Features
Branding & domestic tourism – UNWTO blueprints for Africa’s tourism recovery & growth
The United Nations World Tourism Organisation, (UNWTO), the UN specialist agency with responsibility for the tourism sector has identified and rolled out branding and marketing as recovery strategy roadmap to support Africa to quickly recover from the devastating corona virus (COVID- 19) pandemic.
According to information from Mr. Zurab Pololikashvill, the Secretary-General of the UNWTO, “countries around the world are steadily shifting from responding to the corona virus pandemic to the recovery phase, where tourism would play a key role not solely due to its importance in job creation, supporting livelihoods and driving inclusive development but tourism itself has been hit hard by the unprecedented crisis, with a decrease of 47 per cent (47%) in international tourist numbers, which translated into around (US$ 320,Billion) in lost revenue.”
The UNWTO Boss, however, affirms that Africa has certain advantages as a prime destination for wildlife and or nature tourism, unspoiled landscapes and habitats, over other global tourism regions, for most international tourists, which call for promoting “Brand Africa, as a key priority.
The branding and marketing support, according to UNWTO, is as a result of feedback from consultations with Africa Member countries.
The objective is to identify the best marketing ideas and strategies that will reposition and make prospective tourists, to see a different Africa, more positively, especially regarding Agenda 2030 and how to reposition tourism sector , to contribute effectively in realising the lofty Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Strategy
The practical assistant in marketing is being offered alongside others including helping to train and up-skill tourism workers, so that they can adapt to the new reality.
The UNWTO is, therefore, working closely with Africa Member countries to adopt innovative strategies and entrepreneurship, to overcome unprecedented challenges that require new ideas and voices.
Moreso, UNWTO seeks to work with member countries to realise their domestic and regional potential.
The Madrid based specialist agency urged member countries to evolve strong and responsible domestic tourism industry, to sustain livelihoods and rural communities, especially women and youth, for the gradual return of international tourism.
Appeal
The UNWTO in addition, calls for determined leadership among African countries, reiterating its confident in the ability of the tourism sector to bounce back stronger and its ability to adapt to challenges, learn lessons as well as embrace innovation and new ideas, which will be pivotal, “to restart tourism across Africa and so reestablish tourism as the ultimate driver of growth and opportunity for all,” as proven over the years, according to UNWTO.
…What’s Ghana’s Tourism Brand ID?
Product development and product packaging are essential elements in product branding, promotion and marketing to meet consumer need and satisfaction, to ultimately attain organisational set market targets and goals.
Branding becomes more indispensable, important, critical and essential in a very sensitive, delicate, dynamic and very competitive industry as tourism.
Potential
Ghana has great tourism potential as regards the four main natural, man-made, cultural and heritage tourism resource categories.
This potential, however, does not translate into an attractive brand national tourism image, it takes a lot of conscious innovation to create attractive and popular brands, which are packaged and promoted with the best marketing mix and marketing strategies, to become popular brands that gain and attain high consumer patronage and acceptance.
Brand campaign
The “Wear Ghana, See Ghana, Eat Ghana”, existing and ongoing national tourism brand campaign is too opaque, it is not attractive, concise and precise enough to make an appreciable impact , to attend the desired target results, the campaign needs review, amendment and realigning with specified identified professional and precise segmentations, which is an outstanding brand, re-enforced with the right, attractive and appropriate logos, colours, taglines among other scientific elements in formal branding enterprises.
Lack of branding
Tourism currently ranked as the largest biggest and fastest growing industry in vogue in the world, contributing critical and substantial foreign exchange into the socio-economic purse of many countries globally, over the years until the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in late 2019.
Our Homeland Ghana has a thousand and one tourism resources in all four broader resource categories of natural, cultural, heritage and man-made resources, which are evenly spread across the length and breadth of the country but pathetically earns paltry pittance from the global tourism market share, whilst other countries with less tourism resources rake billions of thousands of dollars from the blue gold of the 21st Century.
Ghana has all the ingredients including political stability, safety and security and a standard of fair road network and transport system, to be an endless model destination and tourism traffic hub but tarries behind and misses out on the global tourism index.
Potential
Our Homeland Ghana is well endowed with some unique and outstanding rare tourism resources but has no attractive and compelling tourism brand image and identity.
The country has failed woefully to brand itself touristically and, therefore, has no attractive tourism brand image and identity, on the tourism market index currently.
Way forward
Modern tourism is very competitive which has compelled all destinations to adopt dynamic, innovative, creative and robust strategies to create attractive brand images , to reposition themselves to attract the ever increasing dynamic sophisticative money bag tourist patrons and consumers, for a chunk of the rare blue tourism revenue.
There is, therefore, the need for the country to take pragmatic initiatives to commission and undertake in-depth researches to identify its industry competitive edge/ strength and take steps to create an outstanding national tourism image identify, properly segmented for both domestic and foreign tourism patronage and consumption.
Brand identity
The need arises to comprehensively brand the Homeland touristically with creative and innovative strategies, using very sound communication, marketing, branding and business promotional strategies and principles.
Brands
The national tourism branding exercise should create multiple competitive product sub-brands within a synchronised outstanding national brand to attract and satisfy the needs of visitor consumers of diverse tastes, needs and cultural backgrounds, with domestic and foreign consumer needs and targets.
Segmentation
The exercise must be very comprehensive with very clear and conspicuous and identified market segment targets including the broader domestic, specific consumers including the working class, students, faith, academia, research, conservation, youth, retirees markets and or consumers.
There also need to target other identifiable markets such as West Africa, Africa, African Diaspora, and the world at large among others, to create instantiations, irresistible and attractive brands within the National Image Tourism Brand.
Notable and possible attractive tags include Ghana-Land of Living in Diversity, Warm Hospitality, Sun, Beach, Rich Culture & More, Ghana-Land of Gold, Ghana-Footprints of Slavery and Colonisation, Ghana-Land of Endless Tourism Treasure, Warm Hospitality & More outstanding national tourism enclaves, circuits, clusters, zones, districts and regions along other remarkable sub-product units such as gold, slave routes, cocoa .oil, beach, waterfalls, wildlife, agriculture, education, health among others.
Marketing
Branding and marketing promotion are interrelated with common denominators with satisfactory customer and consumer experience to achieve desired market share in modern and an industry as competitive as modern tourism.
Promotion strategy is another critical and essential element in brand’s success narration in every endeavour.
Strategy
Sustained multi-media campaign messages in the form of press statements, press conferences, press soirees, interviews, using electronic (radio/television), banners, sign boards, print (newspapers, flyers, magazines), attendance of exhibitions, fairs/events ( home and abroad), and social media presence medium have , fair general media balanced media-mix presence all overbearing positive effects on brand evolution campaigns.
By Prince Dennis Klintings
The Writer is Brands, Branding, Communication, Marketing & Tourism Analyst
THE state of feeling rejected, could be a terrifying experience especially for those who have become used to fame. If not properly addressed, it could lead to depression and the consequences, could be disastrous.
When you are on top of your game in whatever profession you find yourself such that you become famous, a lot of people try to associate with you. The phone never ceases to ring and one is tempted to feel loved and very important.
When a disaster strikes and the fame or the money which was the source of the attraction fades away, the circle of friends and fans begin to shrink and the phone will start to stop ringing until the call stops voting completely.
You will be shocked at how people you considered friends, will no longer be calling you or pay casual visits as they used to. You will begin to notice that messages you leave after calling them and not getting a response are not replied to and that is when you begin to know who your true friends are.
One of the most popular movie stars was an actress called Sharon Stone. In an interview with one of the media houses that was published, she spoke about how people who should have come around to encourage her in her moment of depression, shunned her. The calls stopped coming.
This is what the Bible admonishes that the arm of flesh will fail you and therefore we should put our trust in God. It could be a very frightening experience and can easily lead to depression.
Human nature being what it is, people will want to get close if things are okay. Everybody wants to associate themselves with interesting things, famous people, rich people etc for mainly selfish reasons.
We need to develop the habit of putting our trust in God and relying less on human beings. The lesson we have to take along in life is that, no one marries his or her enemy so how come people who took vows that they will love each other become so hostile to each other that they want to go their separate ways in life? Such is the reality of life.
It is therefore prudent for people to recognise that, life is full of uncertainties and so there is the need to prepare your mind for uncertainties so that when they occur, they do not disorganise your mental sanity.
A lot of people have experienced situations where people who they could have sworn will never betray their trust have disappointed them when they were through challenging moments.
If there is one thing famous people should desire, it should be the ability to identify who are true friends are. Countless stories abound regarding incidence of celebrities who have lost their shine and their wives divorcing them soon after.
It is sometimes useful as a famous or rich person to sign a prenuptial agreement before marriage to safeguard or protect yourself from any future unpleasant surprises.
People can be very pretentious these days, it goes both ways. There is this real life story where a man married a divorced wealthy woman and convinced her to sell her house so they could build a new one together, with the excuse that people are gossiping that he is being housed by a woman.
The woman agreed and they put up a new building. After a few years the man asked for a divorce, only for the woman to realise that the land on which the building was situated, was bought in the man’s name.
This can drive a person insane, if you are not mentally tough and this happens to you. When people hear that you are homeless, a lot of your so-called friends will stop calling, so that you do not become a burden on them.
By Laud Kissi-Mensah
Join our WhatsApp Channel now!
https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VbBElzjInlqHhl1aTU27
‘But, er …. I don’t even know your name’.
‘Paul. Paul Allotey. I’m Sarah, by the way. Paul, why don’t you leave me here, since this is the last important thing I’m doing today’.
‘Okay. Now Sarah. I was just thinking. You will be here at the cafe for about an hour. By then it will be about twelve thirty. Then, you would be thinking of buying yourself some lunch, to eat here or to take home. So if you would please allow me, I will take you to one of the nicest eating places in town, and after you have sorted that one out, then I can drop you home. Just that one errand, then I won’t bother you again’.
‘You are not bothering me at all. You are being very kind to me. And I just realised you are a mind reader too. The last item on my agenda was lunch’.
‘I’m so glad I appeared at your doorstep, just in time’.
‘Okay. Now Paul, since you say the cafe is a comfortable place, let’s go in together, and you can do your work while I get my application done’.
‘Okay, Sarah. Thanks. Let’s go’.
We got back in the car at eleven forty-five.
‘So where are we going, Paul?’
‘To Royalty restaurant. It’s a twenty minute drive away’.
‘So, do you enjoy your job?’
‘Most certainly. I won’t change it, not even to be President. And am I right to say that you are preparing to enter the university?’
‘That’s my plan. I hope it works’.
‘It will, if you are determined, and disciplined. You look very much like a disciplined person’.
‘Thank you very much’.
We arrived at Royalty in twenty-five minutes, ‘You are joining me for lunch, Paul’.
‘Thanks for the honour, Sarah. But the bill is on me’.
‘Aren’t you taking on too much for one day?’
‘I never do anything that is bigger than me, Sarah’.
Over the next hour and a half, we discussed fashion, local and international politics, and sports, as we ate and relaxed. Finally, he drove me to the shop.
‘I will never forget you, Paul’.
‘I’m glad to have been helpful. But if you don’t mind, I’ll say it again, your husband is extremely lucky. You are really beautiful’.
‘Thanks again. But do you mind if I call you sometime in the future?’
‘Certainly not. Let me write it here. I will not ask for your number, for obvious reasons. But I will be looking forward to hearing from you. And hopefully, I will see you next month, when I call to drop your bill’.
‘Okay Paul. See you then’. What a lovely day, I said to myself as I opened the front door. I closed the shop and got home by seven. I went straight to the bedroom, stood in the mirror and took a good look at myself. ‘You are a very beautiful woman, Sarah. Never forget that’. I will not forget that, again.
Over the next several weeks, Martin and I had very little to do with each other. In the morning he ate his breakfast and after a shabby ‘I’m going’, he left. He came home around eight at the earliest, ate his dinner and, already soaked in beer, went off to sleep.
He spent the greater part of the weekends at the club house with his friends, playing tennis and partying. My mind was focused on furthering my education, so I didn’t complain to him, and didn’t bother to inform my parents about what was happening. I had decided that I would only take action if he lifted his hand against me again. I spent my free time reading all manner of interesting stuff on the internet, and chatting with my sister on WhatsApp.
One evening, he came home at about eight, rushed to the bedroom and rushed out. An envelope, obviously containing money, dropped out of his pocket, and I picked it up and followed him. I was going to call him and give it to him, but I noticed that there was a young woman in the car, so I went back in, counted it and put it in a drawer in the hall. He came back after some ten minutes.
‘Excuse me, I dropped an envelope containing money. You must have seen it’.
‘Yes, I saw it. Actually, I followed you, and was about to call you and hand it over to you when I realised that there was a woman in the car, so I came back in. I counted it. One thousand cedis.
‘Well let me have it. I have to be going’.
‘I will let you have it if you will tell me who the woman in the car is, and why you are going to give her that amount of money’.
‘Listen, if you waste my time, I will teach you a lesson you will never forget. Give me the money now!’
‘Here’s what we will do, Martin. I know you will give money to her anyway, so I will give it to you, if you will withdraw the threat you just issued. But I want you to know that I will be taking some steps from tomorrow. Things are getting out of hand’.
‘Okay, I’m sorry I threatened you. Can you please give me the money’. I handed it over to him, and he ran out’.
The following morning, I waited for him to finish having breakfast, and told him I wanted to have a word with him urgently.
‘You better be quick. You know I’m going to work’.
‘Well, I want to inform you that I will inform my parents, and your parents, about the situation in this house. As I said yesterday, things are getting out of hand. You spend most of your time drinking. You get drunk every evening, and through the weekend. And you are also spending your time and money on a prostitute’.
‘How dare you? One more stupid word from you …’
‘Am I lying, Martin? You have just started life, yet you are behaving like a rich, elderly man who has already seen his children through university, and can afford a life of fun. As I said, I’m going to inform our parents. Maybe your parents can straighten you out before it is too late’.
‘Look, we can talk this evening. It’s nothing like what you are saying’. He walked away, shocked.
That evening, I was expecting to have a meaningful discussion with him, but his mother called early in the evening to offer me some ‘advice’. Her son had called to say that certain developments at home were disturbing him so much that they were beginning to affect his work.
And, ‘as a loving mother to her daughter’, she was advising me to submit to my husband, and support him in prayer, and not ‘drive him from home’. Men would always be men, and she was telling me ‘from experience’ that no matter how much time Martin stayed away from home, he would always come home to me.
She had been a young wife before, so she understood the challenges I was facing. So I could be assured that if I followed her advice, all would be well. And, of course, she didn’t allow me to tell my side of the story.
Martin came home very late, and very drunk. And from the next morning, he carried on as before. With some hesitation, I called my dad and told him all that had gone on.
‘Well, my daughter. I’m not going to say “I told you so”. I was only trying to protect you. So here’s what we’ll do. Continue doing the best you can, and try not to give him any excuse to harm you, but if things continue to deteriorate, I will take you back.
A couple of days later, my cousin Dinah arrived in Accra from Brussels, having completed her medical course. With Martin’s agreement, I went to Koforidua and spent a couple of days. I spent most of the time chatting about her experiences in the US, but we also discussed my relationship with Martin, and she endorsed Dad’s decision to take action if Martin’s behaviour did not change after two weeks Elaine informed Mom and Dad. We endorsed Dad’s decision to take action if there was no change in two weeks.
Dinah returned with me to Takoradi. Her plan was to spend a couple of weeks, and return to Accra to be posted. I called Paul Allotey, and asked if he would meet her for lunch and, if possible, show her some interesting spots. Delighted, he suggested that we meet at Royalty the next day.
I told Martin about it, to remove any possibility of future disagreement over ‘going out with men’.
‘It’s fine with me’, he said, ‘if, of all the people who could show your sister round this town, you chose a borla man. Doesn’t that indicate the kind of person you are?’
‘ First of all, Martin’, I’ve spoken to him a few times, and he comes across as a decent guy, so I think it is rather unfortunate that you are writing him off when you don’t know him’.
By Ekow de Heer
Join our WhatsApp Channel now!
https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VbBElzjInlqHhl1aTU27
