Journal of Tourism, Hospitality and Sports www.iiste.org ISSN (Paper) 2312-5187 ISSN (Online) 2312-5179 An International Peer-reviewed Journal Vol.19, 2016 1 Destination Branding: Marketing Dire Dawa as an Appealing Tourist Destination Mulugeta Girma Belay Adissu Lecturer, Department of Marketing Management, Dire Dawa University, Dire Dawa, Ethiopia Abstract The purpose of study is to find Branding strategies to market Dire Dawa as an appealing tourist destination. Mixed approaches with 345 usable samples were used to collect data from respondents purposively and relevant data were gathered, presented and analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistical techniques. The finding reveals the city image and perceptions is developed through word of mouth communication rather than attributes themselves and personal experience .Also it find out that the most influential attributes in determining destination choices is over all assuredness of being safe from physical harm and the major challenges for marketing Dire Dawa includes ,lack of effort to rejuvenate tourists perception, failure to segment the market, shortage of recreational place and brand illusion with Harrar. So, the administration needs to work on safety and re-build ongoing brand by encompassing the strategy with flagship destination brand and slogan. Keywords: Destination Marketing; Destination Branding; City Marketing; Brand Ambassadors; brand illusion Introduction In today’s globalized world, every city has to compete with other cities for the share of different kinds of audiences including tourists (Kampshulte A., 1999) And tourists’ interest to visit destination depend on image [1] which defined as consumer perceptions of a place as reflected by the brand associations and asset owned on the areas and held in consumer’s memory (Girma, M.2016) Whereas tourism is the activities of persons travelling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one year for leisure, business and other purposes (Middleton, V. T .et.al.,2009) and recognized as one of the key sectors of development in all countries and a major source of income, jobs and wealth creation in addition to its wider role in promoting the image and international perception a given destination (Hankinson, G.,2005). Nowadays the competition among tourist destination is fierce due to the increasing international tourism and each destination has an image; some can have a stronger image than others so, it is important to understand how tourists perceive these places, as well as how their images influence final choice (Vaughan, R.D., 2007 and Pike, S. 2009) destination positioning effort (Vaughan, R.D., 2007 and Blichfeldt, B. S. 2003) which finally leading to the concept of destination marketing (Middleton, V. T .et.al., 2009) .It has been proven that positive brand images of cities have helped destination to building reputation (Juan A. García.,2012) Understand destination image and visitors’ perceptions(Sirakaya Eet.al. 2001) helps to reinforce positive images already held by the target audience, correct negative images, or create a new image (Pike, S., & Ryan, C.2004). Having the above, understanding destination based on tourism attributes helps to insight tourism practitioners for effective and efficient destination promotion to the target consumers and on creating destination image by understanding of the images held by consumers(Alcaniz, E. B.,et.al., 2005 and , Gartner, W. C.1993). On this regard, Previous 28 studies conducted on tourist destination branding shows, the cognitive, affective and unique image components have great contribution to the overall image formation and destination branding (Woodside, A. G., 1989). And his study focus on the marketing of the Dire Dawa as an appealing tourist destination by emphasizing on the most widely accepted influential indicators of destination image component. Problem Statement Consumers these days perceive that world to be a smaller place, with international travel more accessible than ever. As global tourism competition rises, it is important that the city invest in this industry and make focused marketing efforts in order to compete with other destinations worldwide (Morgan, N., & Pritchard, A.2002) and to cope up with such competition, destinations need to build the best possible image by identifying points that the city should enhance or on which segment of the market it needs to focus (Lacerda, António 2012). Although the world has so many beautiful place, some of these destinations with more captivating locations are not chosen by visitors(Gartner, W. C.1993) and this lead to increase interest of researchers to conducted on destination marketing (Pike, S.,2008) and they argue that a unique and appealing image of a destination needs to be regarded as an important brand association to influence the image of a destination brand by creating a differentiated destination image in competitive marketplace where various destinations compete intensely(Gartner, W. C.1993). Having the above, destinations branding depend on their image on success in attracting tourists and even if the image is frozen in time and no longer represents a true picture of the place city like Dire Dawa fail to market its destination though the administration is known by its trading centers, and has its own numerous cultural and historical heritages assets (Bekele, S.,1989)As to the preliminary study conducted by the researchers, in Dire Dawa,