THE ROLE OF WELLNESS IN DESTINATION BRANDING – A CROSS-COUNTRY ANALYSIS OF CROATIAN VS. MALTA'S ISLANDS

ABSTRACT

Wellness in different forms is growing in importance in the lifestyles of many travelers, therefore the offer side is constantly innovating and increasing its appealing products and services. DMOs should support these providers in reaching their target markets, which represents the purpose of this paper. It is well known, branding is one of the key tools in communicating the attractiveness of a tourist destination. The main research question which reflects the aim is how are DMOs incorporating the concept of wellness in their destination branding marketing activities? This problem is researched on the examples of Croatian and Malta island destinations.