COUNTRY BRAND STRATEGY RATING (2015)

Based on Tourism & Travel Competitiveness Survey (World Economic Forum 2015)

Branding

Country and destination branding is one of the major tools used to differentiate a country’s tourism offering, especially in ways to maintain or enhance global competitiveness. Significant sums are spent to promote a country destination and the assets of attractiveness. Much of this expenditure is on advertising, marketing and branding. Branding is a powerful part of the marketing mix of a country to promote distinctiveness and attract more tourism in line with country objectives of improved competitiveness.

The potential within tourism requires the development of growth strategies including branding and marketing to attract more revenue. Successful positioning can bring considerable rewards and sustain competitive advantage around tourism services with strong future growth prospects and greater sustainability. Cross sector linkages can strengthen skills and education, information technology, transport and other policy areas essential for accessing global growth prospects.

Level of accuracy of the National Tourist Organization’s Strategy (NTO) (2014) Global

Four key factors are considered :

1. Economic performance measured in tourism receipts over the past five years;
2. How unique a country’s brand strategy is and how actively it reflects what the country has to offer to tourists;
3. How many people visit the website of the country’s official tourism agency;
4. Social media performance as measured by engagement and followers on Twitter and Facebook.

A strong brand is one that is accurate when considering tourism demand and has a strong impact on the tourism industry.

Ranking

1. Germany
2. Japan
3. Paraguay
4. South Africa
5. Luxembourg
6. United States
7. Estonia
8. Slovenia
9. Austria
10. Norway
11. Spain
12. Kuwait
13. China
14. France
15. Lebanon
16. New Zealand
17. Netherlands
18. Saudi Arabia
19. Pakistan
20. Puerto Rico
21. Portugal
22. Mexico
23. Hungary
24. Uruguay
25. Venezuela
26. Panama
27. Tanzania
28. Guyana
29. United Kingdom
30. Nepal
31. Kenya
32. Romania
33. Brazil
34. Italy
35. El Salvador
36. Argentina
37. India
38. Switzerland
39. Lesotho
40. Israel
41. Singapore
42. Bahrain
43. Canada
44. Honduras
45. Sweden
46. Costa Rica
47. Indonesia
48. Morocco
49. Russian Federation
50. Kazakhstan
51. Hong Kong SAR
52. Slovak Republic
53. Barbados
54. Qatar
55. China
56. Philippines
57. Mauritius
58. Malta
59. Uganda
60. Korea Rep
61. Azerbaijan
62. Czech Rep
63. Peru
64. Poland
65. Denmark
66. Dominican Republic
67. Guatemala
68. Armenia
69. Cyprus
70. Yemen
71. Belgium
72. Oman
73. Ireland
74. Jordan
75. Iceland
76. Namibia
77. Haiti
78. Sri Lanka
79. Greece
80. Bostwana
81. Australia
82. Nigeria
83. Sierra Leone
84. Colombia
85. Iran
86. Jamaica
87. Lithuania
88. Georgia
89. Côte d’Ivoire
90. Latvia
91. Zambia
92. Suriname
93. Mozambique
94. United Arab Emirates
95. Malaysia
96. Malawi
97. Serbia
98. Zimbabwe
99. Trinidad and Tobago
100. Bangladesh
101. Croatia
102. Mali
103. Bolivia
104. Rwanda
105. Ethiopia
106. Macedonia
107. Egypt
108. Finland
109. Kyrgyz Rep
110. Swaziland
111. Lao PDR
112. Madagascar
113. Ghana
114. Vietnam
115. Seychelles
116. Turkey
117. Myanmar
118. Mongolia
119. Bulgaria
120. Moldova
121. Angola
122. Montenegro
123. Taiwan, China
124. Cameroon
125. Gambia
126. Tajikistan
127. Cambodia
128. Burkina Faso
129. Cape Verde
130. Albania
131. Tunisia
132. Bhutan
133. Algeria

Europe

1. Germany
2. Luxembourg
3. Estonia
4. Slovenia
5. Austria
6. Norway
7. Spain
8. France
9. Netherlands
10. Portugal
11. Hungary
12. United Kingdom
13. Romania
14. Italy
15. Switzerland
16. Sweden
17. Russian Federation
18. Slovak Republic
19. Malta
20. Czech Rep
21. Poland
22. Denmark
23. Cyprus
24. Belgium
25. Ireland
26. Iceland
27. Greece
28. Lithuania
29. Latvia
30. Serbia
31. Croatia
32. Macedonia
33. Finland
34. Bulgaria
35. Moldova
36. Montenegro
37. Albania