Destination Marketing: 6.4 Challenges in Branding Destinations

Welcome! Destination branding is the strategic art of making a place memorable, attractive, and unique. It's how Paris is linked with romance or New Zealand with adventure. But branding an entire city or country is incredibly difficult—much harder than branding a single product like a soft drink.
In this chapter, we will explore the common pitfalls, roadblocks, and major challenges that Destination Management Organisations (DMOs) face when trying to build and communicate a successful brand identity.

I. The Challenge of the Tourism Product Itself

A destination is not a single, neat item; it is a complex tapestry of experiences, services, and feelings. This inherent complexity creates two major branding challenges:

1. Destinations are made up of different products

A single product (like a phone) is manufactured by one company, ensuring quality control. A destination, however, includes hundreds of independent businesses:

  • Accommodation: Five-star hotels, local hostels, Airbnbs.

  • Transport: Airlines, local buses, taxi drivers, rail networks.

  • Attractions: Museums, theme parks, natural reserves, local markets.

The brand experience relies on all these independent elements working together flawlessly. If the National Tourism Organisation (NTO) promotes the destination as 'friendly', but a local taxi driver is rude, the entire brand promise is broken for that visitor.

2. Tourism is an intangible product

Intangibility means that a product cannot be physically touched, tested, or seen before purchase.

  • You can't "test drive" a week-long cruise or "sample" a trip to the Maldives before paying for it.

  • This makes the purchase risky for the customer, meaning the destination's brand image (reputation and promise) must be extremely strong and trustworthy to overcome this risk.


Key Takeaway: A destination is a collection of fragmented, non-uniform, and intangible services, making quality control and brand consistency extremely hard to manage.

II. Marketing and Identity Challenges

1. Difficulty in creating a unique identity (Competitive Market)

The global tourism market is hyper-competitive. Many destinations offer similar products (e.g., sun, sand, and sea; historic castles; ski slopes).

  • It is difficult to create a Unique Selling Point (USP) that genuinely differentiates the destination from its close competitors.

  • If a brand message is too generic (like "Come enjoy our beautiful beaches!"), it won't stand out. DMOs must dig deep to find genuine, unique attributes, which is often challenging in saturated markets.

2. Lack of Funding for Marketing

Branding campaigns that achieve global reach and influence require massive financial investment, often sustained over many years.

  • Many DMOs, especially regional or local tourism bodies, operate on limited budgets compared to global corporate brands (like *Coca-Cola* or *Apple*).

  • This lack of funding can limit the scope of advertising, restrict the ability to conduct necessary market research, and prevent the brand from being sustained over the long term.

3. Counteracting Negative Reputation or Image

Sometimes, the brand must be built from scratch, but often, the DMOs must first tackle pre-existing negative images or unfavourable stereotypes.

  • Example: A destination trying to shake off a reputation for being cheap and focused only on mass tourism (like Magaluf) may struggle to attract high-value, niche markets, regardless of their new marketing efforts.

  • The DMO's marketing must work harder and spend more resources to change negative perceptions than to introduce a new, neutral image.


Quick Review Tip: Think of the 3 ‘C’s of Branding Difficulty: Complexity (many products), Competitiveness (hard to be unique), and Counteracting (fighting bad reputation).

III. Management and Stakeholder Issues

1. Diverse Range of Organisations and Partners Involved

A destination brand is developed and delivered by countless organisations, both large and small.

  • These include National Tourism Organisations (NTOs), regional bodies, local authorities, commercial travel and tourism operators, and non-commercial organisations (NGOs).

  • The Challenge: Achieving consensus and ensuring brand consistency across this wide and diverse range of stakeholders. Everyone must use the same logo, slogan, and tone of voice. This requires extensive communication and strict brand guidelines, which can be difficult to enforce among independent businesses.


Did you know? Even the local community are stakeholders! If the residents do not 'buy into' the brand (e.g., a destination branding itself as eco-friendly while locals still produce high waste), the brand lacks credibility and is not sustainable.

IV. The Impact of External Factors

The image of a destination is incredibly fragile and can be instantly ruined by events outside the control of the DMO. These external shocks affect the brand image and interrupt marketing efforts.

1. Disasters and Health Issues

  • Natural Disasters: Earthquakes, tsunamis, or volcanic eruptions can destroy infrastructure and create a lasting image of risk and danger, deterring tourists.

  • Disease Epidemics/Pandemics: Global health crises (like COVID-19) immediately halt travel and create a perception that the destination is unsafe or inaccessible.

2. Political Unrest and Security Issues

Acts of terrorism, social or political unrest, and crime rates severely damage the brand's primary promise of safety and security.

  • Example: Increased political instability in a region, even if minor, is often heavily sensationalised by international media, causing tourists to cancel bookings immediately.

  • The DMO must then spend resources on crisis management and reassure international markets that safety measures are adequate.

3. Other Social, Economic, and Political Factors

These factors constantly shift the competitive landscape:

  • Economic Factors: Currency fluctuations or recessions in key generating markets (where tourists come from) can make the destination suddenly seem too expensive.

  • Social Factors: Changing trends (e.g., a rapid global move towards sustainable tourism) mean DMOs must adapt their brand or risk being seen as outdated or irresponsible.

  • Political Decisions: New visa restrictions or border controls can instantly reduce accessibility, regardless of how attractive the brand is.


Analogy: Imagine building a beautiful sandcastle (the brand) over months, only for a giant wave (an external disaster) to wipe it out in seconds. The DMO has to rebuild the castle, often while the waves are still strong.

V. Summary of Major Branding Challenges

Summary Box: Why Destination Branding is Hard

A DMO must manage challenges relating to the product itself, the market, the stakeholders, and uncontrollable external forces.

  • Product Issues: Multi-faceted products and high intangibility.

  • Market Issues: High competition and difficulty finding a truly unique USP.

  • Resource Issues: Lack of sufficient funding to compete globally and counteract negative historical reputations.

  • Management Issues: Coordinating a diverse range of organisations and partners (stakeholders) to ensure brand consistency.

  • External Shocks: Fragile image affected by disasters, political unrest, and terrorism.