Brand identity and brand image are necessary ingredients for a successful destination brand (Qu et al., 2010, p. 2). While the identity is created by the sender (the destination marketer plays in this case a critical role) and it is supported by all or just a part of the tourism (natural and/or artificial) attractions, histories, people, with other words, elements that might later become motivations of choice, the image is perceived by the receiver and it is supported by the previous experiences and communication strategies of the sender (adapted after Kapferer, 1997, p. 32). Between these two concepts, in most of the cases, there are some differences due to the fact that tourists within their selection process of the tourism destination take into account characteristics such as natural monuments, climate, infrastructure, art monuments, etc., and/or intangible characteristics such as freedom, security, relaxation, energy, etc. Thus, the determination of the target market is essential in destination marketing, since certain aspects of a destination may be positive for a segment and negative for another (Fan, 2006, p. 11).
A sensitive issue of the destination marketing is represented by the fact that the brand identity must remain constant, while the destination image can change over the time due to external/objective factors, or must be renewed after a certain period of time – due to internal/subjective factors (adapted after Mazurek, 2008, p. 31).
Henderson (2007, p. 262) defined the destination image as being “multidimensional, with cognitive and affective spheres (...) an amalgam of the knowledge, feelings, beliefs, opinions, ideas, expectations and impressions that people have about a named location”.
The relationship between brand identity and brand image is mutual (Figure 1). The brand image is a reflection of brand identity and plays an important role in its building. Based on the projected brand identity and through the communication strategies elaborated by the destination marketer, the tourist creates in his mind a destination image, image that is an important factor for the future option. The satisfaction or dissatisfaction that the tourist feels regarding a purchased tourism product depends mainly on the expectations that he had from the destination, on destination image previously held by him and how he perceived the performance at the destination (Pike, 2002, p. 543).
Keller (1993, p. 4) classifies the brand associations into three major categories: attributes, benefits and attitudes. According to the author, attributes are those descriptive features that characterize a brand. In other words, an attribute is what a tourist thinks the brand is or has to offer and what is involved with its purchase or consumption (Qu et al., 2010, p. 3). The benefits that may arise are represented by the personal value that tourists associate with brand attributes in the form of functional, symbolic and experiential attachments – namely, what tourists think the brand can offer them. Brand attitudes are tourists’overall assessments of the brand and represent the underlying mechanism for the consumer behavior (e.g., brand choice).
Therefore, in order to build a destination brand, the marketer must take into account both cognitive and affective skills. Thus, he/she must establish the form/forms of tourism that prevail, and subsequently the appropriate tourism product or products, especially since the tourism destination is not a mere city, but a region (country).
In the context of the current global economy, tourism destinations are in a permanent territorial competition. Since many destinations offer the same product (same territory, same infrastructure, same public education system), they must identify, valorize and promote their competitive (and/or unique) advantages that they held, in order to compete at global level for investments, tourism, political power, etc. (Messely et al., 2010, p. 20).
A region with an effective brand emphasizes elements such as: nature, landscapes, good weather, relaxing ambiance, accessibility, infrastructure (all form the artistic image), and also historical traces, art monuments, regional culture (customs and traditions, spectacles and events), tourism reception facilities (hotels, motels, restaurants, bars, etc.), regional gastronomy (all form the psychological image), stimulates the regional economy (through own products and services that are offered and consumed) and may contribute to the sustainable development of the whole region.
As the national identity ,,is not anythingelse than a summum (and, at the same time, a syntheses) of the regional identities (Moţoc, 2011, p. IV), the national brand too has to constitute itself as a summum and a syntheses of individual / local and regional brands, in order to support the development of a nation (or of a community) by pointing aut, by converging themes, the common values, principles and beliefs“ (processed after Brad, 2011, p. V).
Stăncioiu et al. (2009, p. 287) highlight the great importance that “the family of brands” helds in order to create the identity of a region as a tourism destination. Due to the existence of a great variety of forms of tourism that can be practiced in our country, in the elaboration of the strategy for Romania’s tourism brand, seen as tourism macro-destination, it is necessary to pass through the following successive stages (starting with the country brand): the country tourism brand, the constituent regional tourism brands, local community brand, individual tourism brands (Figure 2). The regional brands (e.g., Muntenia brand) are influenced by the local brands, namely by the individual brands (Figure 3). The individual tourism brands must be starting points in the building process of the regional brands, which will constitute essential elements, absolutely necessary for the country tourism brand.
To enhance the image of a tourism destination, starting from the peculiarity of the perceived image by the residents of various tourism regions, this study is necessary to be carried on with the perceived image of the foreigners (whether tourists or visitors, i.e. temporary users), of non-visitors (those that do not wish to visit the destination in the following period of time from emotional and rational reasons), then of return visitors (those that keep in mind particular images and later compare them to the existing image) and ending with the perceived images of the professionals who record, analyze and then create artistic or psychological images (adapted after Stăncioiu et al., 2009, p. 285).
The sum of the above mentioned perceptions builds the tourism destination image. The importance of an accurate analysis of the destination image arises from the fact that the following stages in the strategic planning of the destination, namely the audit (destination audit and marketing audit), the market segmentation and targeting, the SWOT analysis (of the destination and of every market segment), the determination of positioning objectives (for destination marketing and branding), and then, considering the tourism products provided by the main competitors (competitor analysis), the determination of the marketing objectives to attract each settled target market must all be performed in the same time as they are common to both the marketing planning of the tourism organization and the elaboration of the destination brand strategy.
2. Methodological framework
The aim of the research, assuming that the country brand includes the brand regions under its umbrella, was to identify to what extent perceptions of the residents from different regions of Romania regarding each region may help in the construction of its identity and image, and also in the elaboration of the destination marketing strategy. The knowledge of the respondents regarding the other tourism micro-destinations of Romania, their feelings and sensory experiences provide a great opportunity to have an overview of their perceived and/or experienced identity in the places that they have visited.
Thus, it was intended to identify the main forms of tourism for each region and the representative tourism attractions, that young people aged 20-24 years, actual and potential tourists, associate them with different micro- destinations of Romania (Muntenia, Oltenia, Banat, Crişana, Transylvania, Maramureş, Bucovina, Moldavia, Dobrogea). In October-December 2010 – January 2011, a statistical survey was conducted within more Romanian university centers (Bucharest, Braşov, Sibiu, etc.). In order to ensure the representativeness, four regions (Banat, Crişana, Moldavia and Maramureş) were merged into two, namely Banat-Crişana and Moldavia and Maramureş.