Impact of place brand names on destination image

Abstract

The theory and practice of place branding has been drawn on to build strong destination images and position them in the minds of consumers. The naming of a product or service is integral to the development and implementation of branding strategies; place marketers, however, seldom have the opportunity to rename locations and thereby build brands from scratch. The present study is unique since it investigates the evaluation of two different place brand names for the same geographic area among two different groups of foreign visitors. Specifically, it examines similarities and differences in tourists' images of a destination branded as either (1) 'Lisbon' or (2) 'Lisbon Coast. This investigation confirms the need to highlight different attributes to appeal to different target markets and also demonstrates that the 'Lisbon' and 'Lisbon Coast' brands are evaluated differently with regard to almost all of the attributes investigated.