City branding strategies of Hermosillo: reflections of culture, heritage, identity, and tourism in the political institutions

Abstract

Latin American metropolises have recently joined the worldwide competition of being consolidated as a touristic attraction and a venue for international events, but many of them are not prepared for such competition. City branding seeks to promote their identity, heritage and cultural resources to attract tourism. But sometimes marketing strategies are not the most appropriate or those assets are promoted in an artificial way by institutions that don’t seem to know certainly what they want to convey, such as Hermosillo case. The key purpose of this paper is to analyze and redefine those fundamental concepts that we noticed are mistakenly raised and promoted by these institutions’ stratums. Thus, through this reflection we suggest that the implementation of strategies seem to be prefabricated formula. It is valid to promote cultural tourism in a restricted social context? What does Hermosillo needs to ensure a genuine local development without been excluded of international recognition?