Feature

A modern, secure, and efficient Bangladesh is what we want. Bangladesh can emerge an attractive tourist destination. Its own features will provide a context that encourages tourists to discover first-hand something interesting.

Heading to a vacation destination, a tourist would prefer a place that looks like paradise in the brochures or on the net. But on arrival he or she would least expect in a long line at passport control at an airport that is not clean. Not so good a taxi service would act as a disincentive, too. Tourists are unlikely to return to that country.

Tourism branding and promotion have to take into consideration the context for tourism, the state of the country itself. Tourism can be developed by branding and promotion.

This analysis is the starting point for the process of branding a country. A brand must be credible and dependable. A good brand will project a nation's strengths without ignoring its weaknesses. A nation's brand is not static, it evolves with the country. Many things needing improvement in a country does not mean it has to delay branding, which would improve with the country itself.

The purpose of branding is to position a country in the best way possible in the global system, with its strengths and weaknesses. Branding has a deeper purpose than to simply coming up with a cute logo and tag line. It positions a nation so that it can achieve the maximum success globally by garnering international recognition and clout that help business relations and development of a healthy tourism industry. This brings benefit to its people.

Branding process should be undertaken before money is spent on image-formation and messaging. However, most countries do it the other way round: they allocate budgets for advertising, web sites, public relations (PR) etc., without having a brand to communicate.

Every nation is a brand. It has an image in the minds of people living elsewhere, at least to people who are aware of its existence. Some countries are known for good things, some for bad, and some are unknown. This last group is probably the most fortunate, because little-known countries have the greatest opportunity to establish a brand from scratch.

No one in the world will create a good brand for Bangladesh. Why should they? The media is interested in 'bad news' such as poverty, floods, cyclones and the like. Who is there to make an attractive image for Bangladesh? A successful brand will represent the diverse positive elements that make a nation. A good brand will take into account the inherent complexities and, at the same time, it will differentiate the nation from the others, putting it in the best light possible, without exaggeration or distortion.

A tourism brands can be successfully extended to serve a nation as a whole. A case in point is Spain's famous tag line by Joan Miro: 'Everything under the Sun'. Although essentially a brand adopted to promote tourism, it also serves to make Spain seem a modern, warm and inviting country, for businesses as well as tourists.

Bangladesh branding process can be initiated through tourism branding. It is difficult for a nation to see itself clearly. Therefore, it is desirable for Bangladesh to seek a branding partner to conduct the research and analysis, to develop a creative brief and to propose images and messages. The brand must be adopted internally first and then throughout the nation before it can be effectively promoted internationally.

Through Bangladesh branding, tourism will find a position it deserves. Its eternal reputation as a land of rivers, birds, flowers, fruits and greeneries can not be missed. Sundarban and Cox's Bazaar can promote beautiful Bangladesh.

Writer is a Freelance Travel Writer and Faculty Member of National Hotel and Tourism Training Institute. Dhaka, Bangladesh. Email: mohd-s-islam@myway.com