Fresh Destination Marketing Initiatives

A selection which we find representative of the current global tourism and travel market trends.

UK focuses on GREAT “Holidays at Home”

Wallace and Gromit, the Nick Park-created animation duo, are to star in a £4m UK tourism campaign, appearing in a TV advert designed to inspire Britons to take holidays in their own country.

The pair, who will also feature in cinemas, will be seen on their travels, discovering what tourist chiefs describe as “the best of the UK”.

The campaign forms part of “Holidays at Home are GREAT“, a pan-UK Government-funded strategy which launched last year.

Designed to boost domestic tourism, the campaign aims to raise £80 million in additional tourism spend and more than a million overnight stays.

The £4m integrated campaign, led by VisitEngland, and supported by the home nation tourist boards of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will see Wallace and Gromit take to the road exploring the country and discovering the best of the UK (including some top spots for elite cheese tasting).  The Government funded campaign, ‘Great Adventure’, aims to inspire Britons to book a holiday through their local travel agent.

VisitEngland is working with a number of high street travel agents and operators across the country who will be putting together exciting British holiday packages for Wallace and Gromit and the rest of their customers.

More: www.visitengland.com 

New York Launches its Largest Tourism Campaign ever

At the conclusion of the first New York State Tourism Summit, where hundreds of tourism experts gathered in Albany to discuss ideas and new ways to bring tourists to every corner of the state, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced the launch of the states largest tourism campaign ever.

After discussions with tourism experts and hearing the concerns and ideas of local and international tourism officials, the governor announced a series of initiatives designed to make New York the tourism capital of the world:

Highest Level of Tourism Funding in Decades: Cuomo announced the state would invest nearly $60 million in tourism funding – the highest level of tourism funding in decades.

New I Love NY Marketing Campaign with Port Authority and MTA to Promote Upstate NY Tourism Destinations: Under the partnership announced, The MTA and Port Authority will provide $2 million worth of advertising space on subways, bus and commuter rail systems and at airport arrival points and kiosks to promote Upstate tourism.

• The MTA/I Love NY Partnership will result in more 7,000 advertising spaces throughout the MTA subway, bus and commuter rail systems. In addition, the MTA and I Love NY will co-brand railroad destination and getaway packages to Long Island and Hudson Valley beaches, wineries, parks and attractions.

• The Port Authority/I Love NY Partnership will result in advertising at the Port Authority’s most important travel hubs and services and more than 20 indoor and outdoor print/digital advertising resources at the Port Authority bus terminal, including high-visibility column wraps.

• Additional Airline and Airport Partnerships: As the first entry point for many travelers and tourists, the governor announced new initiatives to welcome visitors to the Empire State and inform them about the state’s many assets and attractions. This will include on-site greeters and welcome centers at New York’s airports. The governor also announced the state’s airports will feature Taste NY. Additionally, Delta Airlines will start featuring I Love NY advertisements in its in-flight magazine starting this month.

NYS Sports and Special Events Commission: The state will create a sports and special events commission. The commission will be charged with recruiting sporting and other special events to venues across the state – and competing for part of the $600 billion global sports tourism industry.

New Welcome Centers at Border and Interstate Crossings: The centers will serve as hubs of information about the state’s tourism assets and attractions. New signs showcasing local attractions will also be strategically placed at these border and interstate crossings.

New Taste NY Marketing Efforts: As announced, Taste NY products will be sold at strategically located rest stops across the state.

International Tourism Campaign: From Asia to South America: The governor announced an international tourism campaign – I Love NY Asia / I Love NY South America – that will invite people overseas to the Empire State and have a presence in emerging markets such as China and Brazil.

New Tourism Information for Decision-Makers: Empire State Development will be a clearinghouse for tourism metrics, offering New York’s businesses a place to go for information on how to best market to visitors and attract tourists.

I Love NY in Times Square: The Times Square Alliance has agreed to give the state space at the Visitors Center to help market state attractions to the millions of tourists who pass through Times Square every year.

I Love NY LGBT: The governor announced an I Love NY LGBT niche tourism initiative to market New York to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender community, which accounts for approximately $70 billion in tourism spending in the U.S. every year.

More: www.iloveny.com

Chile’s New International Campaign

A new campaign for the international tourism promotion of Chile was launched by the Subsecretaría de Turismo and Turismo Chile, the institution responsible for the promotion of Chile in international markets, as part of the events at World Travel Market (WTM) in Latin America.

Geographical, climatic and cultural contrasts play a fundamental role in this campaign, which promotes the diversity of activities in which to take part in Chile, such as trekking in the Parque Nacional Torres del Paine national park, one of the best nature destinations in the world, rafting down rivers surrounded by ancient forests and towering volcanoes, skiing the best slopes in the continent with the Andes as a backdrop, or experiencing the ancient culture of Rapa Nui on the remote Easter Island.

The images within the new promotional materials seek for a way of communication that is more focused on the traveler’s experience of the landscape and use, in addition, messages with humor and irony in order to engage a more diverse audience, conveying the essence of the local culture. Furthermore, it is based on the framework of the plan to promote Chile abroad, which has six experiences: Natural Inspiration, Adventure and Sport, Culture and Heritage, Flavors and Wine, Health and Wellbeing, and Urban Life.

The new images will start to be exhibited in all the markets that have been established as priorities: Argentina, Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Germany, France, Spain, England, the USA, Mexico and Australia.

More: chiletourism.travel

“Best Job(s) in the World” – From Regional to National

The “Best Job in the World” tourism campaign – extended version.

Tourism Australia‘s new extension of Queensland‘s famous ‘best job in the world’ campaign will feature six roles, each with a $100,000 salary package including living costs. Don’t get it wrong though- the focus of the campaign is not the money, but the promotion of experiences.

In an effort to revive the lucrative though static young traveller market, Tourism Australia is spending $4 million on an expanded ”Best Job in the World” global campaign, a bigger and more representative version for the entire country.

The competition targets travellers between the ages of 18 and 30 who are eligible for Australia’s Working Holiday Maker program.

Six states and territories, including NSW and Victoria, will participate in the promotion with young backpacker-style tourists, worth $12 billion to the Australian economy, invited to apply for six ”fun” ambassador-style tourism roles around the country.

Each of the jobs will showcase the best tourism attributes of each state and territory.

The campaign is a reinvention of Queensland’s acclaimed campaign with the 2009 Best Job in the World promotion, won by Briton Ben Southall who got the chance to become a ”caretaker” of a Great Barrier Reef island and attracted unprecedented international attention. The new campaign has already more than doubled the total of 34,000 entries received by the previous campaign.

Young overseas travellers to Australia help to meet the demand for tourism workers around Australia that the industry itself would otherwise find difficult to fill due to labour shortages. They also stay longer than other tourists and spend more, with an average expenditure of between $7300 and $13,000 depending on their visa.

Tourism Australia’s new national campaign will focus on the markets eligible for Australian working-holiday visas including Britain, Ireland, the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan.

More: Tourism Australia; Australian Working Visa FB

Destination Marketing: Social Media Campaigns that Work

Slovenia, through the Slovenian Tourist Board (STB) has a well developed digital presence promoting the country as a tourism destination. In order to raise awareness of Slovenia as a high class and attractive winter destination, STB launched an innovative winter campaign with the support of abouTourism and Mindworks , and we are excited with the results!

The innovative campaign focused on alternative social media channels through which to reach a high number of users and create virality, promoting the country as a winter destination.

The goal was to promote the USPs (Unique Selling Points) of the destination, and provide useful information regarding the ski and wellness facilities, the various events before, during and after Christmas period and overall inform everyone interested to come and experience “a unique winter “fairy-tale” right in the heart of Europe”.

Check out the campaign’s video:

Launched in December just in time for Christmas, and focusing on winter holidays as a key topic, Twitter conversations around this theme were identified and monitored through particular relevant hashtags, participating in every relevant conversation in order to provide answers on the spot to exactly those people interested in our topic- Winter Holidays.

INSTAGRAM- MOST COMMENTED PHOTOS
#WINTERSLOVENIA

Twitter was used to develop instant, direct, one-to-one communication to a highly targeted audience and Instagram to promote a realistic and attractive view of the “real” Slovenia, as this is where STB, locals and visitors were asked to upload their photos from Slovenia.

The key success factor of the #winterslovenia campaign was the fact that relevant content was distributed the moment a user asked for it!

The #winterslovenia campaign, which run for 20 days, has generated impressive results, with 1.5 million impressions, reaching more than 400.000 twitter users and generating 1.500 tweets.

A simple and to the point campaign with easily spreadable content, creating word of mouth, while involving multiple user segments, including locals, professionals, potential travelers and social media influencers.

More info: www.slovenia.info

Don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE to our new Blog  to receive new updates & articles straight to your email!

UNWTO Online Tourism Campaign

With one billion tourists traveling the world in a single year in 2012, transforming these one billion tourists into one billion opportunities is at the heart of the online campaign launched by UNWTO to celebrate this historic milestone.

Recalling the power of travel and tourism in driving economic growth and sustainable development, the One Billion Tourists: One Billion Opportunities campaign asks the public to vote for the travel tip they believe would have the greatest benefit for the people and places they visit, from using public transport to buying locally, and pledge to follow that tip when traveling.

“Imagine the difference one tourist could make by adopting small changes, from using their towels for more than one day, to hiring a local guide or buying local products. Now imagine if these simple actions were multiplied by one billion; that is the power of one billion tourists,” said UNWTO Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai, launching the campaign at the World Travel Market (WTM) in London.

UNWTO is encouraging all countries and the entire tourism sector to spread the word about the campaign by becoming official campaign partners and hosting their own celebrations on 13 December, raising awareness of the important contribution of one billion tourists, by voting for the best tip, by joining the Thunderclap campaign or sending travelling photos for UNWTO’s One Billion Facebook album.

The campaign will culminate on 13 December when the most popular tip will be revealed and sent out to millions via social media. The date, 13 December, has been chosen as the symbolic arrival day of the one-billionth tourist. While it is impossible to know exactly when and where the one-billionth tourist will arrive, UNWTO forecasts point to December. The arrival of the one-billionth tourist will be celebrated by the UNWTO Secretary-General in Spain, home to UNWTO headquarters.

Source: UNWTO

UK Global & Domestic Tourism Marketing Approach

Going Hostile Externally – Collaborating Internally

Going Global

Very soon “right across the world, there will be no escape from the message that Britain is great” as a new phase of the GREAT Britain campaign will see the New York Subway, Paris Metro, and 100 taxis across Delhi draped with the Union flag.

A series of GREAT images with also form part of the campaign, designed to encourage more international visitors to the UK.

The initiative will be rolled out in New York from Monday. It will see the inside and outside of a New York subway train wrapped in the GREAT branding, and adverts blitzed across key transit hubs including Grand Central and Stamford stations.

VisitBritain’s GREAT campaign aims to attract an extra 4.6 million extra visitors to the UK over the next four years, securing an additional £3 billion in visitor spend, targeting the 14 biggest and most lucrative tourism markets around the world.

The international reach of the campaign will be strengthened by a global partnership between VisitBritain and Yahoo!. As their largest ever online campaign, it aims to drive over five million views of VisitBritain content on the Yahoo! network and help drive 3.5 million visits to VisitBritain’s own online platforms.

Going Local

At the same time, tourism businesses across the UK are urged to Get Involved and join the new “Holidays at home are great!” campaign, the biggest domestic marketing campaign launched in the UK.   It is a partnership approach led by VisitEngland with Visit Wales, Visit Scotland, Northern Ireland Tourist Board and London and Partners as part of a wider initiative to use the London 2012 games to boost domestic tourism across the UK.

Scotland, Northern Ireland and the regions of England are putting significant resources behind recruiting businesses to the campaign with a 20.12% off or other great offers initiative, meaning that holidaymakers booking a UK short break before the closing ceremony of the Paralympic Games will be eligible for a money off discount or value-added offer.

It seems like a necessary initiative against the issue of high prices in London and the UK in general during the Olympics, especially when Asia and travellers from China and Japan are reportedly avoiding travel to the UK during that period mainly due to the increased costs.

The reach to all types of tourism businesses and the guidelines are simple. To Get Involved, be prepared to offer money off discounts or other value added benefits such as:  20.12% off hotel stays, meals, and other goods and services; Offers and deals like three nights for the price of two at hotels, or two-for-one entry at attractions; Value-added offers, where the customer pays the usual price but receives something extra for example a free lunch or a special meal for £20.12, a free bottle of wine, a guided tour, or a pampering spa add-on.

All these offers will then be displayed together on the campaign website, to create a ‘one-stop shop’ where visitors can browse and select the offers they like best. On choosing an offer, they’ll be taken to the offer supplier’s site, where they’ll be able to sign up.

Sources: www.visitbritain.com, www.visitengland.org

New Tourism Campaigns on the Block

New Tourism Campaigns from G.Britain, Cyprus, N. Ireland & Tasmania. What are your key selling points?

‘GREAT’ campaign for the UK

The UK Prime Minister has launched a new drive to promote Britain abroad. The new ‘GREAT’ campaign, launched on Wednesday 21 September in New York, will focus on everything the UK has to offer as one of the very best places to visit, study, work, invest and do business.

It provides a co-ordinated approach for promoting the UK in the run up to the London 2012 Olympic & Paralympic Games and beyond – it will allow Britain to speak with one voice about the opportunities to invest in the UK and help attract millions of visitors. ‘GREAT’ Britain centres on areas of British excellence covering reasons to visit and invest in the UK. These areas are: innovation, entrepreneurs, creativity, knowledge, green, heritage, sport, music, countryside and shopping.

This campaign is an opportunity for VisitBritain to work alongside other key organisations, such as the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, UK Trade & Investment, the Foreign & Commonwealth office and other Government departments to promote the best of Britain and highlight why this is the only place to be in 2012. They have been actively engaged throughout the development of the ‘GREAT’ concept and have provided their expertise to help ensure the campaign can be successfully implemented in those overseas markets where they operate.

Their marketing programme to see an extra £2 billion being spent across Britain by four million additional overseas visitors over the next four year – is already rolling out under the ‘GREAT’ Britain branding to integrate with the wider Government initiative.

The ‘GREAT’ creative is already being used on VisitBritain website, and they are running tactical ads featuring GREAT with strategic and industry partners in key markets around the world. These adverts showcase what overseas visitors can discover in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

The ads are part of a match-funded pot of marketing spend, with £50 million coming from VisitBritain and £50 million from the industry.

Source: www.visitbritain.org

‘Cyprus In Your Heart Campaign’ Launched Internationally

The Cyprus Tourism Organisation (CTO) has launched a new campaign, with the slogan “Cyprus in Your Heart”, which is designed to put Cyprus on the international tourism map in 2011. Backed by a budget of 19 million Euro (AED 99 million), CTO sees great potential to increase tourist arrivals in 2011.

According to Alecos Orountiotis, CTO chairman, the campaign will promote Cyprus’ history and culture, friendliness and hospitality, its mix of modern and contemporary and the wide range of activities that one can enjoy by exploring the island. The campaign is being run through posters and short TV spots.”

Early results are encouraging, with tourist arrivals in April up by a whopping 43% over the same period last year. This was confirmed by figures released by the Statistical Service of the Republic of Cyprus. According to the report, tourists from the Middle East played a significant role in the increase with the UAE and Lebanon being the largest source countries from the region.

A grand total of 405,463 tourists arrived in the all-weather Mediterranean island paradise between the months of January-April 2011, as compared to 344.664 in the corresponding period of 2010, recording an overall increase of 17.6% – a potent sign that the tourism industry was rapidly picking up the pace again.

Orountiotis said that in 2010 promotion efforts were affected by the harsh prevailing environment, with the consequences of the global financial crisis, the eruption of the volcano in Iceland, the global drop in recreation trips from Britain, reduced credit, pressure from travel organisers, viability problems faced by travel agents and air carriers, and the void left by the closing of Eurocypria airline.

Orountiotis also referred to the prospect of increasing air connectivity, noting that ’’the lively interest expressed by important airlines in Cyprus, the launch of new flights and the enhancement of existing ones, are not at all haphazard but the result of our unwavering efforts.’’ Orountiotis pointed out that ’’We have before us, significant opportunities, and to achieve multiple results for tourism, establishing Cyprus as an all-year-round destination, we have to exploit them.’’

Source: www.dubaicityguide.com

Northern Ireland launched new International Tourism Campaign

The Tourism Ireland campaign is being rolled out in Great Britain, America, mainland Europe and Australia. As well as focusing on city breaks, it will feature the attractions offered by more rural areas.

The campaign, which involves TV, radio and online advertising, will highlight the many festivals and events taking place here this autumn including the Belfast Festival at Queens, the Roe Valley Folk Festival in Limavady, the Banks of the Foyle Hallowe’en Carnival in Londonderry, the William Kennedy Piping Festival in Armagh, Belfast Music Week and the MTV Europe Music Awards in Belfast.

Arlene Foster said: “With more people opting for short breaks and the trend for late bookings, we have a real opportunity to persuade people to come to Northern Ireland this autumn.

“An intensive programme of activity is under way in Great Britain, which is our largest and most important tourism market. The autumn television campaign will reach up to 18.5million GB potential holidaymakers, while over 16million people will hear radio advertisements placing the spotlight on Titanic, our festivals, music, literature and living culture.

“”With the completion of the Giants Causeway Visitors’ Centre, and the countdown to NI 2012 and the centenary of Titanic well underway, there has never been a better time for tourists to visit Northern Ireland.”

Northern Ireland’s golf tourism offering will continue to be marketed across the world as part of the campaign.

The Minister added: “Our world class golf offering is also being showcased around the globe as the ‘Home of Champions’ following the tremendous success of our golfers, Darren Clarke, Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell.

“With so much to look forward to, this is the perfect time to put Northern Ireland’s tourism offering on the international stage.”

Tourism Ireland chief executive Niall Gibbons said: “In association with our industry colleagues we have enticing autumn/winter packages to offer consumers, developed around festivals and themes such as food, music, literature and the arts.

“The launch of major events next year, like Titanic Belfast and the Cultural Olympiad, as well as the completion of projects like the Giant’s Causeway Visitor Centre, provides a wonderful opportunity for us to position Northern Ireland on the international stage as a ‘must-see’ destination.”

Source: www.northernireland.gov.uk

Tourism Tasmania’s Spring Marketing Campaign

Tourism Tasmania’s spring marketing campaign 2011 will run from 21 August to end of November as a supplement to Tourism Tasmania’s year-round marketing activity.

The campaign aims to attract more visitors to Tasmania by featuring experiences that are known to entice people to the state – wilderness, heritage and culture, adventure and quality produce.

The campaign makes use of a combination of print and TV advertising, editorial, special features, cinema advertising and online TV and video. The cinema ad will screen in locations along Australia’s eastern seaboard – Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, South East Queensland, Canberra, Regional Victoria; the press and TV advertising extends across Australia while the online advertising and promotions have a global reach.

Tourism Tasmania has invested around $1.7 million on media for the campaign. Co-operative activity with distribution partner campaigns has added a further $743,000 in value. The media spend allocation is: 42% – print advertising and editorial in relevant magazines and newspaper features 23% – online advertising, 22% – cinema advertising, 13% – TV advertising, being on advertising on SBS around the new Gourmet Farmer series.

Source: www.tourismtasmania.com.au, www.campaignbrief.com

Destination Marketing Campaigns: What’s new?

Montreal Festimania

Montreal’s 11 summer festivals already draw some 3 million visitors (out of a total 6 million visiting the city during the summer). But Montreal is now building on these key tourism assets, with the goal of becoming North America’s premiere festival destination by 2015.

This year the festivals, held between mid July and mid August, are being collectively marketed for the first time as “Montreal Festimania,” a concept inspired by Scotland’s famed Edinburgh Festivals.

The Festimania concept was a natural, given Montreal’s reputation for offering “the best of Europe and North America” and the logic of pooling resources across its wealth of festivals, says Isabelle Hudon, chairman of the board of Le Collectif de Festivals Montréalais, the nonprofit collective organizing and marketing Festimania. The festivals span virtually every cultural activity imaginable, including film, comedy, theater, circuses, design, art and a wide variety of music.

The first-year efforts for Festimania (a three-year pilot project) aim to build awareness of the city as festival destination, as well as boost ticket sales and of course tourism revenue throughout Montreal, by attracting visitors from four primary markets: Quebec, the rest of Canada, the U.S. and Europe.

The Collective created a campaign of international scale on a small budget (about $1 million, nearly all spent on marketing, according to Hudon) by leveraging the impromptu musical humor and popularity of YouTube star Merton, social media and a contest.

Merton (always sporting a green hoodie) spontaneously composes humorous songs on his piano about each person he “meets” in cyberspace, based on their images and comments. His first video in March 2010 went viral, to date generating nearly 8.8 million views.

For each event, multicolored installations that resemble the prism design of the Festimania logo were set up in areas within the city. Within each was an iPad linked to a computer being used by Merton in Montreal. Through Skype, Merton (seated in front of Festimania branding elements) engaged with the iPad users and then endeavored to persuade them, through song (bringing in the festivals’ highlights), to attend Festimania.

To feed viral activity, entrants who “like” Festimania invite their friends to join via email invitations, or get friends to enter the contest through a posting of their entries on their Facebook walls, get additional chances to win. The contest was promoted during the Merton four-city events via the distribution of “regular” lanyards bearing the entry Web site’s URL.

The March-posted “Merton Loves Montreal” video has so far drawn more than 332,000 views, and both that video and the early May “international stunt” have generated many millions of media impressions and posts/tweets.

In just a few weeks since launching the contest, Festimania has added about 1,000 Facebook fans, and the contest has drawn 1,200 entrants.

Festimania also has its own YouTube page, which is drawing views of videos that highlight the festivals’ activities, as well as more views of Merton’s March video and a new Merton video song message about Montreal recorded during the international promotion.

Source: www.mediapost.com

Panama Tourism Authority launched global campaign

The Authority of Tourism in Panama (ATP) launched the advertisement campaign that will promote the Isthmus as a first class touristic destination, in a public event that took place before the authorities of several touristic guilds, the media and special guests.

The campaign seeks to emphasize the main touristic wonders of our country, for which five (5) exciting commercials that present the beauty of its beaches, the cosmopolitan Panama City, the exuberant nature, the different ethnic groups that are still living throughout the whole country and of course, the main worldwide touristic attraction that is: The Panama Canal.

The campaign emphasizes the connectivity and ease of access to Panama, which makes it the eighth most important air hub in the world and one of the main crossing points of America, which is evident in the commercial closings: “with more than 80 destinations, Panama is always close to you”.

The advertisement strategy has five different commercial versions for TV in English and Spanish, which will be advertised in the United States, Latin America and Europe in global media networks. The graphic campaign will be broadcasted in traditional media as well as in several social network sites that are currently the ones with the highest amount of users and visits like Facebook, Twitter and Youtube.

“When this administration started two (2) years ago, we dedicated our efforts to the promotion of Panama in the exterior with various strategies which have obtained excellent results, while the analysis on the travelers’ interests was performed. We wanted to be sure that our campaign was well focused.” said Salomon Shamah, General Administrator of Tourism in Panama.

Source:www.visitpanama.com

Switzerland Tourism Facebook Campaign

Switzerland Tourism created a new Facebook campaign in response to study findings that revealed that mobile devices cause tension in relationships.

A new Mobile Workforce Report from iPass found that 29% of respondents indicated that mobile technology creates tension in their relationships, and that 44% of mobile workers keep their smartphones at the ready within arm’s distance when they go to sleep.

In the Switzerland Tourism Facebook contest, you can win a week with full board (excluding drinks) in a Swiss mountain cabin with 10 Facebook friends if you provide a written continuation to the clause: “A week in in the mountain cabin would do me good because … ”

There will be seven winners (plus 10 Facebook friends each) chosen, and Rohner hiking socks and Victorinox Swiss army knives will be handed out to 93 other winners.

The tourism board explains that the more supporters of your application you get the greater are your chances of winning, and you can also boost your Facebook friends’ chances by supporting their applications. (If you win, you can choose your Swiss mountain cabin mates from among your supporters.)

The hitch is — you’ll have no Internet and mobile reception during your stay in the Swiss mountain cabin.

Source: www.tnooz.com, www.myswitzerland.com

Wisconsin Launches “fun” new summer campaign

The Wisconsin Department of Tourism launched its new summer marketing campaign last month in various markets across the Midwest around the creative platform of “fun.” The “Picture the Fun” campaign is meant to inspire travelers in Wisconsin to discover and share their idea of fun this summer.

The campaign will run in markets across Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota and Iowa, and feature TV spots, radio spots, print and digital ads, out-of-home marketing efforts, public relations, social media executions, and advertising with the Chicago Transit Authority.

Additionally, campaign extensions will run on TravelWisconsin.com and the Department of Tourism Facebook page and Twitter feed throughout the campaign, and will include: notable guest bloggers with ties to Wisconsin; a “Summer Fun Report”; and a “Picture the Fun” photo contest. Free Travel Wisconsin iPhone® and Android™ apps are also available for download and help travelers find local attractions, lodging, dining and recreation throughout the state.

Harvard Business School report revealed, “70 percent of all [social] actions are related to viewing pictures or other people’s profiles.” Also, Facebook, a top social site for travelers, is most often used to share photos and video. The “Picture the Fun” campaign is built on the popularity of sharing photos on social networks.

“The State of Wisconsin is well-positioned to really separate itself from the competition with this campaign,” said Gov. Scott Walker. “The Department of Tourism’s primary focus is to market the state and grow the tourism economy, ultimately creating jobs through effective marketing. The creative platform we’re rolling out will enable us to effectively compete for tourism dollars and meet those objectives.”
Research showed Wisconsin held a unique position in that travelers across the Midwest not only viewed Wisconsin as a fun destination but also judged it more fun when compared to other states competing for the same traveler dollar. The Department of Tourism made the strategic decision to build on the equity in an effort to differentiate the state.

Additionally, results from the Department of Tourism research showed that fun was also mentioned time and again as the lead motivating factor for leisure travel among tourists, which lead to the campaign’s communications focusing on fun moments, stories, activities and events consumers can see themselves in.

Source: www.travelwisconsin.com, www.wisbusiness.com

Nova Scotians star in regional tourism campaign

Talented Nova Scotians have won an opportunity to star in the My Nova Scotia regional tourism campaign. They are featured in television commercials airing in the Maritimes throughout the summer.

“The My Nova Scotia campaign has been a great success,” said Percy Paris, Minister of Economic and Rural Development and Tourism. “We are very pleased to have had almost 400 talented Nova Scotians participate in the contest, and many more show their support, either online or at the auditions. Their passion and enthusiasm for our beautiful province will make potential visitors from around the world realize they must come and see Nova Scotia for themselves.”

Each week, for 21 weeks, different people will be featured. Some will also be included in a regional newspaper ad campaign. Each commercial will highlight the best festivals, events and experiences to enjoy in Nova Scotia this summer.

Winner Elyse Delaney, a singer and performer from Cheticamp, called the My Nova Scotia contest a wonderful learning experience.

“I am very grateful to be given the opportunity to promote the beautiful province I am proud to call home. I always look forward to seeing new faces and I know that they will always remember their time here in Nova Scotia, and hopefully come back.”

Contestants were invited to participate in the My Nova Scotia campaign by uploading their own videos, or auditioning at one of 14 events that took place across the province this spring. To view all commercials, go to novascotia.com

Source: www.canadaviews.ca,

VisitBritain launced its ‘Goodwill Ambassador’ programme

VisitBritain, Britain’s national tourism agency, has announced the launch of its ‘Goodwill Ambassador’ programme in conjunction with its four-year global ‘Britain You’re Invited’ campaign.

The ‘Britain You’re Invited’ campaign is backed by a public-private partnership funding of £100 million ($162.7 million) and aims to attract and invite visitors from all over the world to visit and explore the destination, said a statement from VisitBritain.

Karan Johar, top Bollywood filmmaker, Asha Gill, well-known Asian TV presenter and Alex Hua Tian, leading 2012 Olympic, Paralympic Games Event Riding candidate were introduced as “Goodwill Ambassadors” by Sandie Dawe, VisitBritain’s chief executive.

Speaking at the launch, Dawe said, “Britain welcomed over 4 million visitors in 2010 from the Asia Pacific and Middle East and Africa region. These travellers spent approximately £4.5 billion during their travel to Britain. As one of our major growth regions, Asia will be a key area for the global roll out of the ‘Britain You’re Invited’ campaign”.

The three Asian goodwill ambassadors all share one thing in common – they were all, in some way, inspired by Britain in their respective fields, remarked Dawe.

VisitBritain has revealed plans of introducing its ambassadors in June, launch a television advertising campaign in September, and initiate a stimulus programme for the visiting-relatives market in October.

Source: www.tradearabia.com

Crowdsourcing & Tourism Campaigns! Using the Power of the Crowd

“Simply defined, crowdsourcing represents the act of a company or institution taking a function once performed by employees and outsourcing it to an undefined (and generally large) network of people in the form of an open call. This can take the form of peer-production (when the job is performed collaboratively), but is also often undertaken by sole individuals. The crucial prerequisite is the use of the open call format and the large network of potential laborers” Jeff Howe, originator of the term in 2006 (crowdsourcing.typepad.com)

Tourism Authority of Thailand Launches “The Most Amazing Show On Earth”

Every journey has a story, and the Tourism Authority of Thailand is calling upon past visitors to share their stories of Thailand in its latest campaign for a chance to win a cash prize and become the inspiration for a film.

In the recruitment phase of the campaign, the Tourism Authority of Thailand has sent out an open call for submissions. From April 8 onwards, TAT is accepting submissions of “Amazing Moments”, or unique stories from anyone who has visited Thailand in the form of photo essays. By logging on to http://www.MostAmazingShow.com, users can upload their photos or sync it to an album on Facebook, mark the regions/provinces to map out their journeys, add descriptions, and share the story with others via social media. These moments will then be collected and shown as part of “The Most Amazing Show On Earth”, a website where visitors can browse stories of Thailand from all over the world.

By capturing real stories from real visitors, the TAT hopes to be able to give prospective visitors a diverse and realistic portrait of tourism of the whole country through the eyes of other visitors rather than an organization.

In the second phase, TAT will develop a film inspired by the submissions. The film will be divided into short episodes to be broadcasted online, with each episode featuring different regions and provinces in Thailand and a sample of the experiences they can offer. In addition, the film will involve online participants further by allowing viewers of each episode to tag gifts related to each particular episode for a chance to win the gifts and have them delivered to a physical mailing address.

Source: www.prweb.com

“Share Your Washington” campaign

The $300,000 “Share Your Washington” tourism campaign kicked off April 18. The mostly-online campaign asks Washington residents to invite their friends and family to visit the state, as a way to pump up a hospitality industry bracing for the imminent demise of the state Tourism Office because of budget cuts.

Web viewers can click a button to instantly send scenic online postcards to their friends and enter a drawing for prizes from sponsor Alaska Airlines.

Marsha Massey, who directs the soon-to-expire state tourism office, said there could be 20,000 new tourism jobs if each Washington resident got a friend to visit. “This is saying, ‘You can be part of the solution — You can be part of economic development for the state,’ ” she said.

Tourism officials expect people to see the campaign on Facebook or at www.ShareYourWashington.com, although there are also TV and radio broadcast versions, too. The new nonprofit Washington Tourism Alliance is working on a plan to take over the ad campaign as well as state’s tourism promotion website, www.experiencewa.com, when the tourism office closes June 30.

Source: www.bizjournals.com

Getting the Irish to “Talk for Ireland”

DiscoverIreland.ie has just launched a dynamic new campaign called “Talk for Ireland” aimed at getting people to talk passionately and with pride about holidaying in Ireland.

The aim of the campaign is to encourage people to share their favourite destinations, activities, attractions and festivals with each other on the new DiscoverIreland.ie Facebook page as a way of encouraging people to take breaks in Ireland this year.

“To really get the ball moving we would like to encourage any tourism business already active in social media to share this campaign with their followers via their website, Facebook and Twitter accounts”.

Those willing to share their favourite places to holiday in Ireland will have the chance to win weekly prizes, as well as entry into a grand prize draw where they’ll get to experience the current Discover Ireland ‘The Fun Starts Here’ TV ad for themselves! The competition will be promoted on the Breakfast with Hector Show on 2FM and the RTE Guide as well as a range of national newspapers.

To enter the competition, participants simply have to upload a video, or a captioned image, onto Discover Ireland’s new Facebook page www.facebook.com/discoverireland.ie, which expresses exactly what it is they love about taking a break in Ireland.

Source: www.failteireland.ie

Destination BrandWatch (Middle East): Tourism Campaigns & Crisis Management

Egypt Celebrates its Revolution with New Tourism Campaign Unveiled at ITB

Egypt launched a global advertising campaign on Thursday with a series of slogans celebrating its recent revolution.

The launch at trade show ITB in Berlin unveiled a variety of new slogans celebrating the recent overthrow of the government, including:

“Welcome to the country of peaceful revolution”, “7,000 years of history and a new era”, and “Tahrir – a square rocks the world”. Tahrir Square in Cairo was at the centre of the protests that deposed former President Mubarak in Febuary.

The campaign will run on TV, in print, online and outdoor, and ally the new slogans to the tagline in use since 2010 – “Egypt, where it all begins”. It will use images reflecting the revolution, including a postage stamp dated January 25, the day the uprising began.

New Egyptian tourism minister Mounir Fakhry Abdel Nour unveiled the campaign at ITB. He said the country expects a speedy rebound in visitor numbers and the year to finish with arrivals close to the level of last year.

Tui Travel chief executive Peter Long told Travel Weekly on Wednesday that he expects bookings to Egypt this year to be about 60% of the level of 2010.

The minister said Egypt had suffered a short-term fall in tourism numbers “due to the current incidents”. But he said he expects “a fast return”, with tour operators and airlines offering full programmes.

Egypt drew more than 14 million overseas tourists last year and aims to attract 25 million a year by 2020.

The Egyptian consulate’s tourism department said in a statement: “Egypt is optimistic about a quick rebound and is looking forward to the pro-democratic change and the new era to go hand in hand with an upturn in tourism.

“Egypt has been the focus of worldwide media attention . . . [now] the primary objective is to quickly get back to the normal level of tourism. All travel warnings have been removed. A lot of tour operators have announced [a] full commitment.

“The peaceful, pro-democratic revolution has brought a fresh breeze to Egypt. Tourism officials will freshen up their marketing measures accordingly, focussing on increased participation at international events and media-marketing activities.”

The new campaign will also include the following slogans: “A new era of hospitality”, “Peaceful change is in the air”, “A peaceful revolution inspires the world”, “The online revolution – made in Egypt”, and “Nothing new here, history is made”.

Read More: www.travelweekly.co.uk

Israel Unveils New Campaign to Differentiate its Image from Regional Countries

Tourism Minister Stas Misezhnikov unveils NIS 45m. campaign to ensure tourists don’t get scared from going to Israel.

With Libya in the throes of chaos and bloodletting, and post-revolution Egypt gripped by uncertainty, Tourism Minister Stas Meseznikov on Wednesday unveiled a NIS 45 million advertising campaign to meant to ensure that potential tourists don’t get scared away from visiting Israel despite the turmoil in the region.

The campaign also aims to encourage tourists who may have otherwise traveled to Egypt, Tunisia, or elsewhere to try Israel instead.

Meseznikov said Wednesday “given the geo-political situation and the blow to the region’s image, the Tourism Ministry is next week launching a series of campaigns worth NIS 45m. in target countries around the world in order to differentiate Israel’s image from the other countries in the region and strengthen it as a safe, accessible and attractive tourism destination.”

Meseznikov’s statement was issued as the minister opened the Israeli stand at the ITB in Berlin, the world’s largest tourism fair.

According to the Tourism Ministry, the campaign will include commercials aired in target countries such as the US, Russia, Germany, UK and Scandinavia.

“The regional crisis represents a challenge and an opportunity for tourism to Israel,” Meseznikov said. “We will work through all the marketing channels with a variety of activities in order to position Israel as an alternative destination for those tourists who, until now, would take their vacations in other countries in the region.

“The Tourism Ministry representatives, working in 17 offices around the world, will expand their activities with local tourism industry representatives to increase traffic to Israel. Activities that have already taken place over the last few weeks in Russia and Ukraine have proven that Israel is seen as an alternative for tourists wishing to travel to the Middle East region,” he said.

Read More: www.jpost.com

Tourism industry, supporters turn to social media to promote Jordan as a safe destination

The tourism industry and supporters of the sector are using Facebook, Twitter, blogs and other social media tools to promote Jordan as a safe tourism destination.

“We do use it and currently we must push more,” Michael Nazzal, chairman of Jordan Federation Of Tourism Associations, said in response to a question on whether industry uses social media to promote tourism.

Stressing the importance of social media, Nazzal revealed that a monthly gathering will be held starting on 20th of this month for social media users, workers in the field and supporters of tourism.

The “tourism support group” and other initiatives by supporters of the sector come at a time when the tourism industry in the country is witnessing a downturn due to the recent unrest in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya.

Meanwhile, Jordan Tourism Board Director Nayef Fayez is becoming more active on Twitter, where he is posting tourism news, information, and even links to blogs speaking about tourism in Jordan.

Despite the recent downturn in tourism, Fayez expressed hope on the JTB website http://www.visitjordan.com that “the region will overcome its volatility and return to stability, and that more people will have the chance to discover Jordan’s countless and priceless treasures”.

The Jordan Inbound Tour Operators Association is also using Facebook where it has a page with up-to-date information about the tourism industry.

Bloggers have also done their share by exchanging information, and delivering the message about the actual situation in Jordan.

Source: www.jordantimes.com

Read more:www.visitjordan.com