The Urban Sensescapes and Sensory Destination Branding

Abstract

The sensory attractiveness of destinations has recently been one of the most important focal points when considering the impact of senses on positive and memorable travel experiences. Specifically, urban areas reflect different multisensory dimensions that can be analyzed and included in marketing efforts to stimulate positive tourists' experience and memory of a place, but also to encourage local sustainable development. Despite the fact that tourism studies center tourist experience mainly on visual impressions, recent researches stress the importance of recognizing and understanding the role of the human body in forming positive experiences, which is in tourism literature known as sensescapes (i.e., tactile, visual, gustatory, olfactory, and auditory senses).