Year: 2023 | Month: December | Volume 68 | Issue 4
Destination Branding and the Corresponding Economy: A Study
Md Sarwar Alam and Nigamananda Biswa
DOI:10.46852/0424-2513.4.2023.22
Abstract:
The contemporary world is witnessing a huge contribution of the travel and tourism sector to the world
economy. It remains a critical factor in creating employment opportunities at global and regional levels.
The countries have identified it as a key driver for sustainable economic growth. With a promising future
ahead, the nations are now making their tourism business more organized and systematic by introducing
the idea of destinations. The policy makers are allocating higher budgets for developing destination’s
infrastructure like transportation, hotels, heritage, information technology, cleanliness, and hygiene. The
purpose is to attract potential tourists and investors. Hence, it is imperative to understand the factors
that are crucial in building destination brands. In line to the these, the present study is an attempt to
explore two specific areas, (I) The economic perspective of destination branding, and (II) The dimensions
that could help in developing the destinations as strong brands. The present study is a qualitative study
where the researchers have done systematic literature review of the related fields. Firstly, it has been
found that FTAs, DTVs, FDIs, and Domestic investments are the key drivers of economic growth of a
destination whereas FEEs, GDP, employment rates, number and nature of new jobs, international visitor
spending, and domestic visitor spending are the important KPIs for assessing the impact of destination
branding. Secondly, extensive literature search suggested that consumer-based brand equity is the key
element for building destination brands. Further, some key dimensions have been identified to build
strong customer-based brand equity that cannot just help in establishing strong destination brands but
can also have individual impact on destination’s economy and development. These dimensions are
namely destination image, destination awareness, destination brand identity, destination brand meaning,
destination brand experience, destination brand value congruence, and destination loyalty.
Highlights
- Destination branding may act as a global driver for creating business opportunities and investments across the world.
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