City Branding and Sustainable Destination Management

1. Introduction

The hospitality and tourism industry has struggled to deal with the challenges faced after the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020. According to UNWTO [1], the volume of international tourists in global tourism dropped 74% compared with the previous year. Even though tourists cannot undertake outbound travel due to border shutdowns, self-quarantine, and a lack of available airlines, tourists still express their desire to travel. As a result, they have begun to seek alternative travel options. They might prefer to undertake domestic travel, select a place with rich natural resources, and avoid crowds because of COVID-19.

After facing such an unprecedented external force as COVID-19, practitioners and all relevant stakeholders have endeavored to improve tourism systems. They also have begun to collaborate to manage domestic travel destinations in a sustainable way. In this regard, destination management refers to “the coordinated management of all the elements that make up a tourism destination (attractions, amenities, access, marketing, and pricing) [2].”

One of the strategies for sustainable tourism destination management is city branding for highlighting destination identity [3]. Moreover, relevant stakeholders can participate in identifying unique characteristics of destinations. For example, Yeonnam-dong in Korea has become a popular destination for its unique ambiance and diverse dining restaurants among the allies in Korea. The younger generation enjoys alleyway tours and post pictures on SNS. The unique characteristics of Yeonnam-dong have been created by the active involvement of various stakeholders (i.e., the private sector, artists, residents, and government). These successful cases of sustainable tourism destination management in local communities have brought positive impacts, such as economic prosperity, higher quality of life and perceived well-being, and community cohesion.

However, travel destinations can be easily influenced by external factors, such as COVID-19, increasing pollution, gentrification, overtourism, conflicts among relevant stakeholders, and indiscreet region development. In this regard, sustainable destination management is one of the priorities for maintaining the best quality of travel experiences for tourists as well as subjective well-being among relevant stakeholders at travel destinations.

Therefore, the aim of this Special Issue is to explore city branding and destination management. This topic features various approaches to facilitating economic prosperity and destination competitiveness in a sustainable way. The following will discuss the main themes of the contributions to this Special Issue.

2. The Contributions to City Branding and Destination Management

A total of nine articles contribute to this Special Issue on city branding and destination management. There are five main themes: City brand equity (contribution 6), smart cities (contributions 4 and 7), city attractions and digital marketing (contribution 5), rural tourism (contribution 2), and stakeholders (contributions 1, 3, 8, and 9).

First, Gorska-Warsewicz (contribution 6) provides a list of previous studies on city brand equity by using a systematic literature review. Specific information on the literature is provided. The findings of this study indicate that research on city brand equity has identified many critical factors associated with infrastructural, cultural, natural, and environmental perspectives.

Second, two articles contribute to the literature on smart cities and tourists. Kiatkawsin et al. [4] investigated the relationship between awareness, involvement, personal norms, and environmentally responsible behavioral intentions. This study used the norm activation model and collected data from 570 respondents. The results found that smart tourists who have a higher level of knowledge in regard to the environment show positive attitudes toward environmental protection. Moreover, smart tourists who are aware of environment preservation campaigns are likely to exhibit environmentally responsible behaviors. Moch and Wereda (contribution 7) introduced the projects of smart cities to improve public safety and improve intelligent systems. Smart city projects enable the monitoring of traffic volume and provide information in regard to pollution and climate. The results indicated that smart city residents use more communication channels and information technology and reported a higher quality of life and higher levels of perceived safety.

Third, one of the emerging issues regarding technology and digital marketing is explored. Li et al. (contribution 5) explored food and destination images on social network posts about a city. They also examined the effects of various characteristics, such as the hospitality and tourism industries, local attributes and environments, price, and health and safety on destination images. The results found that food video clips and descriptions of local food and atmosphere on social network platforms increase the cognitive, affective, and conative images.

Fourth, geographical differences between urban and rural areas are highlighted in this Special Issue. Chi et al. (contribution 2) examined the relationship between attributes, perceived value, satisfaction, and three behavioral intentions among tourists visiting rural areas in China. The moderating effect of resident areas (i.e., urban and rural residents) was also tested. The results identified four service quality dimensions infrastructure and transportation, educational components, culture and handcrafts, and natural environments. These attributes were positively related to perceived value and satisfaction among rural tourists. Moreover, tourists who showed a higher level of satisfaction reported higher intentions to revisit, positive word-of-mouth, and intention to purchase products in rural areas.

Finally, various stakeholders are involved in the tourism system. In this Special Issue, researchers explore core stakeholders in a city, such as residents, tourists, and service providers. Ginesta et al. (contribution 3) explored the components of the city brand of the city of Vic. They conducted 14 focus group discussions to identify core images of the city of Vic among various stakeholders. The findings found four destination images, including gastronomy, the university campus, and the historic center. The study also provides an understanding of the place of city branding based on the bottom-up approach. The implications provide guidance for developing tourism policies and implementation plans and for improving city governance. Lim and Lee (contribution 1) explored residents’ perceptions of living in a tourism destination based on the social exchange theory. This study interviewed thirteen residents who were living in a rural area located in a popular tourism destination using a phenomenological approach. Three main themes emerged. First, the residents reported that living in a tourism destination is an inevitable choice. Second, the residents were influenced by tourists and the destination’s tourism system. Third, the residents reported having conflicts. Teng et al.(contribution 8) examined the relationships between ethical tourism perceptions, social influences, destination images, and the quality of services, satisfaction, and intentions on ethical tourism. They collected data from Chinese tourists in coastal destinations in China. The results extend our understanding of the antecedents of ethical tourism among Chinese tourists in coastal areas, which need natural environment conservation and preservation. Phung and Ahn (contribution 9) examined service climates, empowerment, and citizenship behavior in the ethnic restaurant context. They collected data from 209 Vietnamese employees at ethnic restaurants. The results identified three dimensions of service climate. They revealed that work facilitation was directly and positively related to empowerment, but managerial support and customer orientation did not show significant results. Instead, customer orientation showed a positive effect on citizenship behavior. Finally, empowerment was found to influence citizenship behavior toward customers. A total of nine contributions to this Special Issue are summarized briefly. A list of these is also presented below.

3. The List of Publications of the Special Issue, “City Branding and Sustainable Destination Management.”

• Lim, J.; Lee, H. R. Living as residents in a tourist destination: A phenomenonlogical approach. Sustainability 2020, 12, 1836–1848.
• Chi, X.; Lee, S. K.; Ahn, Y.; Kiatkawsin, K. Tourist-perceived quality and loyalty intentions towards rural tourism in China. Sustainability 2020, 12, 3614–3632.
• Ginesta, X.; de-San-Eugenia-Vela, J.; Corral-Marfil, J.; Montana, J. The role of a city council in a place branding campaign: The case of Vic in Catalonia. Sustainability 2020, 12, 4420–4435.
• Kiatkawsin, K.; Sutherland, I.; Lee, S. K. Determinants of smart tourist environmentally responsible behavior using an extended norm-activation model. Sustainability 2020, 12, 4934–4949.
• Li, Y.; Xu, X.; Song, B.; He, H. Impact of short food videos on the tourist destination image-Take Chengdu as an example. Sustainability 2020, 12, 6739–6752.
• Górska-Warsewicz, H. Factors determining city brand equity -a systematic literature review. Sustainability 2020, 12, 7858–7873.
• Moch, N.; Wereda, W. Smart security in the smart city. Sustainability 2020, 12, 9900–9915.
• Teng, Y.; Ma, Z.; Jing, L. Explore the world responsibly: The antecedents of ethnically tourism behaviors in China. Sustainability 2021, 13, 4907–4924.
• Phung, L. P. T.; Ahn, Y. Service climate and empowerment for customer service quality among Vietnamese employees at restaurants. Sustainability 2021, 13, 1172–1186.

4. Discussion and Conclusions

Five main topics emerge from the contributions to this Special Issue, such as brand equity, smart tourism, technology and big data, urban and rural tourism, and relevant stakeholders (i.e., residents, service providers).

The first topic is brand equity. The ultimate goal of city branding must be to increase behavioral intentions among tourists by creating a city brand. A successful destination brand should harmoniously embrace a variety of stakeholders and tangible and intangible resources around the destination [5]. A wide range of previous research has studied the effect of brand equity of tourism destinations (contribution 6).

The second topic is smart tourism and technology. Since the Fourth Industrial Revolution began, digital transformation has exceeded changes in cities. Smart tourism creates new tourism systems and provides new travel experiences to tourists. It also influences residents’ lifestyles. In the Special Issue, researchers shed light on environmentally friendly behavior intentions and safety in smart tourism (contributions 4 and 7). As contactless service delivery is the preferred process of delivering services, the applications of technology and the introduction of smart tourism are inevitable and will be a new trend.

The third topic is big data and social network platforms. Tourists generate their travel experiences on social network platforms. Research on consumer behavior derives insights from a significant volume of structured and unstructured data [4]. Reviews on applications of accommodation booking also provide attributes, customer satisfaction reports, and helpful comments for potential tourists.

The fourth topic is urban and rural tourism (contribution 2). An increasing number of domestic tourists prefer to travel to natural areas and avoid mass tourism destinations. Tourists also tend to consider safety and infection risk of COVID-19.

Finally, the fifth topic is relevant stakeholders (i.e., residents, service providers, tourists). One of the key elements for sustainable destination management is the collaboration with relevant stakeholders. The contributions of the Special Issues examine various perspectives of stakeholders, such as residents, tourists, and service providers (contributions 1, 3, 8, and 9). Relevant stakeholders can be core actors for providing better experiences in the service delivery process during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Future research is necessary to understand tourist behavior in the new normal after the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, in preparation for the next “with COVID-19” stage, new policies for reducing COVID-19 infection will be introduced, and the hospitality and tourism industries should react agilely to changes and unexpected internal and external forces. For example, local governments plan to select travel destinations that are assumed to show a low level of COVID-19 infection risk. The selected tourism destinations will be labeled as safe tourism destinations and monitored and managed under instructions suggested by doctors and tourism experts (http://safetrip.or.kr/ (accessed on 2 December 2021)), and Korea Tourism Organizations (KTO), and local destination marketing organizations (DMOs). They also have begun to promote safe tourism, which helps in decreasing negative emotions, such as anxiety, during traveling to tourist destinations. Moreover, research on inbound tourism and outbound tourism will be an important topic in the future. For instance, travel bubble policies between countries (https://safetravel.ica.gov.sg/arriving/overview (accessed on 2 December 2021)) are an example of the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) [6]. The inevitable and strict rules and policies due to the number of COVID-19 confirmed cases in a given location will continue to influence the hospitality and tourism industries. Research on these unprecedented situations would be beneficial to prepare for other pandemic situations or negative external forces in hospitality and tourism.