Abstract

Cities are critical to tourism in all countries of the world. They are often important transportation hubs and contain extensive arrays of daytime and night-time attractions, activities and experiences. The main purpose of this chapter is to situate the tourism marketing, branding and product development of urban areas within the context of destination marketing and management. A descriptive research approach is followed using literature reviewing and expert opinion on the themes. In so doing, the author acknowledges that two streams of urban tourism research have developed, one stream within tourism journals, books and association professional development activities; the other stream, one sub-stream of which can be called place marketing and branding, appears in similar venues related to urban studies and planning, city management, sustainable development, transportation and other. Furthermore, it is recognised that there has been a considerable gap between city marketing practice and related academic scholarship, and both have developed rather separately.