| Kippreport.com

Destination unknown, Part I

January 6, 2010 1:49 by Sam Potter

Does Visit London carry out much marketing in the Middle East?

We have quite a targeted way of looking at people in the Middle East, and it centers on trade shows. We don’t have enough funding to spread mass commercial advertising in the Middle East, China, and other emerging markets, so we tend to focus on the luxury market in the Middle East, through trade shows or through outreach for press trips. It’s quite a specific targeted approach at the luxury end.

Is crisis management an aspect of work that is common for destination marketing?

It certainly is for a place like London. Travel and tourism is a global industry, so it’s affected by global events.  Whether that be wars, or things like SARS, or swine flu; these things have a direct impact on how people feel about travelling, and the degree to which you as a destination are either directly or indirectly affected by those things can have an influence on how well your industry is doing. So it’s something that you become used to dealing with – providing reassurance, and making people feel safe about traveling. It’s quite a tricky area, because at the end of the day it’s down to you as an individual, how you feel about going somewhere.

First seen in Communicate magazine.

Pages: 1 2 3

Tags: destination, marketing, tourism, Travel, Visit London