Challenge and Opportunity of Destination Branding

Destination branding refers to the promotion and marketing of a destination to a specific group of audience (business or leisure travelers), which means that destination branding is to build and manage the image of a destination so that it becomes distinctive and attractive to different target audiences such as tourists, professional visitors, investors and entrepreneurs, talents, events and clients for the products and services of that destination.

However, a lot of challenges emerge for most destinations, forcing destination marketers and managers to rethink their strategy, including dramatically changing media landscape and consumer expectations in recent years.

In general, the main challenge for most destinations is to become known and attractive for their main target audiences who contribute to the sustainable economic and social development of the destination.

To be specific, it raises some concerns about how to create a shared future vision for the destination and how to connect different destination stakeholders in the branding and promotion of the destination, including government, business and community.

The golden opportunity in the field of destination branding will come only when stakeholders of destinations become really aware of the importance of properly managing their place image/reputation as a key element for the economic and social development of the place and understand the link between place design, place management and place branding.

Though changing or developing the image of an established destination can be difficult, it offers a big opportunity to grow your consumer base. A destination brand needs to keep the brand promise and make sure the core brand attributes relevant to the extension category.

Moreover, it should be noted that paid social media is currently the biggest opportunity in destination branding. On a number of social platforms, “holiday” is a hot topic that numerous related posts are being generated every day. These platforms are now equipped with new and creative ways to target and engage audiences as well as measure the results of destination campaigns or activities.