Cultural heritage and nation branding – multi stakeholder perspectives from Portugal

ABSTRACT

This paper aims to explore how cultural heritage knowledge leverage country branding and contribute to developing a competitive identity. More specifically, we try to understand the role of visitor experiences and the community’s engagement in this dynamic process. The study focused on Portugal’s country brand and the Portuguese cultural heritage market. Based on the content analysis of the interview scripts of public decision-makers, museum/site managers, academics, and a tourism entrepreneur, the study offers exploratory findings regarding the roles performed by public entities and other institutions and the means used to attract visitors to heritage sites and encourage the engagement of the different ‘actors’ in cultural heritage experiences. Results indicate that cultural heritage represents a dimension of country identity and a driving factor of the tourism sector for Portugal.

KEYWORDS:

• Country branding
• nation branding
• archaeological and cultural heritage image
• competitive country brand identity
• community engagement
• visitor experience

Acknowledgments

We thank all the interviewees for their time, availability and insightful contributions. We are also grateful to the anonymous reviewers for constructive criticism and valuable comments on the manuscript of this article. The authors are past members of Working Group 3 “Archaeology and global communities” of ARKWORK – Archaeological practices and knowledge work in the digital environment (COST Action CA15201), and acknowledge financial support by the European Cooperation in Science and Technology – COST Programme.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Helena Nobre

Helena Nobre is an Assistant Professor, with Habilitation, at the Dept. of Economics, Management, Industrial Engineering and Tourism, and Researcher at the Research Unit of Governance, Competitiveness and Public Policy (GOVCOPP), at the University of Aveiro. She is an Associate Editor of the RBGN-Review of Business Management (Web of Science), and a member of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Consumer Studies Impact factor:3.864 2020 Journal Citation Reports (Clarivate Analytics): 82/153 (Business). She was the first Portuguese Delegate of the Management Committee of COST ARKWORK Project (2016–2021), supported by the EU Framework Programme Horizon 2020. Her main research topics are Branding and Consumer Behaviour; and her work is published in reputable academic journals. She held a position as Adjunct Assistance Professor at Boston University.

Ana Sousa

Ana Sousa is a Post-Doctoral Fellowship at COMEGI, of the University Lusíada and an Associate Researcher at GOVCOPP of the University of Aveiro. She holds a PhD in Marketing and Strategy from the University of Minho, Portugal. She holds a Master in Marketing and Business Administration and a Degree in Business Management from ISAG - European Business School, and a Degree in Psychology from the University of Porto. Her research interests are Country Image, Place Branding, Consumer Behaviour, Cultural Heritage and International Marketing.