Building the ‘Morocco’ brand as a tourist destination: The role of emigrants and institutional websites

The concept of branding is experiencing an evolutionary process that is leading to its use outside a purely business context. In particular, this concept is now being applied at a regional level through the emergence of place branding and destination branding. Effective management of tourist destination brands may have a bearing on the image and on the regeneration process of a particular area, attracting visitors and investment, which ultimately translate to greater economic wealth for the region. All these arguments justify the importance of the proper management and use of destination branding, although this is a complex task. The main objective of this exploratory work is twofold. On the one hand, it aims to determine the key aspects of the role played by Moroccan emigrants living in Spain in the construction of their country of origin’s brand; and on the other hand, it aims to reflect their perspective on the Moroccan Government’s brand management through the use of websites. The findings of this study sum up the most relevant factors of Moroccan emigrants’ identity that influence their country’s brand and raise doubts about the effectiveness of institutional websites to construct a proper brand for Morocco.