Country Branding From A Global Cultural Tourism Perspective: Part Four
A comparison between different countries based on FutureBrand Country Branding Index (CBI) and the Anholt-GfK Roper Nation Brands Index (NBI)
I always supported the theory that the great branding of a country influences in big measure its tourism industry. More brand awareness, more tourists. More emotional associations to a nation such as friendly locals, nice beaches, rich cultures, etc., would render more receipts in tourism. As many scientists and marketers point out, the brand of a country is like the brand of a product – if it is communicating correctly with its potential clients and consumers, it is financially successful.
I also defend the reverse theory – more tourism visits and travel marketing would result in overall higher position in country branding.
Are all above statements true or false? Is “country branding” overrated, is the concept still not so mature? Are countries able to manage their image in all brand dimensions, or the public’s “gut feeling” about a country prevails all brand metrics and the situation stays the same? Are countries able to convert a great brand awareness into millions of visits and dollars flowing to their economy, or no matter what is their image, their tourism economy and travel industry still are below their potential?
To answer all these questions, I made several comparisons in different tables. You can click on the image of each table and it will open in a pop-up window in a bigger size.
Reality Check
I compared the overall country brand position to the real tourism arrivals and receipts. For certain countries (the top 3-5 in both Future Brand and Anhold GfK Roper indexes) there is not a significant difference, as the tables above and bellow very well demonstrate.
Then, there is a country branding for tourism. In NBI the first four countries are Italy, France, Spain, and the United States. These are also the most visited countries, the countries with most visited cities and the countries with most tourism receipts.
The situation with Country Brand Index is very different and difficult to measure. In Country Brand Index there is not a single category: tourism country branding. The CBI is more tourism oriented, measuring the brand strength in many dimensions and associations, including authenticity, history, culture, resort and lodging options, ease of travel, rest & relaxation, natural beauty, beach, night life, shopping, fine dining, outdoor activities & sports, friendly locals, families, value for the money, destination rising star and desire to visit again. CBI also measures the business travel performance of country brands in 2 dimensions: conferences, extended business trip. There is a total of 19 tourism dimension. In addition, CBI list the percentage of governmental budget spent for tourism, which is very important metric, when you want to see how effective is this spending.
No matter how many dimensions are measured in Country Brand Index, the overall result is the same. I created a cross-section to see which countries are listed in the top 10 in all 19 tourism related categories. Then I ordered them by number of times a country is in the top 10 positions in each category. The winner is Canada, with 12 times being among the top 10 positions in the19 categories. Then comes India, USA, France, Japan, etc.
Great. All these countries are well known destinations for different reasons – natural beauty, beaches, ease of travel, culture, lodging options, etc. The reality although tells totally different story: Italy is the only country whose position in international arrivals coincides with its tourism branding position – both number 5. Canada, India, Australia, Japan, New Zealand are not among the top 10 travel destinations in the world, no matter how high they score in tourism branding.
On the other hand, Ukraine, which is among the top 10 visited countries in the world, doesn’t make it to top 10 in any tourism branding Index – CBI or NBI.
When it comes to tourism receipts, the picture is even more interesting. In 2008 (the latest available data), USA, as always, takes the first position in international receipts. As in the comparison between tourism country branding and the international arrivals, there are several mismatches. Austria is not in the Country Brand Index in any of the top 10 countries when it comes to its tourism brand, neither the country is in the top overall brand positions in any of the indexes – Future Brand or Anhold GfK Roper. Nevertheless, the country of Mozart makes it to the top 10 in tourism receipts.
Is tourism branding a hoax or still a child that cannot be separated from the mother – the country branding? I believe is more the second. And in spite the fact that this division is very clear in the CBI of Future Brand, in all other dimensions is not very clear. Tourism branding doesn’t coincide with arrivals, with tourism receipts or with other brand dimensions (business climate branding, investments and exports branding, etc).
In addition to all comparisons between the country brand indexes, tourism branding and the reality of tourism arrivals, I want to make another point, suggested by a blog reader.
Anna Hadden from DC asked why there is a discrepancy between country branding and Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index (TTCI) by World Economic Forum (WEC). From all tables above, it is clear that tourism branding and country branding not always coincide. Tourism branding is also very different from the reality when it comes to hard core travel and tourism competitiveness. The WEC report is a 525-page study, reflecting all factors that influence the ability of a country to be competitive as a tourism destination. From road structure to healthcare facilities and from education to languages spoken in a country, the TTCI represents the reality in a very precise way.
Since branding is more emotional dimension then scientific reasoning, there should be and there are a mismatches. But how big are these discrepancies? The big players in country branding USA, Australia, Canada, Germany, France, and Spain are also among the most competitive countries as travel and tourism destinations. The most admired country brands for tourism: Canada, USA, France, Germany, Singapore, and Australia are also in the top 10 of country branding for tourism in the FB CBI, and France, USA and Spain are in the top 10 in tourism branding in the NBI.
The big mismatch comes from some European and Asian Countries. Switzerland, Sweden and Austria don’t make it to the top 10 in any combination of tourism brand dimensions. Japan is in the top 10 in CBI as tourism and overall brand, but doesn’t make it in the top 10 countries in tourism competitiveness, which is the same with India and Italy, to cite a few.
How all this affect the global cultural tourism? Are overall country branding and tourism branding decisive factor for people who want to visit a country because of its cultural heritage and bulging live culture? Read this in the next 2 posts – the trends and conclusions.
