Do you ever wonder why people choose one vacation spot over another? Or decide to emigrate to a particular country? Or desire to raise a family in a specific neighborhood?
While factors like finances, relationships, and personal values play a role, the underlying influence often comes down to the perception of their chosen destination, and its positive or negative reputation.
A weak destination brand or reputation can severely impact a location's economic activity. Similarly, the poor economic health of a place impacts its brand image, making it difficult to attract tourists and foreign investment. It's a vicious cycle, but with smart branding strategies, destinations can break free and stand out.
Understanding how Tourism and Branding drive the Local Economy
The Link Between Tourism, Trade, and Foreign Investment
Tourism is a powerful economic driver, particularly when visitors come from countries with strong currencies like the euro or dollar. These tourists bring substantial spending power, injecting valuable foreign currency into the local economy. Tourism and Economic Development boards, often in collaboration with other government agencies, capitalize on this by attracting not only tourists but also foreign investments and business opportunities to their cities and countries.
Immigration: An Economic Goldmine
Beyond tourism, immigration serves as a major revenue source for countries. For example, while a tourist from Nigeria to the UK might spend less due to currency value differences between the Naira and the pound, Nigerian immigrants represent one of the largest diaspora communities worldwide.
Host countries generate billions from immigrants through various fees, such as visa applications, legal fees, international student tuition, and more. Immigrants contribute to the economy by expanding the labor force, fostering business growth, and increasing tax revenues. It's a lucrative business and a vital component of economic development.
Levels of Destination Branding
Destination branding begins internally and spans various civic levels, from neighborhood and municipal to provincial, state, and even intercontinental and international levels. To effectively promote a destination, its brand must align and collaborate across these different levels, ensuring coordinated efforts that amplify visibility and foster a positive public perception. This strategic alignment maximizes a location's appeal, positioning it favorably in both domestic and international markets.
Factors that influence Destination Branding
Controlling the Narrative
Perhaps it's not immediately obvious to everyone, but it's always been clear to me that whoever controls the narrative often controls the situation. This understanding stems from my early exposure to journalism as a young girl, my professional experience in PR and strategic communications, and my personal perspective as a Rwandan and African.
Without going into too much detail, Al Jazeera wrote an article on how media, specifically radio, was used to incite violence, brainwashing Rwandan civilians into murdering each other (well, murdering Tutsis to be more specific) in one of the world's bloodiest genocides.
More recently, an article from The Guardian highlights the economic impact of negative media coverage of Africa. But even without such reports, as an African, the portrayal of Africa in Western media—even new and independent outlets—becomes an everyday lived experience, making it difficult to separate oneself from the damaging stereotypes. One recurring statement I heard from my professors at USIU-Africa during my first degree was, "Change the narrative; empower Africans."
On a more personal level, a person's internal dialogue and self-talk—whether shaped negatively by external forces or transformed into an empowering narrative—greatly influence how they approach life and pursue their dreams with confidence. Similarly, a person's reputation and how they're talked about can impact their influence and the opportunities that come their way. This same logic applies to business brands, as well as larger entities like cities and countries.
The Power of Media
Competing with Western countries, particularly the US, in the media space is hard, given its global dominance. However, there's no need for direct competition. Recent media trends, such as the rise of social media and the manipulative media tactics exposed during the most recent US elections, point to a growing decentralization of media. We've all heard the term "fake news," popularized by Donald Trump. This is a phrase he's been using since the 1980s, and the general public is starting to catch on.
I believe that such trends and continued technological advancement will continually change the dynamics in the media landscape for the better. But until then, there are other ways countries and cities can use build and elevate their brands.
Advertising, Strategic Partnerships and Alliances
Yes, foreign affairs undoubtedly influence how populations perceive each other. The more diplomatic but also strategic a country is in its international interactions, the better. But here, I'd like to focus on a more creative approach to leveraging partnerships to maximize visibility and enhance brand positioning.
The goal of advertising is brand awareness. For tourism and economic development boards, this often means promoting events, experiences, or attractions with campaigns inviting people to "visit". However, destination brands should go beyond this by positioning themselves in subtle, omnipresent ways. While not everyone may have the budget to "visit" destinations, many people subscribe to services like Netflix or Prime Video. Media channels produce lifestyle and reality shows, which presents an opportunity for destination brands to invest in major production deals featuring their cities or regions in such content.
A more direct approach involves placing flags, logos, or representatives in high-visibility spaces with global reach. For example, Visit Rwanda has utilized sports team sponsorships and has hosted big international events to boost brand recognition. This strategy can take a destination from being unknown to being globally recognized. Other tactics include special appearances by destination representatives, commercial partnerships, celebrity visits or endorsements, and influencer collaborations. As a destination brand, whether a city or country, the goal is to be seen and be memorable.
Special Events and Experiences
Speaking of memorable... Beyond natural landscapes, tourist attractions, and hospitality, the arts, culture, and entertainment industries are what truly make a destination memorable. Once tourists enjoy the hotel amenities and complete their tours, these sectors capture their attention, turning their visit into a fun, immersive, and unforgettable experience.
Design and placemaking play a crucial role in creating a lasting impression. The city's infrastructure, transportation systems, parks, roads, and real estate shape the visual and sensory experience, from Instagram-worthy backgrounds, and exciting cultural downtown experiences, to the sights, sounds, and smells from the airport to the hotel. Investing in these sectors and understanding the customer's journey elevates a destination brand.
Even more so, investing in opportunities to host high-profile events like the Olympics or FIFA World Cup can significantly boost a destination's reputation, tourism, and economic activity, especially for smaller or developing countries. However, to attract such events, cities and countries must first focus on strengthening their infrastructure, placemaking, and cultural sectors to ensure a truly memorable experience.
Conclusion
Destination branding is indeed complex and inherently political. It involves a myriad of moving parts, from more established elements like natural landscapes, historical legacies, economic strength, and complicated foreign affairs to more adaptable factors like storytelling, content creation, infrastructure, placemaking, and strategic partnerships. While we must work with the cards we're dealt, we shouldn’t settle for the status quo. Instead, we should strive for continuous improvement, aiming to leave our cities, countries, and the world better and more beautiful than we found them.
Are you a destination brand—tourism board, tour operator, holiday destination, local attraction or cultural venue—looking to elevate your brand and authentically but also strategically connect with your target audience? contact PENEDIT Marketing here.
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