The city as a brand St. Petersburg

The tourism industry is one of the fastest growing in the world. Destination images are critical to the success of tourism destinations because they influence the decision to travel of potential tourists. To be successful in a competitive global environment, city marketers use branding techniques to increase the attractiveness of their destination by actual and potential visitors. The image of the place is created through the definition of destination identity and through its promotion to target audiences. The purpose of this book is to present the destination identity or in other terms the projected image of St. Petersburg, as formed through city government promotion programs and to compare it with the image of the destination as perceived by Swiss tourists. This comparison enables to identify a fit or gap between the projected and perceived image and make practical recommendations. The knowledge gained from the comparison between perceived image and the destination identity is used to formulate recommendations for St. Petersburg's city government strategies.