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2021/2022  BA-BSEMV2021U  Destination Branding and Management

English Title
Destination Branding and Management

Course information
Language English
Course ECTS 7.5 ECTS
Type Elective
Level Bachelor
Duration One Quarter
Start time of the course Autumn, First Quarter
Timetable Course schedule will be posted at calendar.cbs.dk
Min. participants 45
Max. participants 80
Study board
Study Board for BSc in Service Management
Course coordinator
  • Erik Braun - Department of Marketing (Marketing)
Main academic disciplines
  • Communication
  • Service management
Teaching methods
  • Face-to-face teaching
Last updated on 02-02-2021

Relevant links
Learning objectives
This course aims to introduce to the students the complexity of marketing and managing destinations. The specific learning objectives of the course are the following:
  • Describe and to discuss the assumptions that underlie the various marketing concepts from marketing, branding, communication, as well as from the presented consumer behaviour studies.
  • Describe and to discuss place and stakeholder management models.
  • Identify and analyse the relationship between relevant models, concepts and theories from the curriculum.
  • Analyse and explain the differences between the profit, non-profit and non-tradtional tourism sectors (i.e., tourism and general place marketing).
  • Evaluate different destination branding and management strategies for their usability in the area.
  • Apply these models and concepts, singly or combined to fit a concrete case situation under study and critically assess the value and relevance of models, concepts and theories presented throughout the course in relation to their practical application in a relevant case.
  • To follow academic conventions in the written presentation.
Course prerequisites
Please note: an undergraduate-level knowledge of the basic principles of marketing is expected of all students.
Examination
Destination Branding and Management:
Exam ECTS 7,5
Examination form Home assignment - written product
Individual or group exam Individual exam
Size of written product Max. 10 pages
Assignment type Case based assignment
Duration 2 weeks to prepare
Grading scale 7-point grading scale
Examiner(s) One internal examiner
Exam period Autumn
Make-up exam/re-exam
Same examination form as the ordinary exam
*if the student fails the ordinary exam they have to do the re-exam with the same case, but new questions regarding the case.
Description of the exam procedure

The exam is an individual, home written assignment (written product; take-home exam) with a maximum of 10 pages. The student will receive a specific case and detailed questions regarding the case. In a 2 weeks’ time the students should analyse the case and apply knowledge gained through the course to answer these questions as written in the learning objectives.
Course content, structure and pedagogical approach

Today destinations are in strong competition for visitors, investments and general attention. Therefore, places are increasingly run like ‘businesses’. In order to differentiate one destination from another, marketers increasingly focus on establishing the destination as a brand and adopt other marketing techniques in order to better promote and ‘sell’ their place to its existing and potential target groups. Unfortunately, marketers often underestimate the complexity – due to the fact that places are complex products themselves and that the needs and wants of the different stakeholder groups vary widely. This also calls for a more complex destination management approach.

In this course, we will explore various concepts from tourism, general marketing and destination/place management. At the same time we will also discuss the social problems we create by making a place ‘too much’ of a business. Therefore, we will highlight the special role of stakeholder management. By this means, students should not only be able understand and use strategies in destination branding and management at the end, but also see the benefits for a more holistic approach in this regards.

This course is a cross-disciplinary and research-based course, integrating findings from tourism, general marketing, geography, management, and public administration. The aim is to introduce the holistic logic of marketing and translate this approach carefully for destination management.

This course requires no previous knowledge (but an undergraduate-level knowledge of the basic principles of marketing is expected) and is open to different disciplines. To each lecture the reading of one or two scientific articles is mandatory (reading list will be given).
Description of the teaching methods
Through providing an overview of relevant literature about content and methods, as well as some hands-on insights from research practice the course is designed to be highly interactive. The course builds upon the principles of active learning: students are expected to comment on readings, and do group exercises (e.g., Oxford debates) throughout the course.
The course will start with an introductory session at which the course co-ordinator will explain the rationale and structure of the course, the course aims, the literature base, and the structure of the exam.
Feedback during the teaching period
Students will receive feedback in various forms during the course: For instance, through discussions in class, collegial-feedback from a voluntary home-written assignment (test-exam), and written feedback after the exam.
Student workload
Preparation 126 hours
Teaching 30 hours
Exam 50 hours
Further Information

Tourism
Expected literature

No fitting teaching book available. Thus, the course will work with 16 scientific articles as mandatory reading.
Last updated on 02-02-2021