Tourism branding and cultural values

Using narrative storytelling, impactful visuals, and message framing in wildlife tourism marketing fosters emotional connections, raises awareness about environmental conservation, and encourages responsible travel behaviors among tourists.

Integrating local cultural values and ecological considerations into tourism branding leads to more responsible travel practices. Using Greenland’s visual marketing as a case, DMOs could leverage tourism marketing to curate and communicate priorities to visitors. Bruin et al. (2024) suggests DMOs focus on creating a narrative that integrates local cultural contexts with ecological considerations to craft a brand that resonates with both residents and visitors. This approach promotes a sense of belonging and responsibility towards the destination’s heritage and environment. Using visual elements in marketing can effectively convey the destination’s identity and values and showcase images that reflect the local landscape and culture. DMOs could emphasize their commitment to sustainable tourism in their branding strategies by promoting adventure tourism that respects local culture and minimizes environmental impact.

The study can be found here. 

Bruin, R., Cooper, E., Lamers, M., & Blair, B. (2024). Sustaining the brand and branding sustainability: Landscape as homeland in Greenland’s visual marketing. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/09669582.2024.2400572