Place Branding: A way to correct the negative image of sex tourism

Place branding has been important in areas including tourism, country positioning in international market, and the protection of local producers of agricultural and manufactured products. Research and practice in each area, has developed independently of the others, even though they all revolve around the same notions of place branding. The opening of new emerging markets, labour shortages in technology, and the overall globalisation of markets, have resulted in greatly intensified global competition for increasing exports and for attracting everything from investment and tourism to foreign students and skilled labour. In turn, this has served to focus attention on place branding, which is likely to have a major impact worldwide as well as on India also. As an emerging and developing country, India has recognised the need to enhance the nation's branding in order to compete in the competitive global marketplace. The Branding India project was initiated by the Indian Government to find out how people worldwide view the nation's strengths and weaknesses. One of the most important issues placing India at a significant disadvantage is the image of sex tourism. This paper illustrates the current situation and analyses the root causes of sex exploitation and perceptual problems. Place branding strategies are proposed to correct the present negative image by placing emphasis on positive characteristics in order to suppress negative perceptions. These strategies include the development of brand positioning through promotional campaigns that use positive features, such as natural beauty and local hospitality, Spirituality and communication tools such as slogans, themes, visual symbols and events. This paper reviews place branding, discusses implications for government, business and research, and calls for integration of the various streams of thought in order to enhance our understanding of the field. Keywords: Place branding, Goa, sex tourism, prostitution, negative image, communication tools, brand personality