or
government policies; or
3
abstract concepts associated with the place, such as tolerance or innovation.
