Brand Image of a City: An analysis of its Impact on Tourists' Behavior

<p>The relevance of research of branding destinations associated with increased competition between destinations to attract tourist flows, as branding is focused on the formation of a positive reputation and image of the territory, providing a tourist attraction areas.</p><p>The present work is devoted to the analysis of the image formation of cities as tourist destinations and assess its impact on the behavior of tourists. The study was performed using a comparative analysis of the image of Moscow and St. Petersburg as tourist centers.</p><p>The base of the work is an idea, which form the basis of the concept: based on the available resources and market analysis is formed brand identity destination, which is perceived by tourists through cognitive, emotional associations and unique component of the image of the destination brand.</p><p>There is an analysis of tourism markets of Moscow, St. Petersburg and the whole Russia in the paper. Using SPSS and Excel programs conducted correlation and regression analyzes, the results of which confirmed / partially confirmed for the defense main hypotheses.</p><p>-Positive brand image of the city directly affects the satisfaction of tourists.</p><p>-Satisfaction of tourists and substantially directly affects their future behavior: a desire to come and recommend to others these destinations.</p><p>-Positive brand image of the city affects the behavioral and emotional loyalty tourists.</p><p>The study developed a number of recommendations for the management of destination brand, but it is not enough that for a full and comprehensive qualitative analysis is necessary to study the process of branding destinations.</p><p>An important result of the analysis was to identify the importance of the development of the internal image of destinations aimed to internal stakeholders, especially local residents. Identified the need for researches of the local population for the study of satisfaction in order to improve the quality of life in the city.</p><p>Also creation the image of the city is closely linked to the set of marketing communications as a tool of positioning destination in the minds of external stakeholders. The study identified popular among respondents communication channels: social networks, specialized websites and travel recommendations from friends. The last source is the most valuable, because brings profitability to destination without using marketing budget.</p><p>The significant result is the definition of a vector of brand development of Moscow and St. Petersburg. If in the case of Moscow its needed comprehensive transformation of the city&#39;s image from &quot;dirty and noisy metropolis&quot; to the &quot;smart city&quot; for life, in the second case it is necessary to differentiate the travel services based on the positive perception of the city by tourists.</p><p>Thus, the results of the study showed the importance of the development of theoretical and practical bases for the formation of &nbsp;an attractive image of destinations of Russia in order to increase the tourist flow and dynamic development of the tourism industry in the country.</p>