Politics, power and passion: regional destination branding in North East Victoria, Australia

In 2005, Tourism Victoria, the State Government tourism marketing authority, set about rebranding North East Victoria, one of the 11 statutory regional tourism areas in the State. Previously branded Legends, Wine and High Country, the new brand name for the region was Victoria's High Country. The objective ofthe re-branding was to reverse the trend of declining visitation to North East Victoria, to address low awareness and recognition of the previous brand name, and to overcome real and perceived challenges faced by the region in appealing to its target visitor markets. However, what soon became apparent was dissonance and dissent among the local destination communities and tourism stakeholder base about the new brand and its applicability to a region created by artificial boundaries that meant little to these stakeholders. Moreover, the varied cultural and physiographical sub-regions, and the many local rural communities encompassed within the region, collectively presented considerable challenges to those seeking to establish a credible regional tourism brand. The result was a compromised legitimacy of the regional umbrella brand, which manifested in a lack of cooperation and even conflict among regional tourism stakeholders, which in turn led to inconsistency in the delivery ofthe brand.