Benefits and barriers to cooperation in the process of building a place's brand: perspective of tourist region stakeholders in Poland

Research background: Cooperation within the public and the private sectors is one of the conditions for a tourist region to achieve a competitive advantage, and it is one of the most important aspect for building a regional tourist brand. Research studies often raise the issue of tourism cooperation; however, there are few papers undertaking this topic in the context of place branding. The issue of benefits and barriers of this type of cooperation seen from the perspective of the involved stakeholders is rarely the sole object of research and is often presented indirectly or implicitly. Purpose of the article: The aim of the paper is to identify the benefits and barriers of cooperation seen by the local government and other representatives of regional tourism organization in the process of developing a regional brand. Methods: To achieve the aim of the paper, the authors conducted a case study of a region, specifically Podlaskie Voivodship in Poland. This case study involved individual in-depth interviews conducted among representatives of organizations - members of the Regional Tourism Organization. Findings & Value added: The findings of this study contribute to a better understanding of cooperation between tourism entities in the process of regional place branding. The authors established a conceptual framework for systematization of benefits and barriers of cooperation as seen by regional stakeholders. The benefits were grouped into the following categories: economic, organizational, marketing and social; and the barriers included economic, organizational, sociocultural and political determinants.