Place Promotion

Historical Context

Efforts to promote places as tourism destinations and attract investment capital have been undertaken since the 1840s. Early place promotion efforts were begun by private firms seeking to develop the frontier regions. In particular, U.S. railroad companies were given government land grants to exploit. Encouraging settlers to homestead in order to create demand for railroad service entailed advertising campaigns extolling (and exaggerating) the virtues of farming the frontier. Railroads and resorts partnered to promote health tourism and the qualities of beaches in the late 1800s. The evolution of mass transit in the 1900s led to the earliest promotion of suburbs, invoking images of healthy homes away from industrial city cores. With current reliance on the automobile, the selling of the suburb continues. Attracting industries and selling the advantages that one location might have over other places led to an era of place promotion combined with the provision of incentives and policies that continues today. These efforts were often antilabor, to lure industrial plants, and tax breaks were given to attract corporates.

As cities declined during the deindustrialization of Western Europe and North America, efforts to remake city images dominated. Bereft of their industrial economic base, cities turned toward services, shopping, and the creation of spectacles. Downtown shopping centers, sports arenas, and entertainment districts were incorporated in urban redevelopment projects in the 1960s and 1990s, a practice that continues today. Cities compete for assets such as conventions, professional sports franchises, and other markers of urban success in the 21st century. Culture also became vital to the image of cities, with Europe, Canada, and the United States overseeing efforts to develop science and education centers, aquariums, and museums focused on niche sports and local cultures to attract tourists and attention.

Academic Foci

Most research on place promotion can be classified roughly into two categories. The first is the application of marketing to places, and the second is debates about whether this is effective. An important question at the heart of these marketing efforts is whether a place can be marketed in the same way as a package of toilet paper or foodstuffs; many scholars argue that, with some adjustments, it can be. Others counter that the complexity of places requires the use of strategies specific to tourism or economic development. This research aims to improve the process of place promotion and its counterpart, place marketing, to provide cities and regions with the capacity to effectively lure tourism and investment.

The second category consists of critical perspectives on place promotion. Researchers working from this perspective argue that place promotion efforts are partial descriptions of cities and regions and thus leave out many voices of people who wish to have a stake in creating the [Page 2192]image of the city. They argue that elite business leaders and politicians go to great lengths to control the image of a city—a city's “brand,” as it is referred to by practitioners. This implies an undemocratic process and the exclusion of other stakeholders’ perspectives on the place being promoted. Others point out that only select parts of places are highlighted in tourism and economic promotion efforts, often reflecting the racial and class divisions that all places contain.

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