Is It Possible to Theoretically Distinguish Between Place Branding, Destination Branding, and Nation Branding in Terms of Tourism

The etymological origins of most concepts are insufficient to account for their terminological origins.This situation creates limitations, particularly in explaining terminologies based on a specific theory.This study aims to reveal the semantic and terminological differences between nation branding, place branding, and destination branding, which may be seen as conceptually similar structures.The study examines articles in journals indexed in Web of Science.Therefore, the study was conducted using a qualitative research design.The research was conducted in September 2025.The keywords "nation branding" and "tourism," "place branding" and "tourism," and "destination branding" and "tourism" were searched in the Web of Science database.A total of 1,224 publications were found, and all publications were included in the study.Bibliometric analysis was used to analyze the research data.In this context, the R Studio Bibliometrix package was used for bibliometric analysis.The research found that nation branding is classified on the outer periphery, place branding on the middle periphery, and destination branding on the innermost periphery of the space marketing ecosystem.Furthermore, it is believed that all three types of branding in the space marketing ecosystem contribute theoretically to tourism.