City branding and the tourist gaze

Abstract

Abstract Urban tourism is a fast growing segment in the worldwide tourism market. Thanks to the growth of easyJet, Ryanair and a number of other low cost carriers, city trips have become increasingly popular. To be sure, Dutch couples and families still take the car or train to Amsterdam for a weekend break. For the same amount of money, however, they can book an all inclusive cheap flight to Valencia. Planning a city trip has become easy: nowadays, more than half of European consumers arrange their holidays on their personal computer. Not surprisingly, competition between cities for tourists has intensified (Selby, 2004).