NATION BRANDS AND TOURIST DESTINATIONS – AN EXPLORATORY
    ANALYSIS OF ROMANIA IN THE CONTEXT OF CENTRAL AND
                 EASTERN EUROPE MARKETS

                                  Virgil Balaure, Professor PhD
                              Romanian-American University Bucharest

                               Călin Vegheş, Associate Professor PhD
                               Academy of Economic Studies Bucharest


ABSTRACT: Creation, development and employment of brands have recently become activities that
tend to expand beyond the sphere of marketing communication of the organization and generating
significant effects over the results of marketing activities and overall performances of the
organizations.
Paper intends to approach in an exploratory manner the way brands contribute to the image
development of the tourist destinations based on a comparative analysis of the performances
generated by the nation brands used to promote different national tourist destinations in Romania
and other Central and Eastern Europe countries.

Keywords: nation brands, tourist destinations, communication

JEL Codes: M31