Tourism Sector

(...) The tourism sector is still growing very fast and has a big importance in the economy of almost every country in the world. With the proceeding globalization it becomes harder for some places to stay competitive. "Products and services are becoming increasingly similar, which means that consumers make purchases more and more on emotional rather than rational grounds." (OLINS/ SELAME 2000) The reputation of a country is nowadays extremely important for the choice of the destination - not only in tourism but also in other economic sectors like for example trade.

It is crucial for a place to show the world a positive picture of itself to stay competitive and through this attract the attention and respect of (potential) investors, tourists, consumers, immigrants and the governments of other nations (cf. ZAD GROUP 2008). In this point places (countries, cities, regions) are very similar to "usual" companies and products. The image of the place - same as companies and products - is very important for the consumer. "(...) a country's brand image can profoundly shape it's economic, cultural and political destiny." (ANHOLT 2010) There is a need for a positive 'brand' to attract the consumer to choose one 'product' over another. "Countries with a reputation for being poor, uncultured, backward, dangerous or corrupt will find that everything they or their citizens try to achieve outside their own neighbourhood is harder, while countries that are lucky or virtuous enough to have acquired a positive reputation find everything easier." (ANHOLT 2009) A positive image makes people build an emotional connection with the brand. Even if there is no (or little) difference to another brand, it can make the difference in the choice of for example the next destination for the holidays. Tourism Destination Branding should answer the question: 'Why should I visit this place'. The better the brand and hence the image, the more people will want to visit the place (cf. ANHOLT 2009).

So branding a destination is a very important process to attract visitors in the globalized world. But how can branding be defined? KOLB is stating in her book 'Tourism marketing for Cities and Towns' (2006): "Branding is the process of creating a slogan from a message and then designing a symbol or logo that together with the slogan will communicate to potential visitors the image of the city (...)". The American Marketing Association describes a brand also as a "name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or a combination of them intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competition." (cf. KOTLER/ GERTNER 2010) The question in the following will be if this approach is enough to define branding or if there is more to keep in mind when it comes to build a strong destination brand.

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