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There were two questions the participants of the workshop were to answer against the back‐ground of three presentations. 1. Does tourism actually contribute to the economic growth of a country or region, and if yes, how? 2. What is the role of the state in this context? The three presentations in this workshop dealt with the following topics: The Contribution of Events to Growth in Tourism (Roland Scherer, Franz‐Martin Riklin, and Thomas Bieger; University of St Gall, Switzerland) Rapid Tourism Growth in a Fast Crowing Economy — The Case of Ireland (James Deegan and Donal A. Dineed; University of Limerick, Eire) The Importance of Building up Slovenia's Positive Image as a Competitive Advantage Factor (Maja Konecnik; University of Ljubljana, Slovenia) Two of the papers will be considered more closely in this report: The paper on the Lucerne Festival because for some reason it was published only in German in the conference proceedings (pp. 277–301), and Maja Konecnik's presentation on Slovenia's image as it has not been published at all. The second presentation has been published in English in the conference proceedings and can be looked up there in detail (pp. 207–222).

The purpose of this paper is to present the first systematic approach toward brand development of the country of Slovenia. The approach was of a holistic nature as relevant areas (i.e. economy, tourism, culture, science, sport) and related key stakeholders that affect and co‐create the Slovenia brand had been determined in advance and invited to participate in building Slovenia's identity.

Specifically, the paper presents the results of creating the identity of the “I feel Slovenia” brand from the viewpoint of 30 Slovenian opinion leaders. The author invited experts to express their opinions through a Delphi method, which was repeated in two iterations. The results of both iterations are presented in the paper. Their opinions represented the first step of the process in developing identity elements of the Slovenia brand.

According to opinion leaders, the key idea of brand identity should be related to Slovenian nature, which should also be reasonably incorporated in other brand identity elements.

The development of brand identity with opinion leaders represents the first, but very important step towards a systematic process in developing the country brand of Slovenia.

The brand‐building process was executed on a real example of the country of Slovenia, which has never been a strong country brand. The paper could serve as a case study for other countries in central and eastern Europe, which have not worked seriously on their country brands until now.

The paper points out the image of a destination as a possible source of competitive advantage of the destination. A review of the literature is included showing the rising importance of the image of a destination. Slovenia's image as a tourist destination perceived by foreign tourist experts is analysed. Interesting mountains and lakes, beautiful natural attractions and interesting and friendly people were identified as the most typical attributes of Slovenia's image from the foreign tourist experts' point of view. The significant differences in Slovenia's image between those experts familiar with Slovenia compared to those experts who are only just aware of Slovenia are presented. The research shows that familiarity with Slovenia increases a tourist expert's image of Slovenia, especially the perceptual/cognitive component. According to the results of discriminant analysis, the discriminant attributes of Slovenia's image for each group are emphasised. Slovenia's appealing food and modern health resorts were the discriminant attributes for the group of tourist experts that is familiar with Slovenia, while traditional events were the distinguish attribute for the group of experts that is only just aware of Slovenia. Suggestions as organising familiarisation tours that include tour operators, travel agents and travel writers seemed to be a proper way of boosting Slovenia's image compared to other competitive tourist destinations.

This chapter integrates brand identity and equity as a two-dimensional approach to destination branding. By incorporating the supply- and demand-side perspectives, the approach enables different destination stakeholders to be included in this process. Drawing on general branding and marketing literature, the study presents a three-part framework for building and implementing a destination brand. It illustrates consumer-based equity as consisting of the four dimensions: awareness, image, perceived quality, and loyalty. The chapter also offers a critical synthesis of destination image studies and recognizes the important research advancement from image to branding.

Julio Aramberri, Ph.D., is Professor of Tourism at Drexel University (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. Email: ja43@drexel.edu). Previously, he worked for the Spanish Tourist Office in different capacities including the CEO position (1987–1990). He has recently been appointed to be the dean of the School of Cultural Studies at Hoa Sen University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. His areas of research are marketing, consumer behavior, and the sociology of travel and tourism. He has also published in other areas such as political sociology, US life and culture, and global challenges.

This paper aims to examine how message consistency pursued through integrated marketing communications (IMC) can build a strong destination brand equity in a very dynamic environment and whether this process is affected by the perceived risk of COVID-19.

Data collection was conducted among 333 international tourists visiting Croatia, a destination that has experienced a remarkable boom in the summer/autumn season of 2021, regardless of the pandemic. Partial least squares–structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was used for data analysis.

Results show that IMC consistency has a significant impact on the four destination brand equity dimensions, i.e. awareness, image, perceived quality and loyalty. This influence is found to be the highest on destination brand awareness and the lowest on destination brand loyalty. Perceived risk of COVID-19 moderates the impact of message consistency on brand image and perceived quality.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that examines the role of IMC consistency in a tourism context during turbulent times. The impact of IMC consistency is analyzed on different components of destination brand equity, which addresses the most recent research call from tourism literature. The moderating effects of perceived risk are considered, thus providing additional implications in a context of high uncertainty. Finally, IMC consistency is assessed from the consumer rather than managerial viewpoints, thus adopting the necessary outside-in approach embedded in the IMC idea.

本文探讨了通过整合营销传播 (IMC) 追求的信息一致性如何在非常动态的环境中建立强大的目的地品牌资产, 以及这一过程是否受到 COVID-19 感知风险的影响。

在 333 名访问克罗地亚的国际游客中进行了数据收集, 该目的地在 2021 年夏季/秋季经历了非凡的繁荣, 无论大流行如何。偏最小二乘 - 结构方程建模 (PLS-SEM) 用于数据分析。

结果表明, IMC 一致性对四个目的地品牌资产维度有显着影响, 即意识、形象、感知质量和忠诚度。发现这种影响对目的地品牌知名度最高, 对目的地品牌忠诚度最低。 COVID-19 的感知风险缓和了信息一致性对品牌形象和感知质量的影响。

据作者所知, 这是第一项研究动荡时期 IMC 一致性在旅游环境中的作用。分析了 IMC 一致性对目的地品牌资产的不同组成部分的影响, 这解决了来自旅游文献的最新研究呼吁。考虑到感知风险的调节效应, 从而在高度不确定的情况下提供额外的影响。最后, IMC 一致性是从消费者而非管理的角度评估的, 因此采用了嵌入 IMC 理念的必要的由外而内的方法。

Este artículo examina cómo la coherencia del mensaje que se pretende conseguir a través de la Comunicación Integrada de Marketing (CIM) puede generar un fuerte valor de marca de un destino turístico en un entorno muy dinámico y si este proceso se ve afectado por el riesgo percibido del COVID-19.

La recogida de datos se ha llevado a cabo entre 333 turistas internacionales que visitaron Croacia, un destino que ha experimentado un auge turístico notable en la temporada de verano/otoño de 2021, independientemente de la pandemia. Para el análisis de datos, se ha empleado la técnica de mínimos cuadrados parciales PLS-SEM.

Los resultados muestran que la coherencia de la CIM tiene un impacto significativo en las cuatro dimensiones del valor de marca de un destino, es decir, notoriedad, imagen, calidad percibida y lealtad. Este impacto es más alto en el caso de la notoriedad y más bajo en el caso de la lealtad. El riesgo percibido del COVID-19 modera los efectos de la coherencia del mensaje en la imagen de marca y la calidad percibida.

Según el conocimiento de los autores, este es el primer estudio que examina el papel de la coherencia de la CIM en un contexto turístico durante tiempos inestables. Se analiza el impacto de la coherencia de la CIM en diferentes componentes del valor de la marca de destino, dando así respuestas a las llamadas más recientes de la literatura turística. Se consideran los efectos moderadores del riesgo percibido, proporcionando así implicaciones adicionales en un contexto de alta incertidumbre. Finalmente, la coherencia de la CIM se evalúa desde el punto de vista del consumidor, adoptando así el enfoque “de afuera hacia adentro”, que es uno de los principios base de la CIM.

Aligning corporate communications through different information sources is a great challenge for marketers, especially those operating in the tourism sector, which has been harshly affected by the recent COVID-19 pandemic. This paper provides a deep analysis of the implementation of seven basic principles of the integrated marketing communications (IMC) paradigm in a crisis situation.

In-depth interviews with tourism and hospitality service providers were conducted in the fourth quarter of 2021 in Croatia, a destination that showed remarkable results in terms of the number of international tourist arrivals during the pandemic.

Most firms successfully transitioned from tactical to strategic IMC implementation. Some problems were reported in the coordination of communication tools and channels. Whereas the use of digital technology was enhanced, database management did not receive sufficient attention. Message clarity represented the greatest challenge, while consumer-centric communication was the most neglected principle. Relationship building was pursued mainly through B2B rather than B2C communication, whereas brand equity development pursued through communication mix mostly focused on increases in awareness, perceived quality and attitudinal loyalty.

This research is qualitative in nature and provides opinions on IMC adoption from the managerial perspective only.

This paper provides guidelines for the successful integration of marketing communications (marcom) in an extremely ambiguous and uncertain environment.

The contribution of this work lies in the proposal of a new refined and expanded theoretical framework of IMC principles and numerous marcom strategies for operating during the COVID-19 pandemic, thus providing relevant implications for academia and industry.

The purpose of this paper is to browse literature based on Aaker’s brand personality modal and highlight criticism on it. Furthermore, the study proposes an Islamic brand personality modal based on Islamic teachings.

Extensive research on Muslim characteristics based on Qur’an, hadith and scholarly work of traditional and modern scholars has been used to assess Aaker’s model. Expert opinions of faculty members from relevant field are also taken into consideration to propose Islamic brand personality model.

Aaker’s brand personality dimensions have been revised in the light of Islamic teachings. As a result, few pre-existing dimensions have been re-named and several new dimensions such as moral character and trustworthiness are also included.

Considering the gap found in literature, the need to conduct brand personality research in the service industry such as Islamic banks is highlighted.

Islamic brand personality model may help marketers effectively differentiate Islamic brands such as Islamic banks. It may also reinforce advertising techniques/tools to attract a large Muslim consumer market.

This paper is one of the early attempts to see brand personality from Islamic perspective.