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The purpose of this paper is to examine urban destination marketing from a mainly practitioner standpoint, though one of its principal observations is the gap between theory and practice; while the former is premised on related notions of difference and competitive advantage, in practice the greater part of urban destination marketing eschews competitive advantage, resulting in a pervasive marketing of “sameness”.

The paper is in three parts. The first set out the urban tourism context in respect of historical, market, supply, impact and definitional/measurement dimensions. Part two profiles the bespoke delivery mechanisms established for urban destination marketing, examining nomenclature, core purpose/mission, status, size and finances, as well as overhead and operating parameters.

The final section comprises a state-of-the-art review, setting out a five variable model of purposeful urban destination marketing, concluding that “good” in urban destination marketing is atypical and currently in Europe is confined to only a handful of European cities.

This paper is intended to give the reader a better understanding of why, in such an important field of human endeavour, success is so problematic. It hopefully gives pointers to practitioners and academics as to how best in future there can be more winners and fewer losers, so that increasing numbers of towns and cities maximise the impact locally of the world's largest industry and at the same time become “known”.

The purpose of this paper is to trace the emergence of a dominant paradigm from within which academics and practitioners alike currently describe and otherwise explain urban destination marketing. The paradigm has been dubbed the “theory of marketing competitive advantage (CA)” by the author, and by others as the “4P’s marketing paradigm”. To effectively market themselves as tourism destinations, this paradigm requires towns and cities to differentiate themselves through the provision of more or less unique products, based on which they subsequently undertake branding, market positioning, distribution and other activities through bespoke destination marketing organisations (DMOs).

The paper summarises the findings of: first, a review of the academic and practitioner literature on urban destination marketing; second, an online investigation of urban destination marketing in 62 European towns and cities, consulting the corporate and consumer pages of the relevant DMO website; and third, in-depth interviews with 20 senior DMO departmental executives. Each interview was recorded digitally for subsequent transcribing, and was conducted on the basis of a semi-structured interview schedule.

Theory, as enshrined in the “4P’s marketing paradigm” rarely holds up in practice. Irrespective of whether or not a town or city possesses CA (and few do), DMO marketing gravitates almost inexorably towards a “marketing of everything”. Moreover, much the greater part of urban destination marketing is ineffective, failing to create visitors and deliver the commercial and economic returns on which it is premised. Against a backdrop of DMO marginality and ineffectiveness and a reluctance by them to market what is special and different about places, the continued existence of DMOs and the destination marketing they undertake is thrown into serious question.

Interpretation is unavoidably subjective in parts, drawing on personal experience as well as research undertaken.

This paper is intended to give the reader an understanding of why success is so problematic in urban destination marketing, serving as an antidote to the prevailing idealised, normative and unproblematic picture of the DMO world as this is depicted from within the prevailing “4P’s marketing paradigm”. The research method provides a basis on which to unite theory and practice in the field of urban destination marketing in a more systematic and verifiable manner than has hitherto ever been the case.

Gateway cities such as Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata are central in the tourist experience to India, yet the official government authorities and destination marketing organizations tend to underestimate the potential of these destinations to prospective and returning international tourists. In particular, there is little empirical research on urban tourism, food tourism and city marketing in the aforementioned cities. This paper aims to explore the scope for the promotion of Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata as food urban destinations.

For the purposes of this study, a case study methodology using content analysis was developed to ascertain the nexus between food and tourism in the three observed cities. Materials were gathered for the year 2019, with a focus on brochures, tourist guides, websites and social media accounts for Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata. A two-coding approach through NVivo was designed to analyse and report the findings.

The findings of the study suggest that the cities of Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata fall short in positioning themselves as food urban destinations. Moreover, the study reports a dissonance between the imagery of Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata portrayed to international tourists through induced images and the food-related experiences available in the cities. This divide reflects a pattern in destination marketing in India observed in previous research.

The exploratory nature of this study calls for more research in the trends and future directions of food tourism and urban marketing in Indian cities. Moreover, this study calls for further research on the perceptions of urban food experience in Indian cities among international and domestic tourists.

A series of practical implications can be drawn. First, urban and national destination marketing organizations need to join efforts in developing urban marketing campaigns that place food as a key element of the urban experience. Second, cities worldwide are rebranding themselves as food destinations and Indian cities should reconsider local and regional culinary traditions as mean to reposition themselves to food travellers’ similar niche segments.

The quest for authenticity is central in the expectations of incoming tourists. Moreover, the richness and variety of local and regional food in the cities analysed in this study can enhance urban visitor experience, with obvious economic and socio-cultural benefits for the local businesses and residents.

This study is the first of its kind to provide preliminary evidence on the nexus between food and tourism in Indian cities. Building from the literature, it developed a conceptual framework for the analysis of food tourism and urban branding and shed light on a currently overlooked aspect of incoming tourism to India.

Food not only satisfies the need and nourishes positive experiences but also enhances involvement with the cultural, social and environmental attributes of a destination. As urban tourism is embracing sustainable consumption practices (SCP), this study aims to explore tourist’s responsible behaviour by embracing traditional gastronomic delicacies. More specifically, it pinpoints the driving forces behind why people choose traditional gastronomic delights.

The study adopted the triangulation method involving the grounded theory approach (GTA) attained through a series of focus group discussions followed by the survey method taking an emerging economy’s perspective (India and Bangladesh). This study accords equal importance to both the demand and supply perspectives of gastronomic tourism and its stakeholders.

Critical dimensions such as travel motivation, tourist expectations, socio-economic perspectives, mindful consumption, sustainable marketing efforts and community awareness were identified as major influencers towards traditional gastronomic delicacies.

The present study bears significance to the urban developers, policymakers, marketers, regional tourism bodies and tour operators in promoting urban gastronomic cultures through marketing traditional delicacies for sustainable development of the evolving gastronomic industry in India and Bangladesh.

This study makes a novel attempt in exploring critical dimensions in an evolving gastronomic industry by blending an innovative qualitative research methodology like GTA supported by the empirical validation process (quantitative). It proposes a theoretical framework for further advancement of gastronomic and urban tourism towards a SCP.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the use of paid accommodation by international visitors who also stay with a friend or relative in another destination.

This paper conducts analysis of secondary data to look at the proportion of person nights in paid accommodation attributable to visitors who also stay with a friend or relative in another destination, and comparison of different visitor groups and their likelihood to use paid accommodation.

Results show that 14.5 per cent of all person nights spent by international visitors to Canada in paid accommodations were attributable to people who also stayed with a friend or relative in another destination. This proportion is higher for destinations outside of the largest cities and varies by source market.

This paper is limited the structure of the secondary data set, which does not separate visiting friends from visiting relatives, and does not capture host behaviour.

This paper has implications for destination marketers and tourism businesses as a source for reflection on drivers of their local and international business.

This paper helps position residents in a more central role regarding tourism in their regions and should encourage marketers and service providers to appreciate and engage residents as hosts.

This paper offers an original position by combining concepts from visiting friends and relatives and multi-destination travel that provides a foundation for further research in this area.

This study aims to test an integrated model that examines the relationship between the service qualities of police at any urban tourist destination and the tourist urban destination advocacy at tourist cities in the Shimla region of India, where tourists’ trust in police acts as a mediating variable. This study mainly focused on the type of service shown by police officials to develop trust among the tourists, resulting in their urban destination advocacy.

The questionnaire was adopted from previously developed and validated scales. The questionnaire was administered to different tourists who came to India. This study used the bootstrapping technique and structural equation modelling (SEM) to address the research questions and test the hypotheses.

This study results indicate that trust in the police mediates the relationship between police service quality and tourist satisfaction at any urban tourist destination. The study’s findings add to the literature on tourists’ trust in policing tourist sites, police service quality and leader behaviour.

The above-tested model has a very limited number of constructs. There are a variety of additional antecedents (e.g. police organization culture and urban destination attributes) and consequences (word-of-mouth referrals and customer identification) that could be considered for future research to develop a more comprehensive model. The cross-sectional study raises concerns about the causal relationships between constructs in the tested model. More substantial evidence of causality via longitudinal and experimental studies is needed.

The study’s findings added a chapter to the literature by identifying how police service quality impacts tourist trust building and urban destination advocacy.

This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.

This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.

In a review of how cities and other urban centers market themselves in their attempts to benefit from visitors, a five-variable model of purposeful urban destination marketing is presented, concluding that “good” in urban destination marketing is atypical and currently in Europe is confined to only a handful of cities.

The paper provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world’s leading organizations.

The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.

The purpose of this paper is to offer some insights into the future of urban tourism with particular consideration given to immigration and visiting friends and relatives (VFR) travel. The discussion highlights the fact that cities are increasingly home to immigrants and transitory residents who host visitors, blurring resident-visitor distinctions, with implications for cultural and economic development, and tourism practitioners. These trends are highlighted, and discussions relating to the future are offered.

This discussion is based on a literature review and a conceptual approach.

The number of immigrants to cities keeps growing. These immigrants are shaping their new communities and changing local culture. They contribute to increased tourism through generating VFR travel and creating new tourist attractions.

The implications of VFR and immigration on urban tourism are most visible in large urban centers that are major points of entry into a country and international magnets. They are not, however, limited to big cities.

There are potential implications for municipal governments and destination marketers to consider how cultural development and the touristic promotion of the city overlap with areas and direction for possible partnerships with community groups.

This paper promotes the idea that for immigrants, to experience their communities through hosting VFR has positive social implications in terms of integration and cultural development.

This paper discusses a topic rarely addressed the impact of VFR and immigration on shaping urban tourism.

The purpose of this paper is to consider the history and dark tourism attractions associated with a case study of the Thai-Burma Railway in the city of Kanchanaburi, Thailand. The paper considers how history has been abridged and distorted at a number of attraction sites in order to exploit the dark tourism commercial potential. The role of film media is considered as a critical element of the site narrative and the reality of the tragic past of this place is discussed within the context of Thailand’s role in the Second World War. Kanchanaburi, through the urban attractions that constitute the primary motivations for visitation, distorts and exploits its dark history for commercial and ideological purposes. Where accurate the Second World War interpretation was identified, it was maintained by balancing the requirements of national governments and institutions with acceptable levels of ambiguity and non-controversial perspectives on this urban location’s dark past.

The paper draws on literature, historical documents and tourism publications related to the Second World War and the incarceration and forced labour associated with the Thai-Burma Railway and the city of Kanchanaburi. Fieldwork incorporating tourist attraction and commemorative site visitation was undertaken in Northern Thailand in January 2017. Curators, managers, operators and tourist authorities were contacted in advance of the fieldwork by e-mail to request interviews. The sites identified were the primary sites visited by tourists, and no related Second World War site in the area was excluded. For those interviewed in relation to the subject area, a standard questionnaire based on a rolling database, relevant to particular sites was utilised. Interviews were taped and transcribed.

The city of Kanchanaburi is defined by a heritage that has changed over time. Many factors imbue the meanings and content of place. This is a function of a plethora of competing Influences and agendas; political, economic, cultural, demographic and historical. Yet, this destination is defined by the dark history of the Second World War which is associated with this place. The visitor attraction sites considered in Kanchanaburi provide multiple narratives around the Second World War events. They offer a range of content driven by influences as diverse as simple commercial gain to the complex interaction of political, economic and ideological agendas (cf. Gegner, 2012). In each case, the interpretation is used to articulate heritage through objects, artefacts, audio recording, place or imagery. These elements exist in environment(s) of their creation; the Second World War heritage of Kanchanaburi is developed in a nation that has only a partial and selective acceptance of its role in this conflict. The visitor attractions examined in this research and their content have all re-constructed and re-represented the past. Historical memorialization remains embedded in interests that are global, commercial, ideological but rarely neutral. The interpretation of the Thai-Burma Railway and the narrative of the many victims is associated with the construction merit respect, commemoration and consideration that is value free and not distorted by ideology or commercial imperatives.

This paper provides a foundation for further consideration of how such contested dark heritage is viewed not least by visitors and users. Development of research in this area would provide a valuable source of data on: consumer profiles, motivations and orientation. Relating this data to nationality and origin would provide useful comparative data to that offered by operators and managers of key attractions. Furthermore, the prevalence of social and digital media as primary tourist information source could be measured against the continued (and possibly declining) importance of the filmic narrative. Furthermore, deeper evaluation of nature and content of interpretation is merited, given the range of approaches and content observed. At a political and policy level, the treatment of this part of Thai history and the degree of sensitivity around interpretation is linked to how a nation confronts its difficult past. More thorough evaluation of treatment in national media and education curriculum also merits review. Urban heritage is an important element of urban destination marketing and evaluation based around core themes of transparency, openness, respect for the past, and sensitive treatment of tragic events offer direction for application and evaluation in other urban contexts.

This is the first time the heritage of this city has been considered in the context of dark tourism and the role of Thailand in the Second World War. It incorporates an analysis of all of the relevant attractions in the city and provides through the fieldwork conducted an original contribution to the tourism literature in this field. It draws on historical record, original documentation, interview analysis and tourism data. It provides further evidence of the dark tourism phenomena in a South East Asian context linked to a conflicted and selective appraisal of the past.