Destination brands vs destination images: Do we know what we mean?

Abstract

A review of the literature on branding in general, and on destination branding more specifically, raises several questions about the branding of tourist destinations. What is clear is that confusion exists in the concept of ‘brand’ in the tourist destination context. This panel study was designed to explore how experts perceive the meaning of destination branding and its main characteristics. Five propositions were developed and explored in regards to the lack of clear definition of destination brand, the confusion between brand and image, the lack of conception of similarities and differences between branding for consumer products and tourist destinations, the difficulty of identifying one symbol for countries, and the lack of commonly-known brands of tourist destinations. This article then proposes a model of branding and its ramifications in the tourism destination context, as well as providing several methodological, theoretical and practical implications.