Contribution of territorial branding to the promotion of tourism attractiveness: the case of Dakhla Oued Eddahab region

Abstract

Since the 1980s, and in parallel with the evolution of the phenomenon of globalization, the failure of structural adjustment policies, and the need to adopt development policies centered on regionalization, the territories have begun to play an important role in public development policy. As a result, the territories, in the context of their competition to attract investments, companies...... have endeavored to build a reputation and acquire a brand image, which the public authorities aim to consolidate and improve, in order to promote the attractiveness of their territories. From there, territorial branding, which is the art of creating a brand image and improving it, appears to be the preferred tool for increasing the attractiveness of a territory. We studied the importance of tourist attractiveness from the global level to the specific level, from tourist attractiveness in general to Morocco and finally to the Dakhla Oued Eddehab region. Then we explored the territorial branding by understanding the true meaning of the concept, and by elaborating its relation and common points with the famous territorial marketing in order to evaluate its capacity to attract tourists. To be able to arrive at results in this sense at the level of the region of Dakhla Oued Eddahab, we started a semi-directive interview guide with 4 regional tourism officials of this territory, which led us to confirm the contribution of territorial branding to the improvement of the tourist attractiveness in the region Dakhla Oued Eddahab

JEL Classification: M31

Paper Type: Empirical Research