Just published in print - "Let the journey begin (again): The branding of Myanmar

One of my favorite countries from my recent Semester at Sea voyage, Myanmar is an amazing place to visit. This article looks at how the country is trying to establish itself as a popular tourism destination after decades of isolation. The abstract of the paper is below, but a free download is available until the end of January at https://lnkd.in/djd8EkZ

Abstract

This paper tracks the history of destination marketing and branding in Myanmar, focusing on the challenges associated with changing a negative destination image. Through a theoretical lens based on image theory, the paper uses a case study approach to explore how a country such as Myanmar can alter a prolonged negative destination image. The analysis shows that although marketers in Myanmar are moving beyond a cosmetic approach to destination branding, the long-term strategies in place to improve Myanmar’s image could be called into question. The country faces many challenges, including a lack of trained human resources, and insufficient public services and infrastructure for tourism, so the journey to rebrand Myanmar as a competitive tourism destination will be a long one.