Destination branding: public management perspective for co-created development

Destination branding theory and practice have long been used by marketing scholars and practitioners to sell the destination to outside audiences. As the discipline is maturing, there is an increased focus on the branded community. This paper argues that as destination brands do not only sell the destination but also envision the destination, branding practitioners look to inspire the receiving community towards a coherent and coordinated approach to tourism promotion and development. This includes tourism operators, destination management organisations and the local communities. This study focused on the case of Tasmania and how tourism operators perceived the brand. The research found that while branding practitioners were aware of best practice in terms of bringing the local tourism operators onboard the branding project, despite their best efforts, support for the brand amongst tourism operators was scattered. We argue that this is due to a lack of explicit conceptualisation and a theoretical framework for the management of the receiving communities in destination branding. A public management approach is proposed to mitigate these shortcomings.