Why using brand management in the tourism industry ? The case of destination branding

Nowadays the tourism sector is one of the most important economic sectors. The globalization of our world allows for better, easier, faster, and cheaper travel, and the technological progress achieved has left almost no place unknown.

We may observe that many destinations are now featuring in people's conversations. This is true for cities (urban areas) such as London, Paris, New-York or Hong-Kong which illustrate the new trend. Other destinations adopt different strategies and there it is the country which becomes a destination, such as Spain, Australia, New Zealand or India.

This relationship between brand management and tourism management is an interesting problematic of marketing. This paper will try to understand this relationship, its nature, components and consequences.

In the first part we will study the concept of destination branding and the role of Destination Marketing Organizations. In the second part we will look at the tourist destination choices and the role of Destination Branding in influencing this choice. The third part will deal with the tourist experience and introduce the hypothesis of destination branding. Does destination branding by cities or countries really reach the customers?

This report shows how marketing principles can be applied successfully to tourism management, and how a better brand strategy replaces heavy and aggressive communication.

[...] The infrastructure in destination branding would be the hotel, the size of the rooms, the supplementary services, the restaurant menu, the friendliness of employees etc. All factors these are factors that influence the retail industry. It is well known that sound researches are done before the opening of a shop in order to target precisely the right customer. For instance, a shop in England will have to be more spacious than one in Spain or France because English people pay much more attention to the space they have, since they are not really willing to be in contact with other customers. [...]

[...] As we have seen with sustainable development which participates in developing third world countries by allowing them to trade with the most developed countries, the example of sustainable tourism illustrates the destination branding of the future. Destinations such as Central American countries use destination branding and strong social and environmental values to attract tourists with the goal of developing the country and the quality of life of its population positively through intelligent tourism management. References Websites Interbrand Corporation www.interbrand.com (brand consultancy offering strategy, corporate identity, naming and product design) The Best Global Brands by Value; 2005 www.interbrand.com/best_brands_2005.asp Brand Channel www.brandchannel.com (online exchange about branding; provides hundreds of articles on brand topics) All About Branding www.allaboutbranding.com (provides extensive resources and opinions on branding including brand development, management and communications). [...]

[...] Conclusion Destination branding is becoming very popular amongst tourism workers and the creation of Destination Marketing Organizations proves its efficiency in countries such as Ireland and the Czech Republic. The use of destination branding has proved to be of importance, not only in areas directly linked to tourism management, but also as tourists are part of the quality of life and the place they come to has a strong impact on macroeconomic factors such as employment, social activities, Politics or environment. [...]