The emerging representation of 'Brand Poland' within the European Union

Abstract

This research study investigates the emerging representation of the brand Poland in the context of implementation of destination branding to the practice of country promotion. The main emphasis is put on the role of meaningful practices undertaken by international and domestic tourism managers and policy makers in constructing and reconstructing the representation of Poland in the broad context of the country‟s EU membership. The researcher does this by studying the examples of national and destination branding practices as well as the levels of understanding and appreciation of destination and national branding among people working in key organisations responsible for tourism and destination promotion both on the Polish domestic level and the level of relevant EU institutions. As national and destination branding is a relatively new phenomenon, specific focus is put on the critical analysis of the perceptions held about it among high ranking officials. The researcher pays particular attention to the power held by tourism in mediating identities of nations and destinations and the role that place branding plays or could play in this equation. The researcher focuses her study on two distinct but nevertheless connected locations: Brussels as a power and knowledge hub of the European Union and Warsaw as the power and knowledge hub of Poland. For reasons of methodological fit this interpretative study relies upon qualitative methods conducted via an emergent research design. Therefore the study is not driven by an up-front hypothesis, but is conducted via qualitative research bricoleurship approach. The research study concludes that although destination and national branding is universally familiar to the experts in the field of tourism and promotion, power holders and decision makers are lagging behind in understanding, appreciation and implementation of these new tools. This is particularly reflected in the case of Poland where first attempts at devising and implementing a national branding strategy were made but failed to be implemented due to budgetary and decision-making constraints at the level of power-holders. A striking conclusion is that in the case of Poland, the main causes of this lack of implementation of a national branding strategy are the very values and virtues that such a strategy might seem to promote. Nevertheless, the researcher observes a growing understanding and appreciation of the long-term benefits of a well designed and implemented branding strategy and its potentially great impact on tourism among the relevant decision-makers both in Brussels and in Poland.