Bloody hell ‘brand’ excellent but not working!
Families ‘core business’ for hospitality industry?
November 7, 2006WHO maintains rail trail/crown land assets?
November 9, 2006Tourists know us, love us, leave us alone…………
The Fin. Review (8 Nov 2006) reports that more than 1500 international travellers and travel and hospitality industry executives surveyed by brand development company FutureBrand and public relations firm Weber Shandwick ranked Oz as the number one country ‘brand’ world-wide – up from second place a year ago (Italy fell from first place to third and the US moved from second to third).
BUT the ‘bloody hell’ campaign, in nine months, has failed to convert this positive view into ‘travel behaviour’ – the obvious campaign goal:
- international arrivals fell 43.% in August;
- there were declines in arrivals from key campaign target markets New Zealand, Japan, Britain and the US.
FutureBrand Managing Director Tim Riches says “Like any well respected brand, a country is made up of a range of attributes and values….this report shows Australia has successfully pulled together each of its aspects to promote a clear picture of itself to the rest of the world.”
Although Australia finished first overall it didn’t top any of the individual categories (listed below) and tourism operators are saying they don’t want people just to think Australia is a nice place to visit, they want them to come here!!
The highest rankings Australia received were for outdoor activities/sports and the country where business travellers wanted to spend personal time, and here we ranked behind NZ and the US respectively.
The best country ‘brands’ in the world
Best overall: Australia
Best for families: US
Best for shopping: US
Best for outdoor activities/sport: NZ
Best for beaches: Bahamas
Most authentic: India
Most exotic: Peru
Best value for money: Thaliand
Best natural beauty: NZ
Calling tourism operators – what are your thoughts?
1 Comment
I can understand WHY Australia’s tourist traffic figures are down, and I base my understanding on the following factors that I believe have contributed to the current status. I base my assessment on my personal experience as a senior tourism marketing practitioner, (specialising in regional tourism development ) and attending recent state ( and Tourism Australia supported) tourism marketing forums as well as working in the international arenas:
(a) Tourism Australian and the state tourism authorities are ‘conducting
marketing and promotional campaigns,’ that have are ‘predominently’
pushing the same old popular destinations, i.e. Gold Coast, Cairns, Sydney,
Kakadu, etc. (* Yes, there is evidence that other desinations are included in
their total package, BUT their PRIME promotional efforts are the main focus
on those ‘popular well promoted destinations,’ mainly on our coastal
environments).
(b) Tourism Authorities are obviously overlooking to promote the’ miriad’ of
spectactular destinations ‘in regional Australia’ that hold a wealth of historic,
cultural and scenic attributes ‘other than our scenic sundrenched caostal
fringes.’
(c ) Tourism authorities are NOT employing seasoned ‘tourism professionals,’ but
insist on ‘degree’ qualified inexperienced people, and this includes senior
management roles. And it includes staff in overseas offices.
(d) Tourism authorities do not ‘spend enough time’ at a hands-on level in
regional destinations to gain a thorough undestanding of, ‘what is available
and what could be possible,’ in that area, i.e. instead, they send an
inexperienced staff member on a ‘ quick look ‘n’ see ‘ for a two day ‘famil’
and expect that person to come back and ‘offer professional advice’ on the
destination.
In essence, I believe that Tourism Australian and state authorities, need to ‘sit-back’ and have a really good look at WHERE they are going wrong. Also address the four (4) points, I have listed above, as part of their forum to seriously attempt to overcome the current problems of losing the major markets.
It is evident that there has to be a change in ‘direction’ of their promotional campaigns. They MUST change from what they have been applying for the past 25 years which started with the Paul Hogan, adverts. They have been ‘flogging the same -old – popular -destinations to death.’ They have to realise that international tourist markets and trends are forever ‘changing,’ and they should look at what the successful countries are doing to ‘steal their thunder,’ to counter act this situation. One major area I believe is, that authorities have to start placing more prominent emphasis on showing the international markets, that we have MORE than just our coastal attributes and delve into projecting our rich historic, pioneering, flora and fauna and cultural interests, ( which are ‘the prime attractions’ that are promoted by NZ, India and USA), and not our great coastal cities. Just look at the ‘survey results,’ they confirm we are beaten by NZ on the scenic beauty catregory, which is because we DO NOT highlight enough of what we have here in Australia, and we have more than enough to be more competitive.
Alexander Lubanski JP