Working with Events to build a Destination Brand Identity -the DMO Perspective

Abstract

The tourism industry is considered one of the largest and fastest growing industries in the world. To successfully compete in this increasingly competitive environment, it is a relatively new trend among destination marketing organisations (DMOs) to turn their destination into a brand. At the core of the brand lies the identity, which refers to what a brand stands for, what gives it meaning, and what makes it unique. The purpose of this study is to examine how DMOs are working to establish a destination brand identity, and how events are used strategically in the process. Interviews have been undertaken with DMOs of various sizes, locations and characteristics. Findings indicate that it is a rather recent, however common practice, among the DMOs to strategically work with destination branding and to carefully consider the brand identity. How this is done varies between the studied destinations, and although they all regard events as main contributors of their tourism development; the strategic thinking is in this matter less obvious. The event brand is in some of the cases not intentionally corresponding with the identity of the destination brand.