INTEGRATING SUSTAINABILITY INTO DESTINATIONS BRANDING: A LITERATURE BASED-REVIEW

In today’s global challenges, sustainability is no longer a choice but a necessity. Particularly in destination branding, sustainability is a core value that significantly influences tourist choices and shapes the image of destinations worldwide. Therefore, destinations require sustainable branding that meets travellers' expectations, enhances the destination’s image and reputation, preserves cultural heritage, protects natural beauty, fosters economic growth, promotes sustainable use of resources, and minimizes climate change and environmental degradation. However, the literature on destination branding lacks a comprehensive conceptual framework for sustainable destination branding. Hence, developing a conceptual framework for sustainable destination branding is essential to provide theoretical and practical contributions. This review aimed at filling a gap in literature by mapping how sustainability is integrated in destination branding by developing a sustainable destination branding conceptual framework. The study proposes a conceptual framework for sustainable destination branding by systematically analyzing and synthesizing insights from 62 peer-reviewed journal articles indexed in the Scopus database. These articles are confined to journal articles published in English discussing sustainable destination branding topic s. The evaluation of articles involves assessing the quality and eligibility of the articles through specific inclusion and exclusion criteria. The study highlights environmental, social, economic, and geopolitical dimensions as key considerations for sustainable destination branding. The study's findings also underscore the significance of sustainability in strengthening sustainable destination branding. While contributing to the existing body of literature, the paper provides a valuable conceptual and theoretical framework for the advancement of sustainable destination branding. Moreover, this review helps to guide future research and inform policy makers, destination marketers, and tourism stakeholders in developing sustainably-driven destination branding.