Branding Heritage Tourism in Dubai: A Qualitative Study

Year 2021, , 243 - 267, 01.12.2021

Farooq Haq , Joanna Seraphim , Anita Medhekar

https://doi.org/10.30519/ahtr.782679

Cited By: 2

Abstract

This qualitative paper explores tourism branding for Dubai to develop brand differentiation based on factors influencing heritage tourism. Data was collected through direct interviews with relevant tourists and tourism experts. The paradigm of critical realism was adapted to analyze the data with thematic analysis by extracting related themes. Five emerging themes have been identified: perception of brand authenticity in heritage tourism, Dubai’s tourism offerings, heritage branding, marketing suggestions, and heritage tourism valorization. Research outcomes present a strategy for brand marketing Emirati heritage tourism as new strategic advances in tourism management. Practical implications suggest that heritage tourism can achieve brand differentiation among heritage tourism destinations by leveraging authenticity and modernity. This paper contributes to the theory of tourism marketing and management, with the unique case of branding Dubai as part of UAE heritage tourism, by adopting brand communication, brand identity, brand positioning, and brand personality strategies.

Keywords

Heritage tourism, qualitative research, brand marketing, Dubai, tourism planning, heritage valorization

References

• Alam, I. (2005). Fieldwork and data collection in qualitative marketing research. Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, 8(1), 97-112.
• Alexander, N. (2009). Brand authentication: creating and maintaining brand auras. European Journal of Marketing, 43(3/4), 551-562.
• Bak, S., Min, C-K., & Roh, T-S. (2019). Impacts of UNESCO listed tangible and intangible heritages on tourism. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 36(8), 917-927.
• Balakrishnan, M. S. (2008). Dubai - A star in the East. Journal of Place Management and Development, 1(1), 62-91.
• Balmer, J. M., & Burghausen, M. (2019). Marketing, the past and corporate heritage. Marketing Theory, 19(2), 217-227.
• Chacko, H. E. (1996). Positioning a tourism destination to gain a competitive edge. Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research, 1(2), 69-75.
• Chen, S., & Shih, E. (2019). City branding through cinema: the case of postcolonial Hong Kong. Journal of Brand Management, 26(5), 505-521.
• Chronis, A. (2012). Tourists as story-builders: narrative construction at a heritage museum. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 29(5), 444-459.
• Eraqi, M. I. (2011). Co-creation and the new marketing mix as an innovative approach for enhancing tourism industry competitiveness in Egypt. International Journal of Services and Operations Management, 8(1), 76-91.
• Garrod, B., & Fyall, A. (2000). Managing heritage tourism. Annals of Tourism Research, 27(3), 682-708.
• Goulding, C. (2000). The commodification of the past, postmodern pastiche, and the search for authentic experiences at contemporary heritage attractions. European Journal of Marketing, 34(7), 835-853.
• Haq, F., & Medhekar, A. (2019). Challenges for ‘innovative transformation’ in heritage tourism development in India and Pakistan. In Surabhi Srivastava (Ed.), Conservation and Promotion of Heritage Tourism, (Ch-6, pp.127-154). USA: IGI Global.
• Kim, H., Stepchenkovab, S., & Babalouc, V. (2018). Branding destination co-creatively: A case study of tourists' involvement in the naming of a local attraction. Tourism Management Perspectives, 28, 189-200. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tmp.2018.09.003
• Kumar, S., & Singh, R. (2015). Cultural heritage tourism of Ayodhya-Faizabad. The Geographer, 62(2), 66-74.
• Lempert, D. (2015). Classifying heritage by states of decay, restoration, and transformation for tourism, teaching, and research: ‘un-freezing' sites in time to reveal additional meanings. Journal of Heritage Tourism, 10(4), 378-398.
• Lincoln, Y. S., & Guba, E. G. (2003). Ethics: The failure of positivist science. In Y. S. Lincoln & N. K. Denzin (Eds.), Turning points in qualitative research: Tying knots in a handkerchief (pp. 219-238). Oxford, UK: Alta Mira Press.
• Miles, M. B., & Huberman, A. M. (2002). The Qualitative Researcher’s Companion. California: SAGE.
• Mijnheer, L. C., & Gamble, J. R. (2019). Value co-creation at heritage visitor attractions: A case study of Gladstone’s Land. Tourism Management Perspectives, 32, 1-12. (100567). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tmp.2019.100567
• Morgan, N. J., Pritchard, A., & Piggott, R. (2003). Destination branding and the role of the stakeholders: The case of New Zealand. Journal of Vacation Marketing, 9(3), 285-299.
• Papp-Váry, Á. F. (2018). Country branding: what branding? Relevant terminologies and their possible interpretations in the case of countries. Economic and Regional Studies/Studia Ekonomicznei Regionalne, 11(4), 7-26.
• Paris, C. M., Baddar, L., & Stephenson, M. L. (2016). Young Emiratis’ perspectives of the quality of life impacts and long-term sustainability of tourism in Dubai. Travel and Tourism Research Association: Advancing Tourism Research Globally. Available at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/ttra/2012/Visual/2
• Pegues, H. (2007). Of paradigm wars: constructivism, objectivism, and postmodern stratagem. The Educational Forum, 71(4), 316-330.
• Pera, R. (2017). Empowering the new traveller: storytelling as a co-creative behaviour in tourism. Current Issues in Tourism, 20(4), 331-338.
• Perry, C., Riege, A., & Brown, L. (1999). Realism's role among scientific paradigms in marketing research. Irish Marketing Review, 12(2), 16-23.
• Picton, O. J. (2010). Usage of the concept of culture and heritage in the United Arab Emirates –an analysis of Sharjah heritage area. Journal of Heritage Tourism, 5(1), 69-84.
• Ram, Y., Björk, P., & Weidenfeld, A. (2016). Authenticity and place attachment of major visitor attractions. Tourism Management, 52, 110-122.
• Rihova, I., Buhalis, D., Moital, M., & Gouthro, M. B. (2015). Conceptualising customer‐to‐customer value co‐creation in tourism. International Journal of Tourism Research, 17(4), 356-363.
• Rinaldi, C., & Cavicchi, A. (2016). Cooperative behaviour and place branding: a longitudinal case study in Italy. Qualitative Market Research, 19(2), 156-172.
• Santa, E. D., & Tiatco, A. (2019). Tourism, heritage and cultural performance: Developing a modality of heritage tourism. Tourism Management Perspectives, 31, 301-309.
• Seraphim, J., & Haq, F. (2020). Experiential heritage tourism designing in the United Arab Emirates. In Saurabh Dixit (Ed.), The Routledge Handbook of Tourism Experience Management and Marketing (Ch-17, pp.195-206). NY: Routledge.
• Su, X., Li, X., Chen, W., & Zeng, T. (2020). Subjective vitality, authenticity experience, and intangible cultural heritage tourism: an empirical study of the puppet show. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 37(2), 258-271.
• The United Arab Emirates Portal. (2020). Travel and Tourism. Retrieved 10 Aug, 2020, from //u.ae/en/information-and-services/visiting-and-exploring-the-uae/travel-and-tourism
• Timothy, D. J. (2018). Making sense of heritage tourism: Research trends in a maturing field of study. Tourism Management Perspectives, 25, 177-180.
• Timothy, D. J., & Ron, A. S. (2013). Understanding heritage cuisines and tourism: identity, image, authenticity, and change. Journal of Heritage Tourism, 8(2-3), 99-104.
• UNESCO. (2016). World Heritage List. Retrieved 20 July, 2020, from http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/
• UNESCO. (2019). Intangible Cultural Heritage, United Arab Emirates. Retrieved 20 July, 2020, from https://ich.unesco.org/en/news/developing-safeguarding-plans-in-dubai-00229
• VisitDubai. (2020). Dubai Tourism 2019: Performance Report. Dubai Municipality. Retrieved 2 July, 2020, from https://www.visitdubai.com/en/sc7/tourism-performance-report
• Wilson, R. T. (2018). Transforming history into heritage: applying corporate heritage to the marketing of places. Journal of Brand Management, 25(4), 351-369.
• Yilmaz, E. S. (2020). The effects on consumer behavior of hotel related comments on the TripAdvisor website: An Istanbul case. Advances in Hospitality and Tourism Research, 8(1), 1-29.
• Yin, R. K. (2017). Case study research and applications: Design and Method. USA: SAGE Publications.
• Zandieh, M., & Seifpour, Z. (2020). Preserving traditional marketplaces as places of intangible heritage for tourism, Journal of Heritage Tourism, 15(1), 111-121.