Title: Internal branding in tourism destinations: implications for tourism policy and research

Authors: Olivia Wagner, Mike Peters, Markus R. Schuckert

Addresses: Department of Strategic Management, Marketing and Tourism, Innsbruck University School of Management, Universitatsstrasse 15, A-6020 Innsbruck, Austria. ' Department of Strategic Management, Marketing and Tourism, Innsbruck University School of Management, Universitatsstrasse 15, A-6020 Innsbruck, Austria. ' Institute for Tourism and Leisure Research, Hochschule fur Technik und Wirtschaft Chur, Comercialstrasse 22, CH-7000 Chur, Switzerland

Abstract: The question ||How do destination-branding strategies influence destination stakeholders?|| has not been answered yet. This paper examines the role of internal branding in destinations, its mechanisms and its possible influence on destination stakeholders. After presenting a literature review of recent contributions to the field of branding in tourism destinations, the authors discuss the concept of internal branding and derive a research structure that can help to design future research to collect empirical data about internal branding effects within tourism destinations. The paper proposes to model the impacts and process flows of internal branding within destinations and to evaluate the impacts not only on customers but also on internal destination stakeholders.

Keywords: internal branding; destination stakeholders; brand effects; destination branding; tourism marketing; tourist destinations; tourism policy.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTP.2009.028727

International Journal of Tourism Policy, 2009 Vol.2 No.4, pp.274 - 288

Published online: 25 Sep 2009 *

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