Destination Branding as an Effective Economic Tool for Increasing Awareness: Czech Republic Case Study
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Destination Branding as an Effective Economic Tool for Increasing Awareness: Czech Republic Case Study Zuzana Vaculčíková 1 & Zuzana Tučková 1 & Arsen Samvel Jomardyan 1
# International Atlantic Economic Society 2020
JEL Classification M00
Research Note This research aims to investigate the concept of destination branding and its impact on competitiveness, as well as to evaluate whether the respective strategy followed by CzechTourism works in practice. The research was initiated based on statements made by foreigners concerning the lack of branding by and of the Czech Republic abroad. Quantitative research was conducted in 2016 in the form of an online 17-item survey (Online Supplemental Appendix). The questionnaire was specifically designed for this study as several foreigners living in the Czech Republic suggested that there was very little known about the Czech Republic abroad. This prompted the Czech Tourism Authority to seek an increase in the knowledge of Czech tourism among respondents abroad. Potential respondents were contacted only once through the social networks of the authors. Then, the online form was sent to 100 potential respondents from different continents (response rate 62%; respondents from Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America and South America). The prevailing group was foreign students studying in the Czech Republic. A sample size of 100 respondents was chosen
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s11294-02009804-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
* Zuzana Tučková [email protected]
1
Tomas Bata University in Zlín, nám. T.G. Masaryka 5555, 760 01 Zlín, Czech Republic
Vaculčíková Z. et al.
because the study was intended as a pilot survey. Czech national travel agency representatives and several foreigners were the motivators for initiating this research. Potential respondents needed to have contact with the Czech Republic and physically be in the state at least once. This condition was fulfilled by the 100 chosen respondents from the authors’ surroundings (53.2% of students, 24.2% employed foreigners, 9.7% businessmen, 9.7% self-employed and 3.2% unemployed). Respondents spent around 10 minutes completing the English version of the questionnaire. The results were given to the Czech Tourism Authority to evaluate further steps in changing or better promoting the country abroad. Destination branding is an important tool for increasing awareness of a country, in particular to the strategic development of the tourism sector. According to Van Ham (Foreign Affairs, 2001), if a nation does not brand itself, it gives other nations a chance to get one step ahead of their competitors. Branding messages that speak to people’s emotions and memories play an important role in differentiating one location from another (Anholt, Brand New Justice: The Upside of Global Branding, 2003). In determining priorities for the 2014–2020 period, CzechTourism identified destination marketing as a key element of
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