Destination branding,niche marketing and national image projection in Central and Eastern Europe

Abstract

The dynamism of the structure and scale of international tourism in post-communist Central and Eastern Europe both reflects and is part of economic, political and social restructuring processes in the region. Tourism activity has significantly increased across the post-communist world in terms of tourist movements, yet Central and Eastern Europe has lagged far behind the rest of Europe and global averages in the level of per capita tourism income generated. Further, while in regional terms tourism activity has increased, in the sub-region of Southeastern Europe it has stagnated, because of regional instability and conflict, the nature of the tourism product, and infrastructural and service level shortcomings.

Relatively few tourism marketing studies from Central and Eastern Europe have been undertaken and little work on branding has been published. As something of a pioneering study therefore, this paper examines the relationship between tourism destination branding, niche marketing and national image projection in the region, and concludes that coordination between government action and tourism industry promotion is vital if destinations are to project a clear national and tourism image which contextualises and emphasises the quality of the visitor experience.