engleski

Possibilities and Constraints of Region Branding in Tourism - the Case of Dalmatia

This paper presents the authors' original model for branding the region as an umbrella brand in tourism, in line with the Gad's 4 dimension branding. Dalmatia, as the Croatia's region featuring most of natural and cultural- historical tourism attractions, has served as the model for the development and marketing management of the tourism system, with the aim of branding the region. According to the authors' model, the region is an "umbrella brand" consisting of different but mutually interrelated tourism clusters. Each of them develops their "point-of-parity" that makes them part of the region and which is characteristic for the region, as well as the "point-of-difference", i.e. their own recognisable image within the tourism region, in accordance with the principles of sustainable development in tourism. Furthermore, the paper presents a comparative analysis of the tourism turnover between Dalmatia and Istria, kindred and nearby Croatian tourism region. Although it is geographically much smaller and featuring less natural and cultural-historic attributes, Istria has so far achieved better results in tourism than Dalmatia, due to a better structured marketing and management model, compared with Dalmatia which is fragmented by administrative boundaries. Finally, the authors have made a critical analysis of constraints that impede the development of similar marketing and management models in the tourism industry of Croatia and, it is assumed, in other post-transition countries.

: region as a tourism brand ; umbrella brand in tourism ; tourism clusters ; tourist destination marketing ; Gad's 4-D branding model in tourism ; regional development of tourism ; sustainable tourism

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