The Relationship of City Branding and Tourist Promotion: The Case of Plymouth (UK) and Malaga (Spain)

In the global market cities compete in the brand image they create, this message has to be convincing and precise. In order to build - images just a few urban features are chosen, which can be material such as built heritage, infrastructure or iconic architecture. However, non-material aspects like historic references, an attractive way of life and cultural values are becoming crucial when trying to link local economic strategies and tourist promotion, particularly when specializing in urban tourism segments such as history and culture, meetings, incentives, conferences and events. To create this symbolic world, guidebooks, marketing material and tourism planning documents play a key role. We have analyzed this process in the cities of Plymouth and Malaga Plymouth concentrates on presenting itself as a city of discovery, while Malaga focuses on showing its relationship with the locally-born painter Pablo Picasso. In both cases there has been a shift from totally different aspects depending on the period. We have analyzed the symbolic identity of both cities throughout guidebooks starting from mid-19th century, and we have compared these messages with the one included in current information given to visitors and tourist plans.