Destination branding has attained greater importance since worldwide travel exploded 20 years ago, it’s no longer the preserve of a privileged few. Branding a country or city means that often deeply held views or stereotypes must be challenged. In creating lasting brand equity for your destination, however, there is the danger of expelling old stereotypes and simply replacing them with new ones.

There are a number of ingredients that can help create destination brand equity. These include:

• History
• Geographical location
• Ease of travelling to the destination
• Interesting tourist sites
• People
• Infrastructure

Economic power

If a destination has these elements, and they can be combined into a tangible vision, the job is made easier (and the destination is probably already a “must-see”). Paris, Italy and Hong Kong are among those with inherent advantages.     
Unfortunately, many of the world’s most interesting locations only have one or two of these elements, which reduces their prospects of becoming a “must-see”.

For example, it is likely that Argentina, boasting the vibrant Buenos Aries, the untouched Patagonia and the breathtaking Iguazu Falls, will always struggle to compete with other destinations that have greater infrastructure or are easier for tourists to visit.  

Possibly the most successful destination brand is New York. “I love NY” is famous and immediately conjures up any number of images of the Big Apple. Another success story is the recent rebranding of London as one of the coolest global cities, the multi-cultural host of the 2012 Olympics where “every nation is guaranteed a home crowd”. This new brand image is so different from the traditionally held view of the city of Harrods, the Royal Family and the stiff upper lip.

But London and New York have an unfair advantage; they have decades of history behind them, superb infrastructure and huge wealth. What about a success story from a destination without such inbuilt advantages?

Look no further than Malaysia. The “Truly Asia” campaign, on the back of tiger economy development and a handy geographic location on the route to Australia and New Zealand, is helping turn the country into one of Asia’s highlights. The “Truly Asia” branding is a perfect description for the country. It says everything without actually saying anything.

It is important to remember that brand managers and marketers can only control so much. Destinations are also more vulnerable to outside events, exemplified by bombings in New York, Madrid and London in recent years. Even the strongest brand would be affected by such events, which could undo months or years of hard work in an instant. The reaction of the city or country concerned is always important in the recovery.

Ultimately, branding destinations is a high-risk strategy — like any branding process but with higher stakes, and of course, higher rewards. Travellers’ tastes change (they’re a disloyal bunch), or your branding may not be suitable.

Spain and Greece were the traditional destinations of sun-seeking Europeans until global travel became more accessible. Las Vegas attempted to re-brand itself as a family destination a few years ago, but family fun is not the reason that holidaymakers go to Las Vegas, as the city found to its cost. The revised branding “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas” is much more in tune with the target audience.

Perhaps the most important lesson in branding destinations is to go back to the basics. There must be a good fit between destination and branding, and there must be an element of truth or credibility. You can’t create a brand image if the elements do not already exist.