Destination Branding and Images: Perceptions and Practices from Tourism Industry Professionals

The intensified competition among convention cities has created an increasing interest for cities to better understand how to market themselves as a convention destination. A city's image is one of the highest indicators of its success as a convention location. It becomes imperative for each city to specifically analyze its strengths and weaknesses. Because there is a lack of literature regarding medium-sized convention cities, this study compares Knoxville, Tennessee to other similarly populated cities in the southeastern United States. The perceived importance of city attributes and the tourism professional's perception of the strengths and weaknesses of the particular city as a convention destination are based on the years of experience of the tourism professional in the industry and participants' demographic characteristics. The sample of the study was industry professionals that attended the Tennessee Governor's Conference on Tourism held in Knoxville in September 2006. Implications from this study may be used to improve the competitive position of Knoxville as a convention destination.