The promotion of a tourist destination through the definition of the "concept" in a sensorial perspective

According to Anholt, the brand of a tourist destination expresses and sustains its identity; it should depict the main characteristics of the territory and its contents and for this reason it should represent the synthesis, the result rather than the starting point of its promotion. At the operational level there is a widespread tendency of the policy makers to develop the brand strategy of a destination by launching advertising campaigns that enlighten the territorial attractors, aiming to stress the tourist appeal of some geographical areas. In this case the main strategic efforts are usually oriented to develop and support a “comparative" advantage rather than a “competitive” one. An innovative way to take in consideration the local attractors is to select those ones that can be enrolled in an sensorial experience. A content analysis of the institutional websites dedicated to the tourist promotion of the Italian regions, carried out by adopting a qualitative approach, shows a prevalent consideration of the landscape to be admired and typical products to taste, while other sensorial dimensions – i.e. the “touch” – appears substantially neglected on the basis of the selected keywords. Therefore, referred to an experiential (sensorial) perspective of tourism, other uncovered contents may be communicated: there is a potential success in the definition of a tourist destination also covering the smells, sounds and tactile perceptions of the territory. In this direction the study offers some prescriptive remarks in terms of destination strategy and highlights the policy implications for an adequate promotion of the territory, further potentially enriched by considering a sensorial brand definition.