Local Community and the Destination Branding Strategies of DMOs : A Case Study of the Hi! Seoul Festival

For sustainability of festival, supports from local community is inevitable. Thus, it is important for destinationmarketing organizations (DMOs) to know what the community identity is and how it can be reflected in destinationbranding and in the festivals themselves to boost the destination’s image as a tourist destination. From this point ofviews, this study used a case study of the Hi! Seoul Festival in Seoul, South Korea, to provide insight into theimportance of community identity in festivals held for destination branding. In addition, by assessing Seoul’sstrengths and weaknesses in portraying its image in festivals, the study was to provide information to other DMOsthat are planning or holding festivals as a way of destination branding. Content analysis, expert interviews withpractitioners and in-depth interviews with local residents were conducted. The findings indicate that local communityidentity is generally reflected as a tool of destination branding (i.e., cohesiveness, culturally international and diverse,and open-mindedness and friendliness), but simple reflection of community identity does not yield optimal returns interms of achieving the purpose of the festival. This research identifies the importance of reflecting communityidentity in festivals and discusses how to reflect community identity in festivals in order to support destinationbranding. The interpretations of the findings and their managerial implications are discussed.