City Branding : - What do you expect?

Sammanfattning: Background: It has become easy for tourists to visit different countries and cities for vacation due to the globalized world one live in today. Because of the consumers desire to travel and the tough competition among cities, emphasis have been put on city branding with the aim of making a consumer chose a specific city to visit instead of competing ones. In order to create a strong city brand it is important to look at the tourists’ expectations of a city, to get an understanding of what is expected from the consumer and what a city brand should work on in order to get satisfied visitors. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explain what attributes of a city brand that impact the overall expectation of a potential consumer. Methodology: This is a quantitative study analyzing the 313 answers of conducted questionnaire. The authors have used both a simple and a multiple linear regression to test seven different hypotheses. Conclusion: This research shows that there are six attributes that has a positive impact, these six can explain 77,7% of the overall expectations towards a city brand of a consumer. These attributes are; infrastructure, attraction, uniqueness, expected enjoyment, value for money and word-of-mouth. Expected enjoyment and value for money were the most important attributes when people decide on a trip. Key Words: City branding, destination branding, place branding, expectations, tourism.