Destination Branding: Stakeholders To Explore New Strategy At WTM

Tourism ministers and private sector leaders from around the world will   be meeting next month in London to discuss new strategy for destination branding.

The Summit, which is part of the 2015 World Travel Market London Ministerial Programme, will also attempt to engage with the question of how destination branding has become an increasingly complex challenge.

According to a 2013 World Bank Report, 14 countries in Sub Sahara Africa are yet to develop their tourism market owing to a number of constraints such as investor access to finance, taxes on tourism investments, low levels of tourism skills, lack of security, safety and high crime, public health, visa requirements, and red tape and bureaucracy.

At the summit, destination management organisations will be re-evaluating their structures and strategies to adapt to new market trends created by social media and new business models, such as the so called “sharing economy” and the growing empowering of consumers, a statement sent to The Guardian by UNTWO stated.

The rise of the new technologies, coupled with the global economic downturn, has brought a paradigm shift as power moves from governments to citizens and from companies to consumers. This change is having a huge impact in the tourism sector and both destinations and companies need to adjust to new challenges,” said UNWTO Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai.

The event, which will be moderated by CNN journalist Richard Quest, will focus on questions such as what makes a successful destination brand in today’s globalised media landscape.

According to the World Travel Market London, Senior Director, Simon Press, “The UNWTO and WTM Ministers’ Summit is a fixture in the calendar for ministers and private sector to debate the key issues facing the industry. Destination branding is becoming even more complex challenge as consumers empowered by new business models such as the sharing economy and social media have an impact on a destination’s brand and reputation.”

Stakeholders, he said, would also be examining the links between nation branding and destination branding, the role of social media and consumers’ engagement in destination branding, reputation management and crisis communication, the changing role of destination marketing organisations; and the contribution of the creative economy to destination.
WTM London, the leading global event for the travel industry is slated for November 3 and will be attended by not fewer that 150 minister and aides across the globes.

Now in its ninth year, the UNWTO/WTM Ministers’ Summit is part of the World Travel Market London Ministerial Programme, bringing together Tourism Ministers and leading tourism experts to debate each year key issues affecting the sector.