A new tool for city decision makers: the new 'Expériences\ud Touristiques Company' branding tool approach

This paper explores the subjective components that make up the structure of a city's brand. Fieldwork was carried out to test a new way of assessing the public's image of a city based on the differences and similarities of perceptions between residents and tourists. The main objectives of this study were to gather sufficient information to construct a useful prototype tool for place branding analysis and city development. The approach involved using a live touristic experience "sketch coffee event", enabling the development of a qualitative and quantitative approach to create a specific index of city brand image based on lived experiences - called the NHDI score index. The findings and conclusions support the view that the approach offers a strategic way to overcome some branding problems in today's market place for cities. It provides tactical decision making frameworks for a city's spatial and urban development stakeholders.