Tourism 101

Finally, the leaders of ASEAN tourism have come to their senses and admitted that their promotion of ASEAN as a tourism destination may have been in vain.  I am not suggesting that the hundreds of thousands of dollars and energy spent have been on the Visit ASEAN tourism promotion campaign has been  completely worthless, but perhaps misunderstood. 

As difficult as it may be for those of us that live and work in Southeast Asia to recognise, ASEAN means very little to the average person in Europe, the Middle East or the Americas.  Yes, the Association of Southeast Nations is an august body that provides leadership on issues ranging from trade to regional peace and prosperity.  The problem stems from the fact that ASEAN is an association of 10 member countries, not a place.  Therefore, the statement Visit ASEAN taken at face value would actually mean ‘to visit the ASEAN Secretariat which has its headquarters in Jakarta, Indonesia’. 

Of course we all know that what is in fact meant by Visit ASEAN is to inspire people to  visit the many tourism destinations of the ASEAN member countries. 

Fortunately, this gap in logic was recognised during the recent ATF meetings in Hanoi when the decision was made to move away from branding tourism in the 10-member countries of  ASEAN under in a political grouping context and  moving to a more accurate geographic depiction of Southeast Asia.  

The move is sure to have some remarkable outcomes.  Southeast Asia has become a household name in the West for a variety of reasons:  it’s rich colonial past, the Vietnam and Greater IndoChina war of the 60’s and 70’s, and even the Lonely Planet guidebook which has become the favored form of travel advice for travellers to Southeast Asia.  Finally, consumers will have a clear connection with the collaborative regional marketing efforts of Southeast Asia’s national tourism boards.

From my time as Senior Advisor of the Mekong Tourism Office, I recall an ongoing debate about the importance of logos vs. slogans.  

I have always been of the opinion that the visual strength of a destination marketing logo is far more effective in creating a lasting impression on consumers.  Not only are visual images easier to remember, but they are much more able to conjure imagery and symbolism of a destination.  Not only that, but in the globally competitive and multi-cultural environment in which tourism destinations must operate today, visual messaging is probably far more universally understood.

Slogans tend to be a play on words, the meaning of which usually doesn’t translate well into multiple languages (and hence multiple source markets).  Not only that, but destination marketing organisations tend to make slogan far too complicated; wishing to incorporate every last feature of their destination into their slogan.  The whole problem is further exacerbated when non-native English speakers attempt to create clever plays on words, which frankly don’t work.  This task should be left to experts marketers and wordsmiths.

Professors Park Sun-Young and J.F. Petrickin a recent study presented in the Annals of Tourism Research (Destinations’ Perspective of Branding 2006) found that destination management organisations tend to use both logos and slogans in the branding process.  Their study found that destination managers considered logos to be more valued in communicating the brand identity than slogans. 

Meanwhile, Steven Pike in his article on Tourism Destination Branding Complexity in the Journal of Product and Brand Management 2005 contends that slogans are ‘unlikely to meaningfully differentiate destinations over time’.

So maybe its time to think about seeking greater symbolism in destination marketing logos and more simplicity in supporting slogans. 

Less is often more!

It wasn’t so many years ago in any American or European grocery store you were given the choice between paper or plastic bags to haul your groceries home in.  We’ve learned since that maybe the most sustainable way to shop is to bring your own ‘this is not a plastic bag’ canvas bag to tote your goodies home in.

It is therefore amazing to me that at most major airports throughout the world we are now enforcing a new sort of plastic bag regime; one in which any liquid containing container (up to a limit in size) must be placed in a plastic bag handed out by airport security. 

The icing on the cake came the  other day when on a trip between Bangkok and Vientiane, I bought a bottle of Jack Daniels.  The pleasant young lady at the King Power Duty Free shop at Suvarnabumi Airport carefully wrapped the bottle of JD into a heavy duty tamper proof plastic bag. 

All of these plastic bags are being handed out to travellers the world over in an effort to prevent another aviation-related terrorist attack – or so we have been told.  How  long before we will wake up to the environmental damage that is being incurred our efforts to deter terrorism? 

And what about my heavy duty plastic bag for the bottle of JD?  It’s now in  Vientiane, Laos: a magic land that is woefully ill equipped to manage plastic waste effectively and efficiently.  They still don’t have the technology to recycle, so most trash ends up in a heap on the side of the street.

Perhaps there should be a serious cost/benefit analysis undertaken to determine how exactly we are deterring terrorism through the current plastic bag regime and also do some calculations on the environmental impact of current security policies.  It may be that we are inadvertently terrorising the environment of emerging tourism destinations through our not-very-well-thought-out security measures.

Imposing the right rules with well balanced and objective reasoning is important, particularly when it involves tourism.

Oh how time flies by and the best of intentions are left to fall to the wayside.  I started this blog in early 2008 and failed to keep it up: my last posting was eight months ago.  Among my many New Years resolutions is to do a better job of keep this blog going.  And as it turns out, with a little motivation, that may not be such a tall order.

About six months ago, I landed a job as Chief Technical Advisor for a Vientiane-based (Laos) Education and Training Project in Hospitality and Tourism.  It’s a five year gig in which I am charged with leading the development of a National Tourism and Hospitality Training Center with the aim of improving service quality in the Lao PDR.  The Project has a variety of components including: professional development of teachers; upgrading/development of curricula in hospitality and tourism subjects; and the construction of a training center with capacity for 250+ students.

When complete, the National Tourism and Hospitality Training Center will serve as a vocational education hub for underprivileged youth in Laos.  Not only will it help alleviate poverty, but will inject much needed technical skills so as to improve the prospects of Lao PDR tourism.

Stay tuned…………..that is if I stay committed to my resolutions for 2009.  I won’t dare tell you what the others are.

By Peter Semone

It seems like an eternity since the tsunami tragedy of December 2004.  I had the good fortune to visit Khao Lak and see how my friend Reid Ridgway has progressed with his Ecotourism Training Center (ETC).  I remember in the weeks following the tsunami, when I was still sitting in the corporate seat at PATA, Reid used to visit my office and share his vision for how to help young people affected by the tsunami.  Through the PATA Foundation, we were able to provide a small contribution in support of the ETC with the purchase of a top of the line compressor for tank fills.  Over the past three years, Reid has done incredible things having trained nearly 100 young people in diving.  Graduates of the ETC have gone on to get jobs with leading dive operators in Phuket and Khao Lak.  Reid has stood by his commitment to make a difference in post tsunami Khao Lak.  He has also developed a meaningful model for sustainable tourism that makes a real difference to the local community and the natural environment.  Learn more about the ETC