Destination Branding Through Tourism Festivals of Khasi Hills and Garo Hills Region Meghalaya in India: Case of Cherry Blossom Festivals and Me.gong Festival

Introduction

Festival is the most fascinating aspect to showcase the culture, rituals, customs and traditions, all kinds of seasonal variations i.e., summer, winter, spring, autumn, and monsoon which also have directly connected with economic and social activities of our life associated with agriculture and horticulture-based activities like seeding, sowing, reaping, and harvesting, etc. The festivals always start with ceremonial synergy, happiness, enthusiasm, and rituals, and connect with a particular destination and local culture as well as pro-active participation of festival stakeholders. Hosting destinations and festival attractiveness are inextricably linked (Li., Dai., Tang., & Chen, 2020). In the early studies 1990s on cultural festivals, festival management simultaneously was a vital part of event management research. Festival and event tourism has been one of the fastest-growing area of research and practice worldwide (Getz, 1991; Nicholson & Pearce, 2001),

The concept of destination branding came into being because of the tourist industry's increasing rivalry. Destination branding, often known as destination marketing, is a package of tourism offerings, experiences, and events delivered through an innovative tourist-friendly strategy. The development of destination branding is always a difficult process. It creates a favourable impression of the location in the eyes of tourists. Moreover, travellers form their expectations based on previous experiences (Rahman., Masud., Akhtar., & Hossain, 2021). The goal of destination branding is to advertise a certain place to visitors from other nations (Rahman et al., 2021) by providing a lucrative package of travel-related goods and services in the most upscale way possible. To create a favourable impression of that site in the minds of potential consumers and support them in remembering it, destination branding portrays and distinguishes a specific location amid a multitude of competing destinations (Hankinson, 2005). When it comes to establishing a marketing plan, branding is critical. Just as products, services, and organisations are all branded. Cities can also be promoted in this manner. Cities have a variety of elements, such as culture, art, legacy, and natural resources. translates to complex identities that exist in the minds of customers. Meanwhile, these characteristics work together to create a distinct picture in the eyes of customers. Because a brand represents what exists in the minds of customers rather than what the marketer seeks to communicate through the brand (de Chernatony and McDonald, 1992). In the present context, most destinations are using events and festivals as tools to promote the destination. Since, festivals and touristic events boost the visibility of host communities, drawing tourists and driving up spending, which helps local economies. Local governments provide the majority of the funding for these events because they want to demonstrate the value of their expenditures by evaluating the events' economic effects. Numerous studies have been conducted on the effects of tourism and tourist events, festivals in particular. However, there is still disagreement over the most accurate manner to assess their contributions to regional economies.

The Cherry blossom festival is a kind of event where we welcome the blooming of cherry tree flowers. Years ago, this festival was usually celebrated in Japan, South Korea, Australia and America. Now Meghalaya is also celebrating it on a very large scale just like other countries of the world. In the first three days, people and also the organiser were sad since there is no cherry blossom flowers in the trees but their hope and expectation didn’t come to waste since the flower started to bloom right on time before the closing of the festival. Now almost all the trees are blooming and bring beauty and picturesque that cover the city in pink and white colour (Demetriou, 2019). There are the following seven features of festival tourism: 1.) short period of time visit; 2.) specific festival destination; 3.) having interest in such festivals-oriented holidays;4.) rich history of festivals and associated culture; 5.) very differs purpose rather than cognitive tourism; 6.) linkages with other types of tourism; 7.) system of classifications of such festival tourism (Stavska. 2021).