Europe new tourism brand positioning- Value Over Volume

Thursday, November 29, 2018

The European Travel Commission (ETC) will change its marketing approach from volume to a value-based. ETC is responsible for promoting Europe as a tourist destination.

Its market segmentation will see a change from demographics (where people live) to their behaviors, interests, and attitudes. Another change on the anvil is focus on experiences over specific destinations.

Instead of convergence of over tourism, ETA prefers divergence of crowds to different cities. This will help to improve the quality of life of residents who live in those cities.

Elke Dens, chairman of the marketing group at the ETC said that the brand appeal of Europe was very generic despite the fact that the continent was diverse. First-time visitors to Europe usually wanted to see the most famous attractions – such as Amsterdam, Venice, Barcelona etc.

She highlighted that attracting more people is leading to overcrowding of these popular places in Europe as they are a part of most of the visitor’s bucket list.

Another shift of approach includes promoting the continent as a sum of passionate experiences in multiple destinations around the continent rather than Europe as a sum of destinations.

The European Travel Commission includes members from 32 national tourism organizations and it is responsible for marketing Europe, to the rest of the world.

As per Dens, the emphasize is on the diversity but it will be done through unity as there are values that unite Europe.

EU has abolished most of the internal border checks between countries, and  people are able to travel very freely. Thus a continent-wide strategy makes sense.

Top destinations like Amsterdam are concentrating more on managing tourism industry than on overt marketing.  Off-season deals can balance overtourism.

Planning, marketing and destination coordination can tackle seasonality and honey pot problems faced by majority of destinations as per Professor Dimitrios Buhalis, head of the department of tourism and hospitality at Bournemouth University.

The ETC’s new marketing strategy will start in mid-2019 after the end of a China-focused campaign.

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