Author by : Tom Dougherty

It has been more than three years since the bottom fell out of the destination and
tourism industry, but many are hopeful that prospects are looking up. However,
from a brand perspective, the fear is that the marketing of the Tourism industry will
fall victim to the same trap, constantly fighting to attract tourists without any long-
term solution as new and more enticing destinations enter into the category.

The way to overcome this seemingly never-ending struggle is for destinations to
build individual brands that are more about the tourist than about the destination.
Historically, that’s not been the case. Instead, the brands have been marketing
destinations themselves and have more often than not been about the type of
destination, exploring the benefits of visiting a tropical destination or one in the Far
East, etc.

In tropical destinations, for example, marketing dollars have been lavishly spent
enticing the potential visitor with brand visions of romance, white sandy beaches
and turquoise waters. So, if you bought into that as a tourist, you bought into the
idea of traveling to a tropical destination, but you haven’t really made a decision.
You’ve only picked your considered set of destinations.

How can you differentiate one destination from another? It’s not as if no other island
or resort has sky, water, white (or pink or black) sandy beaches and friendly natives.
Destinations are not creating brands to inspire true preference among the
considered set. They’re just motivating preference between considered sets and
creating preference for tropical destinations over, let’s say, adventure and wildlife
destinations, such as Alaska.

There’s proof of this lack of brand identity in the numbers. With a few exceptions,
market share mirrors share of voice. The one that spends the most money gets the
largest market share. But from a stealing share perspective, you don’t have to
outspend the competition to increase market share. You can develop a brand
positioned against your competition and aligned with customer values so that the
customers naturally covet your destination brand.

Now there’s a new problem: Cuba. The lifting of the U.S. travel embargo to Cuba is
currently being debated in Congress. Make no mistake about it, Cuba will quickly
jump to number one in tourism traffic when that happens at the expense of the rest
of the category. So few destinations have a brand and tourists will flock to Cuba
because, for a while at least, it will represent something like a brand. Cuba will
represent “forbidden fruit” and Cuban tourists will feel special, like they are setting
a trend by being among the first to visit the exotic locale.

A brand that is built to steal market share is not found in the beaches, coral reefs,
or local culture. Stealing share capabilities reside in the hearts of the customers of
the competition. Take Cuba, for example. The ”forbidden fruit” and “one of the first
to visit” attractions have nothing to do with the amenities of the country itself.
Everyone who plans a visit to a place like Cuba will expect the same marketed
promises: exotic food, white sandy beaches, turquoise blue water and interesting
culture. They will go to Cuba because being a Cuban visitor says more about them
as a traveler than going to any other tropical destination. Brand is always about your
customer and not about you (the destination).

On too many occasions destinations claim all sorts of amenities they believe will be
important. Puerto Rico claims to be close and the Virgin Islands claim to be
“ours” (as in, part of the United States), but our research indicates that the consumer
does not care for those claims. Puerto Rico may be close, but it’s not that much
closer to us through the air than Jamaica. Does anyone actually think that tourists
are going to choose Puerto Rico because it saves them 15 minutes in the air?

Consider this: Hawaii is first in top-of-mind awareness among U.S. travelers, but it’s
not at the top in the number of U.S. visitors. If it had a brand that said something meaningful about who the tourist is when they visit Hawaii, they would not have to
increase their marketing budget to steal share.

Tropical destinations can rest easy knowing that their advertising does not have to
say, “Come here to swim. We have beaches, sun and alcohol.” Even though that’s
exactly what they are saying now, they should understand they are not telling their
target audiences anything new. Few other industries have category benefits that are
so well known. With tourists beginning to travel more and with the looming threat of
Cuba, it’s time for destinations to build brands around the tourists and start
stealing share.

[tags]Destination branding, Travel marketing[/tags]

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