Destination Storytelling as a Destination Branding Tool

Introduction

Stories have a very important place in human life (Gottschall, 2012). People often communicate by telling stories to each other. Stories are spread over a deep and wide area in the human mind. The story is at the centre of human understanding and without the story, there is no identity, self, or anything else (Lewis, 2011). Stories have always fascinated people and are easier to remember than facts. Well-told stories about a brand can affect feelings as well as induce cognitive and behavioural responses about the brand (Lundqvist et al., 2012). Considering that consumers are intuitively looking for brands that offer more than products or services, the importance of storytelling for businesses is well understood (Smith and Wintrob, 2013). The way tourism businesses present their stories can have an impact on the behaviour of tourists. For this reason, storytelling is needed for tourism brands to build a strong identity. Since brand management includes a communication process, brand stories are one of the most powerful ways to express the essence of the brand, its history, and what it represents (Ryu et al., 2018).

Stories have been used to transfer the knowledge and cultures of human beings from generation to generation (Reamy, 2002). This process has become faster and easier thanks to the many possibilities developed in today’s world. As competition between destinations increases, the transfer of culture, knowledge, and experiences about destinations has gained importance for destination marketing and branding activities. This is where storytelling comes into play. Stories have become an innovative communication channel for destinations (Hagen, 2008). Accommodation, transportation, food and beverage activities are the base of tourism classically. But nowadays it has become necessary to promise a memorable experience to potential tourists. Tourists no longer want to just buy a service, they also want to have the stories behind the service or the destination. From this point of view, storytelling has become indispensable for destinations (Mossberg et al., 2010).

Storytelling is one of the most impressive ways of telling the story of the destination (Soon Choi, 2016). Destinations have started to adopt storytelling to tell tourists what they have to offer (Youssef et al., 2018). Storytelling helps connect destination brands and tourists. Also, it has an impact on tourist experiences. Stories that place destinations in the minds of potential tourists can be highly influential and shape the actual journey (Moin et al., 2020). Stories make destinations memorable and enable tourists to dream about the destination (Salazar, 2012).

Destinations convey to people a cultural, natural, or historical feature that makes it unique and not available in other destinations through stories (Olsson et al., 2013). Stories include location, action, attributes, issues, and characters that give meaning, create empathy and provide a convenient means for communicating brand messages to consumers (Moin et al., 2020). When this situation is considered in terms of destination branding, potential tourists can be informed about the character, place, etc., about the destination. Storytelling significantly affects the brand value of the tourism destination. This brand equity is also effective on the behavioural intentions of tourists (Soon Choi, 2016).