E3S Web of Conferences 278, 03042 (2021) https://doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/202127803042 SDEMR-2021 Brand Naming Issues of Tourism in a Coal Mining Cluster Olga Valko 1, Nadezda Rabkina1, and Anna Novoklinova1,* 1Kemerovo State University, 650000, 6 Krasnaya St., Kemerovo, Russia Abstract. This paper aims at providing a synthetic (semantic, social, cultural, historic) survey on the names used for the tourist and catering business entities in Kuzbass, with an attempt to discover the reason for naming trends in the region. Naming is one of the most ubiquitous and important activities in business sphere, pursuing a number of goals: (1) identifying and promoting the brand / image of a business entity; (2) making sure the business will function well because its name is alluring for clients, or the name is targeted efficiently; (3) the name renders the values and ideology of the company. Linguistically, the main ways to produce business or brand names are the following: abbreviations, shortenings and/or blends, associations, allusions / associations, rhyming, transonimization (using proper names of real or imaginary people for business names), using foreign words, significant numbers, quotations / allusions / alliterations / mythological elements. “Traditional” naming may exploit ancient elements (old-fashioned and outdated words, spelling, grammar, etc.). Naming in Kuzbass in tourist sphere does not rely heavily on mining concept, but rather exploits its regional exotics and a competitive differentiator. Recreational tourism in its naming promotes the concept of vast taiga spaces and pristine Siberian nature. 1 Introduction Kemerovo Region-Kuzbass is a classic example of the resource curse of modern civilization. On the one hand, it is the largest coal mining region in Russia with one of the largest coal basins in the world. On the other hand, its pristine nature offers a huge recreational potential. The first image of “the mining heart of Russia” is more or less familiar to all Russians, while the image of Kuzbass as “the Russian Switzerland” requires a thoroughly planned official policy to give it a chance over the industrial face of the region, given the negative associations with bad ecology, moon landscapes, and miners’ strikes. Indeed, the Strategy of Social and Economic Development of Kuzbass through to 2035 mentions both directions, i.e. industrial and recreational [1]. The Strategy of Tourism Development in Kemerovo Region through to 2025 [2] also covers both industrial and recreational tourism. Winter tourism has recently received state support at the top level: in his annual state-of-the-nation address, President Putin included Sheregesh ski-resort into * Corresponding author: [email protected] © The Authors, published by EDP Sciences. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). E3S Web of Conferences 278, 03042 (2021) https://doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/202127803042 SDEMR-2021 the national project on tourism development together with such famous touristic clusters as landscapes of the place [7], the symbolic structure of the place [8], and communication Altai, Sevastopol, and the Baltic coast [3]. between the place and the media [9]. The region faces a serious dilemma: it has to find its way between the two attraction Whatever the naming type, its results are of paramount importance as they reflect the points – industry and recreational tourism. While former mining towns all over the world first information on the goods or services the clients are exposed to. The naming results are choosing the path of post-industrial tourism, Kuzbass as an actively developing mining form the initial impression of the goods or services and contribute to the consumers’ region faces another problem: it has to develop its winter sport and recreation clusters while perception and eventually behavior. Taking into account all mentioned above, the naming going on with its rapid industrial expansion. Therefore, Kuzbass has a major task of result should contain semantically laden name, code the distinctive and individualizing creating a two-faced image, in which the faces contradict each other, for coal mining is features, be rememberable and identifiable compared to their competitors’ names. bound to have a negative effect on the environment and is at odds with recreational and Linguistically, the main ways to produce business or brand names are the following: sport tourism. abbreviations, shortenings and/or blends, associations, allusions / associations, rhyming, In Kuzbass, recreational tourism is represented by the abovementioned ski-resort transonimization (using proper names of real or imaginary people for business names), Sheregesh, which is located in the mountainous region of Gornaya Shoriya. Unfortunately, using foreign words, significant numbers, quotations / allusions / alliterations / an international Internet user might see this area as a place where mining industry destroys mythological elements. “Traditional” naming may exploit historical elements (old- the traditional way of life of the indigenous peoples and pollutes the nature [4]. fashioned and outdated words, spelling, grammar, etc.). Special methods of naming include The naming process is an important part of regional branding. They both often reflect the combination any of the indicated ones or exploiting the language play. Language play the economic needs and aspirations of the region. The public image of Kuzbass seems to and puns are based on manipulating the forms and functions of linguistic elements resultant meander between the two extremes – Kuzbass as Russia’s mining center vs. Kuzbass as an in mutual enjoyment of language users. Naming and brand development possess high alternative to expensive European ski resorts. culture- and lingua-creative potential that may express values and identities of their owners. Meanwhile, the municipal authorities published a plan of a park dedicated to the 300th The material of the research contains linguistic elements (names of hotels, restaurants, anniversary of the region that unites industrial and ecological tourism as it involves the bars, souvenirs) retrieved from the sphere of hotel and catering business and tourist right bank of the Tom river with its authentic pine tree forest and historical mining souvenirs production. These are the first objects and things the tourist is exposed to, so they monuments of the open-air museum Krasnaya Gorka. The project includes a coal museum provide the first information about the region and its environment. Like brand names, called ‘Carbonarium’ headquartered in the historical building of the Kemerovo mine; a souvenirs also have properties that distinguish the region and its constituents, identify and cable road that will join the factory on the left bank with the mining area on the right bank characterize it. The analysis was focused on the semantic interpretation of the names given the way it was one hundred years ago; a huge monument to St. Barbara, the patron saint of to the regional hotels, restaurants, souvenirs, and slogans. Slogans became part of research coal mining and blast works; the architectural heritage of the Autonomous Industrial as they represent a key phrase of an advertising campaign which stands completely or Colony and the Kopikuz Company as part of the Krasnaya Gorka premises; paths, view partly for the so-called business philosophy of the entity. Naming in tourism requires a spots, cafes, etc. The main idea of the complex is to engage the notorious right bank into careful balance between the clients’ expectations and the company’s offer, as well as civilized tourism and promote the existing industrial heritage. If the developers manage to regional exotics. maintain the balance between industry and ecology, the park will become the embodiment The objective of the analysis was to find out to what extent the names and slogans of the main pathos of Kuzbass as a coal mining region with a great touristic potential [5]. appeal to natural and industrial constituents, thus positioning themselves as part of Linguists and marketing experts highlight the importance of the naming process and its recreational tourism or industrial tourism systems. Semantic analysis and interpretation, results in achieving a number of goals, such as (1) forming and promoting the brand of a comparison and classification of linguistic means were the main research methods. business entity and a region at large, or even its/their total rebranding; (2) providing the grounds for successful business and economic activity; (3) carrying out indirect communication with the clients / consumers [6]. They believe that efficient naming enables 3 Results and Discussion and stimulates business activity. The Kuzbass Administration and The Kuzbass Chamber of Commerce and Industry have been holding the contest “The brand of Kuzbass” since 2010. Throughout this period, the 2 Materials and Methods organizers highlighted their objective to assist the participants in their search for more efficient communication and interaction with their customers, as well as self-identification Naming is a complex phenomenon. For example, there are several approaches to naming: and analysis of their competitive differentiators. (1) internal naming, (2) creative naming, (3) investigative naming. Internal naming is the Remarkably enough, the organizers claimed that the history of the contest makes it result of nominating activity