A proposed Model for Country Branding : an experimental Application on Nigeria

In the era of globalization, countries compete with each other for attention, respect and trust of potential consumers, investors, tourists, media and governments of other nations. Branding is the most powerful tool that a nation can utilize for effective differentiation strategies and for creating competitive advantage over other nations. Unfortunately, not every nations or destination marketers have a broad understanding of the concept of branding and how a country can be successfully branded. Hence, this study has proposed a model that could be used as a valuable guide for country branding. Also the model is recommended for countries struggling with image crisis; on the mission to improve the image internationally. Nigeria is a good example of countries with image crisis; it is one of the most populated countries in the world with a population of about 160 million inhabitants and growth rate of 2.553percent annually. Despite the abundant resources (e.g. coal, petroleum, natural gas etc.) that the nation is endowed with, it is quite disappointing that the population below poverty line is still at the alarming rate of 70percent of the total population. The mismanagement and poor leadership of the nation characterised by corruption, fraud, embezzlement of public fund etc. has culminated into serious image crisis that is slowing down the potential for investment and economic growth. However, there has been series of image rebranding campaigns but no tangible achievement has been recorded. It is quite questionable though, if image rebranding will provide the kind of future that Nigeria envisaged, considering the socio-political situation and the economic imbalance; compounded by the obvious fact that the nation has no known brand. Therefore, this paper argues that there is need to redirect the effort invested on image rebranding to the creation of a unique and competitive brand for the country. It was established from the study that a nation’s brand is capable of improving the reputation of the nation as well as stimulate the expectation of the target audience. However, it was also established from the study that a wrong approach to branding could mislead the target audience and attract negative publicity. Hence, as a contribution of the study to the field of branding, a model was proposed as a functional guide for country branding. Also, considering the abysmal performance of Nigeria’s image in the international community and to strengthen the argument that brand creation is required for the country; an experimental application of the proposed model was conducted using Nigeria as the case country. The first phase of the model suggested a major improvement in the society; this is required to further enhance the strengths of the country and to motivate the much needed community participation and confidence in the brand creation. It is the conclusion of the study that a strong nation brand can offset the image problem if it is built on something concrete, genuine, and uniquely identifiable with the country, capable of connecting to the cognitive psychology of the target audience.

Baking Dalarna's biking cake : Collaboration as a means for destination competitiveness, a case study of “Biking Dalarna"

In the contemporary tourism industry, the competitive game is between destinations. Tourism operations struggle to remain competitive on the international market and their success depends to a large extent on other complementary and competing tourism organizations at the destination. It is the sum of the total tourism offerings at the destination which determines its attractiveness. This research explores tourism collaboration process as a means of generating destination competitiveness. The focus of the research is on the enhancing factors which contribute to the success of the collaboration and to the development of quality tourism products. The research studies the case of Biking Dalarna, a collaboration of different organizations at five biking destinations in Dalarna, Sweden. Its purpose is to develop biking tourism in the region and to make Dalarna into Sweden’s leading biking destination. It is a qualitative research; the empirical data was collected through in depth interviews with representatives of six Biking Dalarna member organizations. The qualitative data collected from the participants provides inside look into the members reflections and experience of collaborating. The findings of this research demonstrate how collaboration has improved the biking product in Dalarna and promoted solutions to development problems. The research finds the good relationship between the collaborating actors and the involvement and leadership of the regional tourism management organization as the most contributing factors to the success of Biking Dalarna. The research also suggests that a third desired outcome of collaboration, improved marketing attributes was yet to be achieved in the case of Biking Dalarna.

Revisiting a destination: A tourist’s choice model : A case study of Sweden

This paper documents the design and results of a study on tourists’ decision-making about destinations in Sweden. For this purpose, secondary data, available from surveys were used to identify which type of individual has the highest probability to revisit a destination and what are influencing factors to do so. A binary logit model is applied. The results show that very important influencing factors are the length of stay as well as the origin of the individual. These results could be useful for a marketing organization as well as for policy, to develop strategies to attract the most profitable tourism segment. Therefore, it can also be a great support for sustainable tourism development, where the main focus does not has priority on increasing number of tourists.

What factors affect the destination choice of Jordanian tourists?A panel data analysis

This paper investigates what factors affect the destination choice for Jordanian to 8 countries (Oman, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Yemen, Egypt, Lebanon and Bahrain) using panel data analysis. Number of outbound tourists is represented as dependent variable, which is regressed over five explanatory variables using fixed effect model. The finding of this paper is that tourists from Jordan have weak demand for outbound tourism; Jordanian decision of traveling abroad is determined by the cost of traveling to different places and choosing the cheapest alternative.

Characters Extraction for Traffic Sign Destination boards in video and still images

Traffic Control Signs or destination boards on roadways offer significant information for drivers. Regulation signs tell something like your speed, turns, etc; Warning signs warn drivers of conditions ahead to help them avoid accidents; Destination signs show distances and directions to various locations; Service signs display location of hospitals, gas and rest areas etc. Because the signs are so important and there is always a certain distance from them to drivers, to let the drivers get information clearly and easily even in bad weather or other situations. The idea is to develop software which can collect useful information from a special camera which is mounted in the front of a moving car to extract the important information and finally show it to the drivers. For example, when a frame contains on a destination drive sign board it will be text something like "Linkoping 50",so the software should extract every character of "Linkoping 50", compare them with the already known character data in the database. if there is extracted character match "k" in the database then output the destination name and show to the driver. In this project C++ will be used to write the code for this software.

The Role of Gay Spaces for a Gay Destination : Gay Tourism in Gran Canaria

This thesis has the aim to evaluate the role of gay spaces in Gran Canaria as a gay tourists destination with particular reference to gay exclusive resorts. The validation of the gay identity is a key motivation for homosexuals to travel, in order to connect with other homosexuals and experience the gay life that they might not be able to experience at home. Gay spaces have been defined both as liberated areas as well as ghettos, where the homosexuals are, in a way, restrained. The method chosen, a small number of semi- structured interviews with managers of gay exclusive resorts in Maspalomas, the hub of gay life in Gran Canaria, where major LGBT events are held, there is a gay friendly environment, a thriving gay scene and many gay exclusive resorts. In the case of Gran Canaria the gay-specific offer is complementary to the ‘regular’ tourism offer, as they coexist, complement and at times overlap. Nevertheless the gay centric holiday is still predominant amongst gay men, and it is likely to continue to be according to the informants. This is because gay tourists seek freedom and a sense of inclusion that they would not be able to find in mixed environments.