BRAND COMMUNICATION OF TOURIST DESTINATIONS DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Abstract

This article explores the effective practices of brand communications of tourist destinations during the pandemic. The relevance of the chosen topic is due to the economic crisis caused by the pandemic and, as a consequence, the need to revise the brand strategies of the majority of tourist destinations. The purpose of the article is to study the basic principles of building communications with key target audiences of the brand. A stable brand allows you to build an effective positioning of the destination in the international arena and establish effective intercultural interaction. The basic techniques for creating a sustainable brand include, according to the authors, establishing communications between key participants of the process: local residents, tourists, investors and territorial authorities. When building a brand in the post-pandemic period, it is necessary to take into account such criteria as the safety of the direction. Effective brand communications, according to the authors, are based on building communication with target audiences through the impact on the senses (on the example of gastrotourism), as well as through communication in the Internet space (on the example of social media and the blogosphere). The scientific novelty of the article is due to the analytical generalization of the practical experience of countries and cities of the world in the issue of building communication around the brand in terms of pent-up demand. This article may be of interest to experts in the field of communications with various target audiences and specialists in the field of territory branding as an analytical material containing data on specific cases on optimizing branding communication strategies.