Anna S. Khudina

The reorientation of Russian tourist flows to domestic destinations under the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic and the aggravation of the geopolitical situation creates opportunities for expanding the supply in the domestic tourist market. Cooperation between regions and cities in the development and promotion of new tour routes and brands, as well as the joining of new participants to existing formats of joint branding, is becoming relevant. Meanwhile, influence of branding on tourism development indicators in literature is still insufficiently covered, with practically no studies measuring the effects of cobranding cities. The purpose of this study is to explore the impact of the participation of cities in the cobranding association on tourist flows to these cities. The authors focus on the activities of brand managers in creating and communicating city brands, while the tourist flow indicator evaluate the activities results. In the framework of the empirical study, a quantitative comparative analysis of two groups of cities was carried out (group 1 — cities included in the Golden Ring cobranding association, group 2 — cities with similar characteristics, but branded independently). The analysis shows a significant correlation between branding and tourist flows in group 1. At the same time, no such relationship is found for group 2. Thus, the findings suggest that there is a real influence of cobranding strategies on the tourist flows of cities. The results of the study may be a tool to substantiate the feasibility of cities' participation in cobranding associations, which makes it possible to increase the effectiveness of promoting tourist brands of all participating cities.