Tailored tourism - When countries become brands

As summer draws to a close, Creative Culture takes a look at how some countries brand themselves. Whether they use clichés or clever cultural moves, each one of these campaigns generated plenty of buzz.

Great Britain. Chinese style.

In 2015, VisitBritain came up with a clever campaign to attract Chinese tourists. After years of colonialism, many of the world’s cities carry British names. To even the playing field, so to speak, VisitBritain gave the Chinese the opportunity to “return the favour” by choosing Chinese names for famous British landmarks. Participants made their suggestions through a micro-site and on social media, and were then encouraged to come to Britain and visit the places they’d renamed. Thanks to the campaign, Great Britain saw a 27% increase in Chinese visitors.

Fancy visiting 摘星塔 (“the tower that allows us to pluck stars from the sky”)?

The other city that never sleeps

This year, Tourisme Montréal – the Canadian city’s tourism agency – have teamed up with local directors to create a series of eight short films. Rolled out on social media, each of the #MTLmoment videos highlights the city’s diversity and creativity through the director’s eyes. Aimed at millennials in New York and the Northeastern region of the U.S., the videos form part of the Montréal Ignites campaign, which helps to build up Montréal’s reputation as the “other city that never sleeps”! The 2015 instalment of the campaign helped to see a 3.2% increase in visitors.

Have you eaten yet?

Have you heard the phrase “It’s more fun in the Philippines”? Well, now that will certainly be the case for Muslim tourists. This year, the country is targeting the Middle East, ASEAN and India with their Philippine Halal Tourism Project. Launched in April 2016, it officially recognised 16 establishments as being halal certified, and announce plans to certify 50 more locations around the country. Filipinos welcome people through their food – “hello” in Filipino is actually “have you eaten yet?” Ensuring that halal food is offered, and advertising this to countries with large Muslim populations, will help the Philippines to be seen as a preferred tourism destination for halal-conscious travellers.

All the good things

In honour of SG50 – the country’s golden jubilee – the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) released three new videos in 2015, tailored specifically to Australian, Chinese and Filipino tourists. One of the short films revolves around a Beijing student’s exchange trip to Singapore. As Chinese viewers follow the boy on his journey, they envisage themselves making their own trip to Singapore.

In the Philippines, STB released a music video starring Filipino band Up Dharma Down for their latest single, “All The Good Things”. Filmed in Singapore, the video helped to attract Filipino tourists wanting to follow in the band’s footsteps.

From June 2015 to June 2016, Singapore saw a 7.1% increase in tourists, especially from “top” markets like China.

Just like when we create our Tinder profiles, it’s important for countries to show their “best selves” to potential tourists. The best campaigns consider the consumer, and realise that not every culture will look for the same things in their holiday destinations. By catering to their audience, counties are sure to see success.