The failure of using festivals for destination branding: Inconsistency between the destinations and the festival

Events are part of the attraction of a destination and as such should be included in the integrated marketing for the destination and incorporated into a destination's branding strategy. This implies the need to evaluate the contribution of an event not just in terms of the direct financial contribution that it generates but also in terms of its consistency with the destination brand values. Consistency as an evaluation criteria concerns how (and if) the interrelationships among the elements of the marketing mix enhance destination brand equity. This paper uses content analysis to demonstrate the importance of incorporating consistency as an evaluation criterion of an event. In particular, the results of a content analysis performed using Australian newspaper articles from 1998-2005 show that the set of negative association related to Schoolies week appears to be inconsistent with the brand values of the Gold Coast as expressed in the brand 'VeryGC'.