Skip to main content
Log in

Spinning liabilities into assets in place marketing: Toward a new typology

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Place Branding and Public Diplomacy Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This study discusses places that choose to turn their negative past occurrences and characteristics into opportunities. The goal of the research was to find which campaign components and marketing initiatives were used by places that elected to use the ‘turning a place’s liability into an asset’ strategy. The findings show that there are two main categories of situations in which marketers tend to use this strategy, both of which contain various sub-categories. The two categories are: (i) situations in which negative past occurrences and events are used as tourism attractions; (ii) situations in which problematic place characteristics that usually hinder tourism are turned into assets to attract a specific target audience. The research used qualitative content analysis of advertisements and news reports.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Avraham, E. and Ketter, E. (2008) Media Strategies for Marketing Places in Crises: Improving the Image of Cities, Countries and Tourist Destinations. Oxford: Butterworth Heinemann.

    Google Scholar 

  • Avraham, E. and Daugherty, D. (2009) ‘We’re known for oil. But we also have watercolors, acrylics and pastels’: Media strategies for marketing small cities and towns in Texas. Cities 26 (6): 331–338.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Avraham, E. and Ketter, E. (2013) Marketing destinations with prolonged negative images: Towards a new model. Tourism Geographies 15 (1): 145–164.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Avraham, E. (2013) Battling stereotypes of terror and wars: Media strategies for marketing tourism to Middle Eastern countries. American Behavioral Scientist 57 (9): 1350–1367.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baker, B. (2007) Destination Branding for Small Cities. Portland, OH: Creative Leap Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baker, V. (2011) In Pablo Escobar’s footsteps. The Guardian 13 September.

  • Beirman, D. (2002) Marketing of tourism destinations during a prolonged crisis: Israel and Middle East. Journal of Vacation Marketing 8 (2): 67–176.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beirman, D. (2003) Restoring Tourism Destinations in Crisis. Cambridge, UK: CABI.

    Google Scholar 

  • Belize Tourism board. (2010) Belize mother nature’s best keep secret. National Geographic Traveler. 7-8/2010, p. 7.

  • Benoit, W.L. (1997) Image repair discourse and crisis communication. Public Relations Review 23 (2): 177–187.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Curacao Tourism Board. (2009) Curacao – The hidden treasure of the Caribbean. Budget Travel. 7-8/2009, p. 66.

  • Canfield, B.R. and Moore, H.F. (1973) Public Relations: Principles, Cases and Problems. Homewood. IL: Richard D. Irwin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clark, A. (2010) Banking crisis? Walk this way. The Guardian 28 May.

  • Coombs, W.T. (1999) Ongoing Crisis Communication: Planning, Managing and Responding. California: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cyprus tourism organization. (2010) ‘A great world in one small island’ campaign, http://www.netravel.co.il, accessed 3 November.

  • Daytona Beach Area convention and Visitors Bureau. (2010) Special advertising section for Florida tourism. Budget Travel. 9/2010.

  • de Jager, A.E. (2010) How dull is Dullstroom? Exploring the tourism destination image of Dullstroom. Tourism Geographies 12 (3): 349–370.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eritrea Ministry of Tourism. (2011) Welcome to Eritrea, Africa’s hidden gem, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjvgcvkD600, accessed 29 May.

  • eTurboNews (eTN). (Various dates) http://www.eturbonews.com.

  • Finland Tourism Board. (2006) Lapland – Vitality from nature, http://www.laplandfinland.com, accessed 29 October.

  • First, A. and Avraham, E. (2009) America in JeruSALEm: Globalization, National Identity, and Israeli Advertising. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gertner, D. and Kotler, P. (2004) How can a place correct a negative image? Place Branding and Public Diplomacy 1 (1): 50–57.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goffman, E. (1963) Stigma: Note on the Management of Spoiled Identity. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  • Glaesser, D. (2006) Crisis Management in the Tourism Industry. Burlington, MA: Butterworth-Heinemann.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gold, J.R. and Ward, S.V. (eds.) (1994) Place Promotion: The Use of Publicity and Marketing to Sell Towns and Regions. Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons.

    Google Scholar 

  • Govers, R. and Go, F. (2009) Place Branding. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Greater Boston Convention and Visitor Bureau. (2010) Boston, great deals$. summer steal$. National Geographic Traveler. 7-8/2010, p. 59.

  • Hawaii Tourism Authority. (2010) Hana, http://www.gohawaii.com/maui, accessed 19 October.

  • Ireland Tourism Board. (2010) Ireland, island of 100 000 welcomes. National Geographic Traveler. 7-8/2010.

  • Kavaratzis, M. and Ashworth, G. (2008) Place marketing: How did we get there and where are we going? Journal of Place Management and Development 1 (2): 150–155.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kirschenbaum, E. (2011) Germany rebuilds part of Berlin wall. Routers. (Translated in Ha’artez, 10 August 2011).

  • Kotler, P., Haider, D.H. and Rein, I. (1993) Marketing Places. New York: Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • King, R.T. (2005) Harbin snow and ice festival, http://www.rtoddking.com/chinawin2003_hb_if.htm, 13 October.

  • Lahav, T., Mansfeld, Y. and Avraham, E. (2013) Public relations for rural areas. Journal of Tourism and Travel Marketing 30 (4): 291–307.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lennon, J. and Foley, M. (1999) Interpretation of the unimaginable: The US Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, D.C, and dark tourism. Journal of Travel Research 38 (1): 46–50.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Long, J. (2009) Sustaining creativity in the creative archetype: The case of Austin, Texas. Cities 26 (4): 210–219.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Myers, L.S. (2005) Night in the Gulag. Ha’aretz, 12 June.

  • Mansfeld, Y. and Pizam, A. (2006) (eds.) Tourism and Security: A Case Approach. London: Butterworth Heinemann, pp. 233–249.

    Google Scholar 

  • Missouri Division of Tourism. (2010) Don’t take less of a vacation. National Geographic Travel. 9/2010, p. 45.

  • Medway, D., Warnaby, G. and Dharni, S. (2011) Demarketing places: Rationales and strategies. Journal of Marketing Management 27 (1–2): 124–142.

    Google Scholar 

  • Meisenbach, R. (2010) Stigma management communication: A theory and agenda for applied research on how individuals manage moments of stigmatized identity. Journal of Applied Communication Research 38 (3): 268–292.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morgan, N. and Pritchard, A. (2001) Advertising in Tourism & Leisure. Woburn: Butterworth-Heinemann.

    Google Scholar 

  • Montana Office of Tourism. (2010) There’s nothing here campaign. National Geographic Travel. 1-2/2010, p. 15.

  • Muzaini, H., Teo, P. and Yeoh, S.A. (2007) Intimations of postmodernity in Dark Tourism: The fate of history at Fort Siloso, Singapore. Journal of Tourism and Culture Change 5 (1): 28–45.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nielsen, C. (2001) Tourism and the Media. Melbourne: Hospitality press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Official Tourism and Travel Guide of Bratislava. (2010) ‘Bratislava, Europe’s hidden treasure’, http://www.bratislava.sk, accessed 19 October.

  • Pike, S. (2004) Destination Positioning SlogansAnalysis of Themes used by New Zealand Regional Tourism Organizations. In: Proceedings of the Australian and New Zealand Marketing Academy Conference, 29 November–1 December, New Zealand: Victoria University.

  • Ritchie, B.W. (2009) Crisis and Disaster Management for Tourism. Bristol, UK: Channel view publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Seaton, A.V. (1999) War and thanatourism: Waterloo 1815–1914. Annals of Tourism Research. 26 (1): 130–158.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sharpley, R. and Stone, P.R. (2009) The Darker Side of Travel: The Theory and Practice of Dark Tourism. Bristol, UK: Channel view publication.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shields, R. (1992) Places on the Margin. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sierra Leone Travel and Tourism. (2011) Sierra Leone – Tourism, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-CWFTJBXSc, accessed 29 March.

  • Strange, C. and Kempa, M. (2003) Shades of dark tourism: Alcatraz and Robben island. Annals of Tourism Research 30 (2): 386–405.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tourism Review. (Various dates) http://www.tourism-review.com.

  • Tilson, D.J. and Stacks, D.W. (1997) ‘To know us is to love us’: The public relations campaign to sell a business-tourist-friendly Miami. Public Relations Review 23 (2): 95–115.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tuchman, G. (1991) Qualitative methods in the study of news. In: K.B. Jensen and N.W. Jankowski (eds.) A Handbook of Qualitative Methodologies for Mass Communication Research. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wight, A.C. (2006) Philosophical and mythological praxes in dark tourism: Controversy, contention and the evolving paradigm. Journal of Vacation Marketing 12 (2): 119–129.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Eli Avraham.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Avraham, E. Spinning liabilities into assets in place marketing: Toward a new typology. Place Brand Public Dipl 10, 174–185 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1057/pb.2014.21

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/pb.2014.21

Keywords

Navigation