Destination governance and internal branding as antecedents of destination brand development: an exploratory study on Edinburgh

Destination governance, DMO coordination of stakeholders and internal branding can all be regarded as pre-conditions necessary to develop a successful destination brand. However, the way a DMO coordinates stakeholders and the relationships existing between destination governance and branding are topics so far neglected. Adopting a supply side perspective, this paper highlights the mechanisms available to a DMO for coordinating stakeholders and attempts to explain in what way internal branding and coordination have an impact on the destination brand. In order to study these topics, a case-study methodology based on qualitative methods was applied to the city of Edinburgh