How your marketing can deter the ‘wrong sort’ of tourists

Arguably, the problem with overtourism stems from an overreliance on accepted tropes to ‘sell’ a place with only its fair-weather visitors in mind. Yes, tourism is a huge driver of investment into a destination, but it is not the only one. If places were to harness the passion currently on display in Mallorca, Venice and Canary Islands (we’re talking the deep-felt sentiment and emotion here, not the recent cases of physical violence), could they build a more meaningful brand? One that grows from the bottom up and combats the current problem through long-term vision rather than short-sighted bans, fines or entry charges?

The challenge is, that many see a ‘place brand’ as no more than an inflight ad with a cheesy logo, tagline and smiling stock family imagery. It’s all about the key landmarks, the main attractions. Such a marketing approach can only frame what’s on offer.

A place brand should instead be about what its residents want their place to be. About driving inward investment – encouraging people to live, stay, study, invest, do business in any given destination.

One of the most impressive examples of this is Singapore and its ambition to become ‘the world’s greenest city.’ Responding to the challenge of pollution, it opted for long-term planning over short-term economic goals. It didn’t impose a top-down comms strategy but built its reputation as a Garden City through incremental changes and initiatives. It removed litter, educated people, and implemented laws into the planning system to ensure longevity (sustainable building practices have been mandatory since 2008). Crucially, it inspired and educated its citizens, so that if ever there is a change in direction from developer or government, there are enough informed voices to advocate conservation.

A more recent example is Latvia’s capital Riga. It took a bottom-up strategic approach to address the challenges that grew from its history of rapid transition, and position as a Baltic State. Years of war and push and pull between Western Europe and the former Soviet Union had led to acute underpopulation and urban decay. Joining the European Union, further drained talent and youth, and over recent years, the city had built a reputation as a go-to for stag-dos and cheap beer.

It recognized that alongside improving the environment and urban landscape to become attractive again to its younger residents, it also needed initiatives to build cultural tourism. Through launching events such as the Riga International Biennial of Contemporary Art (full disclosure, which we were lucky enough to collaborate on) it set about reinventing itself as a destination of art lovers and mindful millennials and rewiring that perception as a stag party destination. This approach also built on its rich heritage as a place where people have always enjoyed art, design and architecture without losing their love for nature and folklore.

The key here is that it’s the people, the movements and the heritage that make an impactful destination brand. Places need to ask themselves what those movements are, what their people are up to – and into.

Take 52^nd Street, New York’s center of jazz. It grew because there was a movement there, and such movements are catalysts that have an energy and identity of their own. They build connections between people and place that form memories; those memories build legends; and legends become myths. Places become a living tapestry of movements (the present) and myth (the past). The role of destination brands is not to dissuade a certain type of tourist but to tune into that tapestry, build something authentic and move ideas forward.

That’s how you encourage more mindful visitors that contribute to economic development and even restoration.

Thinking of the identity of a place is like tackling any other branding challenge – brands are an intangible set of thoughts and feelings associated with a particular thing or idea. But unique to destination brands is the multi-dimensionality of memories being formed in the built environment and the frequency of interactions happening over time.

If these places want those associations to be authentic and positive, they need to start listening to the people who make them. A destination brand must resonate with both residents and visitors. It needs to be embraced by everyone.

There is a clear drive within those tourist destination communities to make a change – and that engagement and motivation is the perfect starting point to build brands with longevity and impact. It takes commitment and time. The right approach to placing a brand is not the silver bullet to loutish behavior and its violent backlash. But it can correct a place’s course and fortunes in a truly enduring way – something a squiggly logo and ‘sun, sea and sand’ tagline never can.