Branding strategy and positioning of Gruža microregion in Serbian tourism industry

Abstract

The paper aims to identify unique characteristics of the villages belonging to Gruža microregion in Serbia and the opportunities for creating attractive tourism offer, including development and branding of this destination. The research in the paper focuses on assessing tourism potentials and finding out whether Gruža has the necessary attractions and accommodation facilities that would make it a tourist destination with a distinctive identity, as well as whether the branding would help accentuate its authenticity. The main hypothesis in the paper is that if rural areas in Gruža microregion have significant natural and anthropogenic resources for tourism development, branding can create a more attractive tourism offer and enhance the image of the destination. Given the subject matter, the research goal and the hypotheses, the paper applies qualitative, quantitative and SWOT analysis as most suitable methods for this type of research. The paper consists of seven sections. The key result of the paper is to point out to the necessity of focusing on the destination's branding as the most suitable means for emphasizing the core values that distinguish this microregion from other similar tourist destinations.

Keywords

• tourist destination
• branding
• rural tourism
• Gruža microregion
• Serbia