Tourism economcs: formation of regional brands

Abstract

Tourism is a sector of economy with a widespread development. One of the most promising types of tourism is cultural tourism. However, the economic impact of tourism is positive when driven by the well-designed policy of promotion and formation of a positive image. This paper discusses the tourism brand of the Southern Ural. We conducted a study using the method of the focus groups. Our results showed that the visual identifiers of the territory cannot be combined with the identity and cannot be grasped by the audience. Underestimating the role of the graphic design for creating the style leads to the fact that it is not perceived as a real brand attribute or as a decorative element. When this is the case, the efficiency of the developed brand can be very low. The brand does not reflect the ways for improving the competitiveness of the region and its development strategy. In this case, there is a clear discrepancy between the actual situation and the brand platform. If one has to develop the new logo, special attention should be attributed to making it the "reflection" of the real situation, representing the advantages yielded by the region and the needs that are important for the key target group. Further research is needed to determine the competitive advantages of the Southern Ural in the context of the long-term planning.