Proceedings of 5th Annual American Business Research Conference
6 - 7 June, 2013, Sheraton LaGuardia East Hotel, NY, USA, ISBN: 978-1-922069-24-5
Enhancing Mechanisms for Tourism Destination Branding
Sharon Kiely
Many studies articulate that Tourism Destination Image (TDI) has an effect
on tourists’ behaviour, particularly in the decision making process (Assaker,
Vinzi and O’Connor, 2011; Balaglu and McCleary, 1999; Chi and Qu, 2008;
Echtner and Richie, 1993; Lee, 2009; Maitland and Richie, 2009; Phillips,
Wolfe, Hodur and Leistritz, 2013; Prayag, 2009; Qu, Kim and Im, 2011). For
example Dubai (United Arab Emirates) and Las Vegas (Nevada, USA) both
encompass strong images and successfully attract large amounts of tourism.
Yet, if a location does not possess a strong image or if the image is negative,
destination marketers have the ability to enhance the image by means of
event branding (Trošt, Klarić and Ružić, 2012), gastronomy branding (LópezGuzmán and Sánchez-Cañizares, 2011) and film induced tourism branding
(O’Connor, Flanagan and Gilbert, 2010). By being aware and understanding
these influencing factors, a destination can create target markets which will
also help the destination to determine which image to promote and to which
market segment. Pike (2010) affirms that brands are evaluated by
assessing the similarities between brand image and identity. Successful
brands can be seen as recognisable places, products, services, or people,
augmented so that the consumer or visitor perceive as appropriate,
distinctive additional value, which correspond to their needs most thoroughly.
Nasser (2003) notes that tourism destination branding can enhance tourism
success as it creates a robust strategy which can improve a destinations
market share as seen in the Spain and Espana el sol de Miro (1985), New
York and I Love NY (1993), New Zealand and 100% Pure New Zealand
(1999) and Colombia and Colombia es passion! (2005). Slater (2004) notes
that tourism marketers utilise destination branding as a process of
emphasising the ambiance of the destination, which can be seen in many
destination campaigns, namely Indies Incredible India (2002) and Australia’s
There’s nothing like Australia (2010). From reviewing the literature, it has
become apparent that tourism destination branding is imperative for tourism
success. Nevertheless destinations are dependent on image. For this
reason, this conceptual paper will discuss the need for destination
enhancement by means of niche destination marketing campaigns namely
event branding, gastronomy branding, and film induced branding. Hence,
this paper will highlight destination cases that have utilised these brand
enhancements and experienced further success.
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Proceedings of 5th Annual American Business Research Conference
6 - 7 June, 2013, Sheraton LaGuardia East Hotel, NY, USA, ISBN: 978-1-922069-24-5
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