Abstract
Wellness tourism is a fast-growing tourism industry segment and major wellness tourism destinations are found in the Asia–Pacific region, including India. The region of Kerala in India has an abundant natural, cultural and entrepreneurial resources for the development of wellness tourism. These resources are centered on the unique and traditional Ayurveda treatment, complemented by impressive natural landscapes and rich cultures and history. Despite the abundance and quality of resources and services provided by a large number of stakeholders, Kerala lacks a branding strategy for differentiating Kerala as a wellness tourism destination to compete in international markets. A stakeholder-based participatory process was developed to co-create a branding strategy, involving a destination audit supported by an online conjoint analysis survey to discover the relative importance of ‘high-level’ attributes associated with Kerala’s wellness tourism resources. The most important attributes are ‘Fits with strategic priorities of the organisation’ and ‘Ability to integrate into wellness tourism packages’. The main resources complementing wellness services are natural features and cultural heritage. This research contributes to stakeholder-based participatory methods for destination branding.
Highlights
Tourism is a significant economic activity that benefits local and national economies around the world
Whereas the creation of branding strategies for a firm’s products typically involves just a few individuals, destination branding is a more complex activity that requires the involvement of a large number and wide range of stakeholders in a systematic process of co-creation (Binkhorst and Dekker, 2009)
The complexity intrinsic to destination branding mainly arises due to a general shortage of mechanisms to identify and integrate the various stakeholders
Summary
Tourism is a significant economic activity that benefits local and national economies around the world. It increases employment opportunities, incomes and living standards (Mondal, 2020). Major wellness tourism destinations are found in the Asia–Pacific region, including India (the subject of this article). During 2015–17, wellness-related trips increased by 20.4% for India and 20.6% for China—the fastest country growth rates in the region (Yeung and Johnston, 2018). Countries in the Asia–Pacific compete against each other in attracting wellness tourists, and so branding has become an important factor for creating a perception of a destination’s distinctiveness (Poorani and Jiang, 2017)
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