African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure (Aug 2018)
City marketing to city branding: A novel practice in Zimbabwe destination branding.
Abstract
This study was based on understanding the concept of city marketing as a driver towards the achievement of effective city brands. The main aim was to develop a new destination branding perspective that originates from city branding. The study employed a quantitative research design. It was however initiated by in-depth interviews in order to build themes for the study and was then followed by a survey research using these themes as questions for a quantitative research. The stablished themes for the study were: branding using infrastructure; branding through hospitable people; branding through low levels of poverty; branding using the name given to a city; branding using a representative symbol of the city; and branding as welcoming to the tourists. The results from the survey research revealed that even though there hospitable people, and high poverty levels, the cities do not have brand names in Zimbabwean tourism destinations, and there are no identifiable city logos and cities are not welcoming to tourists. The respondents agreed that in order to develop positive city branding there should be a suitable infrastructure. The study therefore recommends that need to invest in developing the infrastructure including inter alia buildings, roads and other tourism amenities in all cities around the country. The communities within the cities should also be considered to be dominant stakeholders in promoting city brands. Government and other related authorities should work together in order to eliminate poverty in society. The names of the cities should have a meaning not only to the tourists but also to the local people. There is a need to develop identifiable and attractive logos for all the cities in Zimbabwe in order to improve on city branding issues as a needed strategy. Lastly, destination marketers should work together with the stakeholders of cities in order to host local events and train stakeholders on how to handle tourists.
