Does Branding Drive The Indian Outbound?

Neeti Chopra - New Delhi

Lance B Littlefield Branding is not just about logos. It is about creating a consistent message and presence in a market. The consistency is extremely important in cutting through clutter

When consumers decide on a destination for a holiday or business conference, several 'brands' vie for their attention. It is in such a scenario that a strong brand certainly differentiates itself from the others, has several strong advantages and has an attractive appeal to consumers. India`s huge outbound market means a heavy reliance on tour operators and travel agents, at least for new travellers. Therefore, one could most surely say that both established and emerging NTOs (national tourist offices) have to work hard to develop awareness among travel agents and provide them with appropriate products to sell. In India, NTOs have off late intensified their marketing and branding campaigns to tap niche segments. In the ensuing article, Express Travel & Tourism takes a glance at why NTOs are focussing more on branding and how they are catering to changing Indian outbound trends?

The Essence Of Branding

Says Manoharan Periasamy, director, Tourism Malaysia, "With the complexity of inbound tourism market increasing annually, positioning and brand image is becoming more essential to successful branding of Asian tourist destinations. Every tourist destination in the world has a 'brand image'. If developed carefully, the brand serves to differentiate a destination from competing destinations. However, some destinations do not have a brand strategy, and are supported by inconsistent advertising campaigns, creating a confused image to prospective customers. An image must be controlled by a clear projection of brand identity." Just like corporate brands, country brands evoke certain values, qualifications and emotional triggers in consumers' minds about the likely values of any product that comes from the country. The challenge for a destination marketer is to make the destination brand live, so that, visitors truly experience the promoted brand values and feel the authenticity of a place.

Lance B Littlefield, country manager, South African Tourism, believes, "Branding is not just about logos. It is about creating a consistent message and presence in a market. The consistency is extremely important in cutting through clutter, as many destinations compete against each other for tourists. As far as South Africa is concerned, we have done a lot of work on what makes up our brand and how to convey this message consistently in each of the 13 markets across the world where we have our offices."

Carl Vaz Focusing on the destination name encompasses everything that the country has to offer, while in a brand, one can only convey a

On the contrary, Carl Vaz, country manager, Dubai Representative Office in India, Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing, government of Dubai, is of a different view on branding. He says, "Though Dubai does have a tagline or a branding such as '21st century Arabia', A conscious decision was taken at the DTCM headquarters to focus on the destination name and convey what it has to offer. As we feel that focusing on the destination name encompasses everything that the country has to offer, while in a brand or tagline one can only convey a certain aspect of the country."

Talking on a positive note, Kiran Nambiar, country manager India, Tourism New Zealand (TNZ) said, “The 100% Pure New Zealand was launched in 1999 and was a huge success. Having a brand is necessary as it helps to create a niche. Even of the total tourism budget, quite a substantial amount goes into branding as it helps bring out the essentials of a destination. Thus TNZ feels that the brand relates to the destination in perfect co-ordination. To this extent that TNZ actually has a manual explaining how one should follow the brand. Finally, every brand should portray the right idea and have consistency in the message regarding the destination.”

NTOs Eager To Cash In On India?

India is a fast-growing and increasingly important outbound market. With such a vast population, growing economy, emerging middle class and liberalising travel and aviation environment. The Indian travel market is maturing, giving rise to repeat travellers and niche markets. The Indian outbound market is now even more important since the January 2004 South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Summit and the subsequent declaration of a South Asian Free Trade Zone and South Asia Tourism Year 2005. Airlines and NTOs from Asia Pacific region and beyond are keen to tap the Indian market.

Liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation have become mantras in this new era, encouraging fresh strategic thinking among bureaucrats, decision-makers and throughout industry. Today, with a population of more than one billion people, India is the fifth largest economy after the United States, China (PRC), Japan and Germany in terms of purchasing power. In recent years, the liberalisation of aviation has also encouraged major airlines to step up their interest in India and allow privately owned Indian carriers to fly abroad. Points out Periasamy, "In the past, Indian outbound travel was dominated by trips to neighbouring countries like Nepal and Sri Lanka, package tours to Europe, VFR trips to the large Indian communities in North America, UK and shopping, sightseeing and VFR trips to Southeast Asia. However, in recent years, Indians have begun to venture to new destinations, such as Kenya, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, because they offer something different. Moreover, visits to these countries are counter-cyclical and generally off-season."

Gearing Up For the future

Manoharan Periasamy Every tourist destination in the world has a ‘brand image’. If developed carefully, the brand serves to differentiate a destination from competion

South African Tourism, along with all its industry partners and stakeholders, has been on the brink of an era of great opportunity and unsurpassed growth. It is in this spirit that the board launched its new brand last year. Early indication shows that with the introduction of new brand, South Africa has witnessed an increase in tourist arrivals from India. In 2005, the country witnessed a 25 per cent increase in numbers over 2004.

Subsequently, South Africa launched an unprecedented bid to woo Indian tourists by marketing the country as a safe, fun and 'happening' destination. The five-million Rand campaign to win the hearts and minds of travellers from one of the fastest-growing outbound markets in the world kicked off a few weeks ago, four months after SA Tourism opened its first marketing office in the subcontinent.

On the other hand, in order to cater to the changing outbound trends, Tourism Malaysia has changed its focus to Regional Tourism. Various campaigns have been launched to tap this unexplored segment. Additionally, niche campaigns are being launched promoting spa, shopping and golf tourism and certain niche media has been selected to promote these new areas in India. These campaigns have been intensified over one year. The parent campaign of Malaysia - "Malaysia - Truly Asia" has been a success not only in India but all over the world. The awareness on Malaysia in India is evident from the fact that in the year 2004, over 170,000 Indian tourists visited the destination as compared to the year 1999 when only 40,000 people travelled. The board plans to further enhance the campaign and keeping in mind the objective of boosting the image of the destination, the board has identified four to five niche segments that will be soon introduced in India. "We will continue with our existing campaign "Malaysia - Truly Asia" but we are also in the process of introducing some new campaigns which will be directed towards the niche segments. The board will lay emphasis on regional media to develop the campaign and will be localised to cater to all the areas of the society. We intend to launch these campaigns in different languages like Hindi, Tamil, Punjabi, Bengali among other prominent languages which will help us in strengthening our position in the Indian market," explains Periasamy.

Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) has devised a new campaign, titled "2006 Discover Hong Kong Year," since 2006 represents a critical milestone in the history of Hong Kong's tourism. With several new infrastructure projects, including Hong Kong Disneyland, Hong Kong Wetland Park and Tung Chung Cable Care coming on stream, 2006 presents the country with an opportunity to sell itself as a more attractive tourist destination. And in line with the promotional activities surrounding this campaign, HKTB has raised its targets for tourist arrivals through 2005 and 2006 as well as those for total tourism expenditure.

Conclusion

All said and done. In today's day and age, branding is very essential for every NTO in order to highlight its USP's and to create an image in the mind of consumer for the destination. Therefore, India can look forward to many new destinations launching their brand with a bang.