Destination Branding : An Introduction

All products require a branding effort to successfully complete for customers, and places are no exception. Destination Branding is all about discovering the true essence of a place (city, state, nation), developing it into core competency by incorporating all the attributes associated and communicating the same to the target audience in a favourable manner. Most of the destinations in this world have no idea as to how they are perceived outside their little world. This eventually calls for a strategic branding initiative, in order to portray the image of a city, state or a country, in such a manner that the world perceives their image the way they want them to. This helps them to garner global attention and carve out a niche that expresses a unique identity and personality of the destination and differentiates it from its competitors. Nowadays, an intense competition among the nation-states can be witnessed in order to position themselves as perfect destinations for tourism and investment. Place are creating their brand identity around do reputations and attitudes in the same way as the corporate does. Nevertheless, evaluating the brand building measures and interpreting the perception and response of the target audience are uphill tasks. Some of the major aspects of Place Branding, covered in this book are: Conceptual understanding of the destination branding process; How to structure, implement, and manage it; Comparative analysis of a product brand and a nation brand; Unmanageable dimensions of a Destination Brand; Case studies of India, Dubai, Kerala, Singapore, and Malaysia.