Region Brand Building. The case of the Republic of Karelia

Keywords: branding, territory branding, tourist brand, branding problems, tourist infrastructure International practice demonstrates that the development of a laconic and modern territorial brand is a vital task, because branding can contribute to a successful transition of the level of the territory development to a qualitatively new level. Nowadays it is quite common, when the formation of the brand image, a certain positive gloriole, is placed above the tasks of resolving urgent pressing problems related to the development of infrastructure, improving the environment, reducing the level of crime, etc. Especially noticeable it can be in formation of tourist brands of destinations. At the same time, it is often ignored that the long-term positive effect can be created only as the combination of an attractive brand and real level of development of the territory through the improvement of the tourist infrastructure, road and transport infrastructure, construction of hotels and recreational areas, training of personnel and some visualization of socio-cultural features of the territory by creating a corporate identity. The image of the territory as a tourist destination is formed equally on the basis of the idea of the sights and cultural and historical value of the trip, and based on the expected level of service and quality of the tourist infrastructure. The aim of the work is to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the tourism infrastructure of the Republic of Karelia in order to develop recommendations for the formation of a tourist brand. The empirical part involves collecting secondary data, conducting an online survey, using the peer review method, systematizing the data and further processing them in the Stata13 and SPSS22 programs. The main quantitative methods of analysis are the construction of the regression model, as well as the implementation of the Importance-Performance Analysis.