Bloom Consulting Country Brand Ranking Tourism 2013

Bloom Consulting
Country Brand Ranking

Tourism Edition
2013
Albania, Algeria, Angola, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Aruba, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bermuda, Bhutan, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Cape Verde, Cayman Islands, Central African Republic, Chile, China, Colombia, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Cte d'Ivoire, Croatia, Cuba, Curacao, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Estonia, Ethiopia, Fiji, Finland, France, French Polynesia, Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Honduras, Hong Kong SAR China, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kiribati, Korea Rep., Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lao P.D.R., Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macao SAR China, Macedonia FYR, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Marshall Islands, Martinique, Mauritius, Mexico, Micronesia, Moldova Rep., Mongolia, Montenegro, Montserrat, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, Netherlands, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Niue, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Palau, Palestine, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Runion, Romania, Russian Federation, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Martin (French part), Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Tanzania United Rep., Thailand, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States of America, Uruguay, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
Bloom Consulting Since 2003
Development of Countries Human Asset Management Business Strategy

Tourism Edition
2013
Bloom Consulting
Brief Introduction
During the last decade, Bloom Consulting has developed Nation Brand, City Brand and Place Brand strategies for clients around Europe, Latin America, and the U.S.A. We have worked with political leaders and ministers with a clear objective in mind: to manage the Country Brand as a strategic asset from an economic and political point of view. Bloom Consulting has offices in Madrid (HQ), Lisbon, Sao Paulo, and Los Angeles. We have gained the respect of international media such as Jose Filipe Torres, the CEO of the company. , , and , who have interviewed
Mr. Torres is considered one of the top 3 experts in Nation Branding (source: Country Branding Central) and participates in world-class conferences and forums as a keynote speaker. Bloom Consulting publishes annually the Bloom Consulting Country Brand Ranking for Trade and Tourism. It is the most comprehensive Brand Index of its kind, analyzing the brand performance of 187 countries and territories worldwide. The Bloom Consulting Country Brand Ranking incorporates unique variables such as the revolutionary Online Search Demand (OSD ), which measures the online appeal of a country and the Country Brand Strategy Rating (CBS Rating ), which assesses the effectiveness of a country's communication efforts. These variables allow us to classify and measure a country brand performance from a new point of view based on hard data rather than perceptions, surveys or expert opinions.
countrybranding@bloom-consulting.com / +34 91 308 0286 (CET)
Page 01

Tourism Edition
2013
An introductory note from the CEO

Welcome
I proudly present to you our third edition of the Bloom Consulting Country Brand Ranking ! This year is a special year, as it marks one decade of Bloom Consulting working in the field of Nation Branding, City Branding and Place Branding. Each year has brought exciting challenges and projects and I am confident that all the work we have done has prepared us to meet any new future challenges. As a consultancy firm, we find ourselves at the forefront of big changes - we are now in the digital era of Country Branding. According to the recent Google study "The 2012 Traveler", 70% of leisure travelers begin researching their trip online without a specic destination or mode of travel in mind. Tourists are making more and more decisions online and countries cannot afford to miss targeting that new distribution channel and the potential new market. As a reference, in 2012 alone, tourists made around 375.000.000 online searches related to tourism activities at a country level. Imagine the insight you can gain from this data and the conclusions you can draw. With this in mind, Bloom Consulting has developed a proprietary tool, the Online Search Demand (OSD ), in order to understand the online behavior of potential tourists (see page 7, for more details about OSD ) and included it in the Ranking Algorithm I hope this brand ranking can provide you with valuable information and I encourage you to use it as an asset and further evidence of the impact a strong country brand may have on the national economic performance. Although we would like to go into more detail on each countrys performance, it is impossible to do so in this overview. However, if you are interested to find out more information on your country brands performance, please do not hesitate to contact us. Welcome to the Bloom Consulting Country Brand Ranking 2013. We hope you appreciate the great results and findings as much as we did!
Jos Filipe Torres CEO Bloom Consulting
Page 02

Tourism Edition
2013
Bloom Consulting's CRC Brand Wheel

A Country Brand or a Place Brand is an asset for nations, cities or regions to be managed in order to achieve different objectives.
A different approach to Country and Place Branding
According to our Methodology, there are 6 different Country, Region and City Branding (CRC) objectives or dimensions represented in the Bloom Consulting CRC Brand Wheel (see figure 1): 1 Attraction of Investment (Trade) 2 Attraction of Tourism 3 Attraction of Talent 4 Increase in Pride 5 Improvement of Public Diplomacy 6 Increase in Exports Each of these six objectives, or dimensions, have different target audiences that have different needs. In other words, what attracts each particular target audience to opt for any country, region or city is completely different (see figure 1). Therefore, Bloom Consulting methodology is used to isolate each objective or dimension and to develop specific strategies for each one of them. One may ask why the objectives must be isolated if they refer to the same country brand? The reason for this is that a single strategy most probably cannot satisfy the needs of investors and tourists simultaneously. If it does, it becomes a very general message that most probably will not have enough content to make the difference. According to Bloom Consulting theory, only very few countries can satisfy all needs under an umbrella strategy. Therefore each country, with a professionalized Country Brand, Region Brand, or City Brand strategy, should select the target audience and attend to their needs. By strategies, Bloom Consulting does not refer to logos. You can have the same logo for all six dimensions or no logo at all. The brand is not the logo. Figure 1. Bloom Consulting CRC Brand Wheel objectives, target audience and respective needs
Experience
Tourists
Adv ant ag e
Tourism
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Inv est ors Inve stm e
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Country, Region, City Brand

D iplo m acy
G e n e r al p u b li c
R e sp e c t
Pr
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There are 6 objectives or dimensions for every Country, City and Region Each dimension has 6 different target audiences Each target Audience has a specific need
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Tourism Edition
2013
Bloom Consulting's CRC Brand Wheel
A different approach to Country and Place Branding

Another important aspect that reflects Bloom Consulting's approach is its performance measurement system. Bloom Consulting has developed a set of performance dashboards that allows us, for the first time, to measure the impact of Nation Branding in the 6 dimensions. Traditionally, the results were measured only by public perceptions, opinion surveys and interviews with experts. However, with new proprietary tools, Bloom Consulting is now able to measure the impact of the brand strategy with new variables such as Online Search Demand (OSD ), which measures the appeal of a country for each target audience (see explanation of OSD in page 7) and the economic impact caused by tourism revenues. However, not all 6 dimensions can be measured in the same way. Inside the 6 dimensions there are 3 that can be measured in a more tangible way and 3 that can be measured only in an intangible way. Trade (Investment), Tourism and Talent, represented at the top part of the sphere in figure 2, are the ones that can be measured in a more tangible way. See figure 2 to understand the current measurement system. Although we do not discard the importance of the 3 intangible dimensions, Bloom Consultings objective is to make Nation Branding Strategy as tangible as possible. Therefore, we focus on the three tangible dimensions and we call it The 3T approach : 1- Trade (Investment), 2- Tourism and 3- Talent. Based on these explanations, Bloom Consulting should create 3 independent rankings. One for Trade (Investment), one for Tourism, and one for Talent. For the time being only 2 have been developed - Trade and Tourism. This ranking deals only with the Tourism dimension (Investment).
Figure 2. Current measurement system for each dimension. Tourism is the dimension selected for this Ranking
Present Ranking
Current measurement systems
Experience
Tourists
Adv ant ag e
?
Perceptions
!
OSD
Tourism
Inv est ors Inve stm e
nt
$
Revenue
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Country, Region, City Brand

D iplo m acy
G e n e r al p u b li c
R e sp e c t
Happiness
These 3 Dimensions can be measured in a more tangible way using metrics such as OSD and Revenues
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These 3 Dimensions can only be measured in an intangible way using metrics such as Perceptions and Happiness
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Tourism Edition
2013
The Methodology
Understanding how Bloom Consulting developed the ranking

The Bloom Consulting Country Brand Ranking is derived from the Bloom Algorithm. This ranking contemplates the Tourism dimension, therefore the Bloom algorithm will only consider tourism related figures. This ranking does not try to measure solely country brand perception. The objective of this ranking is to classify how well each and every country is doing in terms of branding, that is, to measure how effective their brand is in the most tangible and realistic manner. For Bloom Consulting to classify the effectiveness of each Country Brand, we analyzed 4 key variables for each of the 187 countries included in this Brand Ranking (see figure 3). Through statistical modeling, Bloom Consulting was able to rank the countries to compare them with one another. The Algorithm takes into consideration each countrys economic level of development. The result is an accurate and objective Brand Ranking based on hard and soft data. Moreover, the Bloom Algorithm takes into consideration a country's performance in Bloom Consulting's rankings from previous years in order to leverage Country Brand equity. Figure 3. Bloom Consulting Country Brand Ranking algorithm variables
Tourism
Tourism economic receipts Tourism economic growth
These results demonstrate a countrys appeal and is an important variable of the ranking
1st Variable
OSD :
Culture
Leisure
Nature
Sports
Niche markets
If tourists search online about a country it is a clear indicator of its appeal and is the most important variable of the ranking
2nd Variable
Country Brand Strategy Rating (CBS Rating )
If each country is using the most accurate country brand strategy is a key variable of the ranking
3rd Variable
Ocial website and Social Media performance
If each National Tourism Organization is performing well online, is the least important variable of the ranking, but still relevant.
4th Variable
1st Variable
2nd Variable
3rd Variable
4th Variable
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The Methodology - Continued

Details of the first variable
1st Variable
2nd Variable
3rd Variable
4th Variable
The Tourism economic performance is a very important variable in the ranking. Good economic results, whether achieved by a carefully planned strategy or not, are in part a consequence of good country branding. If one applies common sense to this variable, it is easy to understand that tourists prefer to travel to a country they like or have emotional attachments to rather than to a country for which this is not the case. Moreover, all information was calculated based on official UNWTO international tourism statistics Nation Branding is aimed at each countrys international audience, rather than the domestic one. As illustrated in figure 4, Tourism economic performance is based on: a) Tourism economic receipts Strategies and economic returns do not have an immediate impact, therefore the ranking looks at a countrys medium-term (5 years) historical economic performance in tourism receipts. This way, the ranking reflects more consistent trends rather than volatile changes that may occur in the recovering economic climate or due to political instability. and b) Tourism economic growth The growth of international tourism receipts of each country is also an important indicator when measuring the economic performance of a countrys brand. Therefore, the Brand Ranking computes the growth rate of the international tourism receipts over the last five years for more consistent trends, rather than brief volatile changes. The ranking does not take into account international tourists arrivals, the average stay per trip or the average spending per day separately, as all these figures are included in the Tourism economic receipts variable. What adds value to the economy is the current economic impact and growth, powered by revenues not by the number of tourists. Figure 3. Bloom Consulting Country Brand Ranking algorithm variables
Tourism economic receipts

Average International Tourism receipts between 2007-2011
Tourism economic growth

Average growth of International tourism receipts between 2007-2011
1st Variable
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Details of the 2nd Variable
1st Variable
2nd Variable
3rd Variable
4th Variable
Traditionally, the only way to understand the appeal of a country to international tourists is through market research and opinion studies based on extensive research. Now, for the first time, Bloom Consulting introduces a new measurement system as a variable in the Algorithm that is more accurate, more scientific, regularly updated and reaches a broader audience - the Online Search Demand (OSD ). By using its proprietary OSD Tool, Bloom Consulting is able to measure the total global online searches performed specifically for tourism and assess international tourists online behavior and decisionmaking process when selecting a destination. The more online tourism related searches a country has from international tourists, the more appealing it is, regardless of its size or the type of tourism it attracts. Why is this so relevant? According to Google , nearly 70% of business and leisure travelers considered the Internet to be the most frequently relied upon source of information when making a destination decision, either via desktop PCs or mobile devices. The same study indicates that 64% of affluent travelers use search engines directly as a source of information. Bloom Consulting has been able to define and gather all country characteristics (selling propositions and strategic positioning of all 187 countries) and messages or "Brand Tags" used by all the National Tourism Organizations. In total, 762.440 destination-specific keywords were classified into 45 tourism Brand Tags, which allows us to understand selling propositions and strategic positioning of all 187 countries in the world. This information was gathered in eight different languages: Chinese, English, French, German, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish, and it was used in the 2nd variable (see figure 4). NOTE: OSD information for every country cannot be presented in this document but can be ordered. If you are interested in a full OSD report for a specific country or a group of countries, please contact us at: countrybranding@bloom-consulting.com or call us directly at +34 913 080 286 (CET), we can provide you with a cost estimate for a Basic or Premium report. Figure 4. Brand Tags analyzed via OSD and used in the 2nd Variable
(1)
OSD :
Culture
1. Cultural Archives 2. Gastronomy 3. Historical Heritage 4. Local Culture 5. Local People 6. Performing Arts 7. Religion 8. Traditional Markets 9. UNESCO
Leisure
10. Boat Trips 11. Day trips 12. Eating Out 13. Entertainment 14. Parks 15. Gambling 16. Leisure Activities 17. Leisure Events 18. Nightlife 19. Shopping 20. Wellbeing
Nature
21. Beaches 22. Bird Watching 23. Coastline & Islands 24. Natural Wonders 25. Protected Areas 26. Rural 27. Safari 28. Sustainable
Sports
29. Adventure & Extreme 30. Diving 31. Fishing 32. Golf 33. Hiking 34. Sailing 35. Water Sports 36. Winter Sports
Niche markets
37. Business 38. City 39. Education 40. Family 41. Health 42. Honeymoons 43. LGBT 44. Senior 45. Youth
2nd Variable
(1) Google/Ipsos OTX MediaCT - 2012

Bloom Consulting Since 2003 countrybranding@bloom-consulting.com / +34 91 308 0286 (CET) Page 07

Tourism Edition
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Details of the 3rd Variable
1st Variable
2nd Variable
3rd Variable
4th Variable
Almost every country listed in the Bloom Consulting Country Brand Ranking has a National Tourism Organization (NTO). The NTO is the official state agency responsible for positioning their respective Country Brand (from a Tourism Strategy perspective). The NTO effectiveness can impact the Country Brand performance. The 3rd Variable is about the accuracy of each strategy set in place by each NTO. This accuracy is measured through the value each Brand Tag produces to the country. The value provided to each Brand Tag is given by the popularity it has from the OSD perspective and also from an economic perspective. A country receives a higher rating if it uses the most searched and valuable Brand Tag. If a country receives a poor rating, it means it is focusing on the least searched and valuable Brand Tags or not using Brand Tags in demand and high value. What is particularly interesting about this rating is that a country rating will not be better if the NTO simply uses all available Brand Tags. If they do so and they are not the correct ones they will have a poorer rating. The final result is a live snapshot of the supply and demand for information in the international tourism market. For example, how much value is the Brand Tag Beaches bringing to Brazil? What other Brand Tags are not being used that could have a positive impact? Or, even more importantly, which are the Brand Tags that are being promoted that do not bring value to the Country Brand Strategy? This 3rd Variable is the Country Brand Strategy rating and it is shown in figure 5. For reference, it is used throughout the Ranking next to each country. Exceptions may apply to countries that recently (last year) implemented a new Country Brand Strategy, with an objective to move away from specific perceptions. In this case, the rating does not mean a country is doing poorly but rather the results are not visible yet. One may question why Brand Tags are used to measure the effectiveness of Country Brand Strategies, as they are simply promotional messages or products of a country and not the Country Branding Strategy itself? Bloom Consulting assumes that tourists interest for the product is the most tangible way to assess Country Brand appeal and, subsequently, the effectiveness of a Country Brand Strategy. Figure 5. 3rd Variable CBS Rating and respective scores used in the ranking Country Brand Strategy Rating (CBS Rating )
Score AAA AA A BBB BB B CCC CC C D
3rd Variable
Description Very Strong Strong Slightly Strong Very Good Good Slightly Good Slightly Weak Weak Very Weak Poor
countrybranding@bloom-consulting.com / +34 91 308 0286 (CET) Page 08

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The Methodology - Conclusion

Details of the 4th Variable
1st Variable
2nd Variable
3rd Variable
4th Variable
We believe it is essential to consider how well a Country Brand is positioned digitally. In order to do that, we have used Website Analytics and Social Media to evaluate each countrys efforts to make it visible. The official National Tourism Organization website is one of the most important sources of information and it serves as an online gateway to each country. Nevertheless, it is not the only one by far, therefore this variable has less importance compared to other variables in the Algorithm. In order to assess the performance of each countrys website we used the Website Analytics tool where we examined each countrys NTO website and analyzed the number of visits and the average time spent on the web page. The Bloom Algorithm values websites with more visitors, richer content and a higher digital reach. Additionally, a countrys presence in online communities, such as Twitter and Facebook, has been taken into account, because online social networking is an efficient and a cost-effective way to interact with the public and promote what a country offers. As each social media network has different purposes and a varying degree of popularity, the ranking has treated the two independently. The assessment criteria are simple. The more likes a countrys NTO has on Facebook and the more followers there are on Twitter, the better. If an NTO is not active in social networks or if it does not have an account, the Bloom Algorithm penalizes its online performance, however the country is still included in the ranking. Both online performance indicators, Website Analytics and Social Media, are shown in the figure 6. While a countrys Online Performance is a relevant variable, it holds less importance compared to the other variables in determining a countrys position in the ranking.
Figure 6. Website and Social Media performance correspond to the 4th variable
Ocial website and Social Media performance
4th Variable
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Bloom Consulting Country Brand Ranking

2013 TOURISM EDITION - WORLD Ranking
World Rank
CBS Rating
1. 2. 3. 4.
United States of America Spain Germany France
AA AA AA A A AAA A BBB AAA A
5.
6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
United Kingdom
Thailand Italy Australia Turkey China
Due to the historical brand equity and the fact that all have strong country brand strategies, China, Hong Kong and Macao have been considered as separate countries in this ranking. Bloom Consulting Since 2003 countrybranding@bloom-consulting.com / +34 91 308 0286 (CET) Page 10

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World Rank 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. Austria Macao SAR, China Hong Kong SAR, China Switzerland Malaysia Greece Singapore Korea, Rep. Mexico Canada Netherlands Egypt Portugal Japan United Arab Emirates
CBS Rating AA AA A AA AA AAA AAA AAA AAA A A AA AA BBB AAA
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Top 25 - Highlights
For the third consecutive year, the United States of America continues its dominance in the Bloom Consulting Country Brand Ranking . This is thanks to both higher tourism receipts and international tourist arrivals (particularly in the past year) and effective Destination Brand promotion of the majority of its best assets. The U.S.A. has maintained a strong CBS Rating reflecting the positive impact it has on the on Brand USA.
The European tourism powerhouses of Spain, Germany, France and the United Kingdom dominate the rest of the top 5. Of these countries, Germany (3) has improved 4 places from 7th last year.
This is due to them having received their highest level of tourism receipts for the past three years and also their best number of international tourist arrivals to date. The United Kingdom (5) has also made huge improvements since last year, when it ranked 9th in terms of Nation Branding. This is partly due to their improved tourism receipts and tourist arrivals but also thanks to their exceptionally active and popular Social Media promotion. Despite being the country with the most international visitors, France has slipped one place into 4th position. This is significant as it is the first time they have fallen out of the top 3 and it is a result of lower international tourism receipts, compared to its competitors, and not taking full advantage of social media channels to promote the country as a Destination Brand.
The top 25 is dominated by European and Asian countries, each with 10 representatives appearing in the ranking. Of these Asian countries, Thailand (6) is in the lead after witnessing its best year yet in terms of economic performance in tourism. The next best Asian country is China (10), however it has fallen significantly out of the top 5 due to its lack of presence in Social Media. This is a topic it may want to address if it wishes to regain its place as the leading Asian Destination Brand.
Unsurprisingly, the rest of the Asian countries in the top 25 include Turkey (9), Malaysia (15), Singapore (17), and the Republic of Korea (18). These provide a strong reference to the Asian region, as an upcoming Tourist Destination for international travelers.
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Top 25 - Highlights - Continued
The rest of the regions are represented by Australia, Mexico and Egypt. Australia (8) also performed strongly this year, despite being fairly isolated geographically. This reflects the appeal Australia Nation Brand carries in the international tourism market. The first and only Latin American country in the top 25 ranking is Mexico at number 19.
The positive surprise is Egypt (22), as it maintains a privileged position in the top 25 ranking. Egypt has just registered its lowest tourism receipts and international tourist arrivals for the past five years, while being at the forefront of the widely covered Arab Spring. Nonetheless, Egypts strong result demonstrates the power of the countrys Destination Brand and its continued appeal. For the first time, the United Arab Emirates made it into the top 25. With a very strong CBS Rating of AAA the countrys position has been boosted this year by its very impressive online presence in terms of Social Media, but in particular its Online Search Demand (OSD )!
In the next chapters you can find the Bloom Consulting Country Brand Ranking divided by region. We believe that this new feature is an improvement, as it puts the performance of each countrys brand into a regional context.
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Africa
Despite the fight... Egypt
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Egypt, South Africa, and Morocco lead the African ranking, thanks to their robust tourism industries and online brand appeal.
Surprisingly, despite the difficulties experienced in Egypt during the Arab Spring, its Tourism Brand outshines all others in Africa. There may, however, be further negative impact on brand equity, as the official 2012 data is yet unavailable.
South Africa is 2nd, slightly behind Egypt, but improved from last year. Morocco (3rd) loses the privileged first position due to the weaker CBS Rating in comparison to its competitors and was downgraded from AAA last year to AA.
There is a big gap between the three leaders and the rest of the countries in the top 10 due to markedly lower tourism receipts and poorer Online Search Demand (OSD ) results.
The top 10 list in Destination Branding is completed with countries in Eastern Africa Kenya (4), Tanzania (6), Uganda (8) and Ethiopia (10), with the tourism experience they offer based on natural wonders and safari. The top 10 also includes Mauritius (5) and Tunisia (7), which capitalize on beach and relaxing experience.
In terms of social media, more than 50% of African countries are not very active or do not have an account, with the exception of Egypt.
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Africa Rank 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. Egypt South Africa Morocco Kenya Mauritius Tanzania, United Rep. Tunisia Uganda Ghana Ethiopia Namibia Runion Botswana Nigeria Senegal Madagascar Seychelles Zimbabwe Rwanda Angola Cape Verde Algeria Zambia Mozambique Sudan
World Rank 22. 28. 33. 61. 69. 70. 75. 94. 102. 105. 107. 108. 110. 114. 115. 120. 122. 124. 136. 137. 140. 143. 144. 147. 151.
CBS Rating AA AA AA AAA AA AA B BBB B B A A AA B BBB BB BBB B BB CC B CCC BBB B BB
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Africa Rank 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. Mali Cte d'Ivoire Cameroon Gambia Benin Liberia Burkina Faso Togo Sierra Leone Swaziland Malawi Lesotho Djibouti Guinea-Bissau Sao Tome and Principe Central African Republic Burundi
World Rank 152. 154. 156. 162. 163. 164. 165. 167. 170. 171. 172. 174. 178. 180. 182. 185. 187.
CBS Rating B B CCC BBB CCC CC BB B B B CCC B CCC CC B CC C
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The Americas
USA first in the North, Argentina first in the South
Albania, Algeria, Angola, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Aruba, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bermuda, Bhutan, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Cape Verde, Cayman Islands, Central African Republic, Chile, China, Colombia, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Cte d'Ivoire, Croatia, Cuba, Curacao, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Estonia, Ethiopia, Fiji, Finland, France, French Polynesia, Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Honduras, Hong Kong SAR China, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kiribati, Korea Rep.,
Albania, Algeria, Angola, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Aruba, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahamas,
Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lao P.D.R., Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macao SAR China, Macedonia FYR, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bermuda, Bhutan, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Marshall Islands, Martinique, Brazil, Mauritius, Mexico, Micronesia, Moldova Rep., Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Cape Verde, Cayman Islands, Central African
Republic, Chile, China, Colombia, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Cte d'Ivoire, Croatia, Cuba, Curacao, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Mongolia, Montenegro, Montserrat, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, Netherlands, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Estonia, Ethiopia, Fiji, Finland, France, French Polynesia, Gambia, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Niue, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Palau, Palestine, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru,Republic, Philippines, Poland, Georgia, Ghana, Greece, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Honduras, Hong Kong SAR China, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Runion, Romania, Russian Federation, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Germany, Nevis, Saint Lucia, SaintGrenada, Martin (French Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kiribati, Korea Rep., Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lao P.D.R., Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macao SAR China, Macedonia FYR, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Marshall Islands, Martinique, Mauritius, Mexico, Micronesia, Moldova Rep., Mongolia, Montenegro, Montserrat, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, Netherlands, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Niue, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Palau, Palestine, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Runion, Romania, Russian Federation, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Martin (French part), Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Tanzania United Rep., Thailand, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States of America, Uruguay, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
part), Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone,
Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland,
Taiwan, Tajikistan, Tanzania United Rep., Thailand, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine,
United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States of America, Uruguay, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
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The Americas is a very diverse region showing a lot of contrast in brand performance. Three countries made it to the world top 25 with the U.S. clearly leading, followed by Mexico and Canada. Thus the strongest Destination Brands are located in North America, while other sub-regions still have opportunities for further development.
The top five includes the U.S. (1st), Mexico (2), Canada (3), Argentina (4) and Brazil (5), indicating that the big nations are dominating the Americas. Mexicos brand ranks slightly better than Canadas brand. Mexico has more online appeal and has more of an online presence, even though Canadas tourism receipts have been increasing faster.
Similarly, Argentinas brand is slightly stronger than Brazils, however Argentinas CBS Rating is a lot stronger than Brazils. The South American giant, however, is rapidly catching up with the other four and next year there may be further shifts in the top positions.
The Dominican Republic (7) and Puerto Rico (8) are almost on par. They received similar AA brand ratings. It is evident that Puerto Rico is improving its recognition online but it still has not been able to convert this popularity into actual visitors.
Chile finished 8th, with a strong strategy and a good performance, while Panama made it to the top 10 with high visibility online. Uruguay closes the top 10 in the Americas just like last year, but with an enhanced Nation Brand strategy.
On a last note, the ecotourism destination, Costa Rica (11), and culturally rich Peru (12) did not make it to the top 10 but, overall, Costa Rica improved its position and Peru slipped compared to last year.
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Americas Rank 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. United States of America Mexico Canada Argentina Brazil Dominican Republic Puerto Rico Chile Panama Uruguay Costa Rica Peru Colombia Aruba Guatemala Bahamas Jamaica Cuba Ecuador Barbados Venezuela Curaao Saint Martin (French part) El Salvador Bermuda
World Rank 1. 19. 20. 41. 42. 49. 50. 54. 55. 59. 63. 64. 66. 67. 71. 72. 73. 76. 77. 78. 88. 89. 92. 100. 101.
CBS Rating AA AAA A AAA BBB AA AA AA BBB AA BBB BBB BBB A A BB BB BB A BBB BB AA AA BB A
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Americas Rank 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. Cayman Islands Martinique Belize Trinidad and Tobago Honduras Paraguay Antigua and Barbuda Saint Lucia Nicaragua Guadeloupe Bolivia Grenada Anguilla Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Dominica Guyana Suriname Montserrat
World Rank 109. 111. 116. 118. 119. 125. 127. 130. 133. 135. 138. 142. 149. 150. 155. 159. 161. 166. 179.
CBS Rating A BBB AA BBB B BB BBB BBB CCC B CCC BBB BBB A BBB BB BB BB B
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2013
Thailand first, China... third
Asia
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Tourism Edition
2013
The Asian ranking is led by Thailand, thanks to its outstanding CBS Rating and exceptional online performance. It maintains its Nation Brand position as 6th in the world, as it is favored by Turkeys drop in the ranking and, especially, Chinas lack of social media presence.
Turkey (2nd) also makes it in the top 10, powered by the excellent AAA CBS Rating and benefiting from its proximity to the rich European market. China (3) and its Special Administrative Regions of Macao (4) and Hong Kong (5) continue to manifest their appeal in tourism, thus making them three of the top 5 Destination Brands in Asia.
Malaysia finished 6th, Singapore 7th and South Korea 8th, with no apparent surprises and all three exhibiting excellent Tourism Strategies.
Japan (9) and the United Arab Emirates (10) are the new entrants. It is a remarkable achievement for the United Arab Emirates, as it still is a rather new Tourist Destination and it is the only one that puts the Middle East on the map. The country has an incredible online appeal with its Online Search Demand (OSD ) results just behind the U.S.A. and the U.K. The U.A.E.s tourism receipts are increasing, however they are still far behind the Asian Destination Brand powerhouses.
Overall, the Asian ranking reflects the shift in the tourism industry and the increasing appeal of Asia as a Tourist Destination, led by the countries in South East Asia, such as Thailand and Malaysia, as well as the powerful rise of China and the continued appeal of Macao and Hong Kong.
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Asia Rank 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. Thailand Turkey China Macao SAR, China Hong Kong SAR, China Malaysia Singapore Korea, Rep. Japan United Arab Emirates India Taiwan Indonesia Saudi Arabia Lebanon Israel Philippines Jordan Viet Nam Cyprus Cambodia Iran Sri Lanka Bahrain Maldives
World Rank 6. 9. 10. 12. 13. 15. 17. 18. 24. 25. 26. 31. 35. 43. 44. 47. 51. 56. 58. 65. 79. 81. 83. 84. 85.
CBS Rating AAA AAA A AA A AA AAA AAA BBB AAA BBB BBB BB BB BB A AA BB BB A A B AA B BBB
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Asia Rank 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. Qatar Oman Kazakhstan Iraq Nepal Georgia Yemen Azerbaijan Pakistan Armenia Kuwait Lao P.D.R. Kyrgyzstan Mongolia Palestine Brunei Darussalam Myanmar Bangladesh Bhutan Timor-Leste Tajikistan
World Rank 87. 90. 91. 93. 97. 103. 106. 112. 117. 121. 123. 129. 131. 134. 139. 141. 153. 160. 168. 175 177.
CBS Rating A CCC B B AAA BBB CCC BB CCC BBB B BB BB A CCC BB B B CCC B B
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Tourism Edition
2013
Europe
Spain is still the one
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Tourism Edition
2013
Europe is the worlds most popular tourist destination and the competition for top positions in Destination Branding is intense. This year the top 5 Destination Brands are Spain, Germany, France, the U.K. and Italy, accounting all together for more than 50% of the tourism revenues in the region and each with a vast tourism offering.
Spain retains its position at number 1 in the ranking, with tourism receipts and tourist arrivals having recovered to pre-crisis level and continuing to grow. Spain is also very active in promoting itself online.
Spain is followed very closely by Germany (2), which this year surpassed France (3). Compared to France, Germany has a stronger growth in tourist arrivals and a better positioned Destination Brand Strategy that helped it to secure the second place. Similarly, the U.K. (4) stands very close to Italy (5).
The small Alpine countries of Austria (6) and Switzerland (7) have very popular and strong Tourism Brands. Their outstanding performance demonstrates once again that a countrys size is not a deciding factor when it comes to its success in Nation Branding. Both countries could, however, improve their CBS Rating and perform even better in the future.
Greece earned the 8th position, Netherlands the 9th, and Portugal 10th. Compared to Portugal, Greece was able to successfully satisfy the tourism demand, which is evident in the very strong triple A CBS Rating .
Finally, we find that Sweden (12) outperformed other Nordic countries, even though it does not have the best rating, and Russia (13), probably due to damaged reputation, declined three places compared to last year.
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Europe Rank 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. Spain Germany France United Kingdom Italy Austria Switzerland Greece Netherlands Portugal Croatia Sweden Russian Federation Poland Belgium Czech Republic Ireland Hungary Norway Denmark Finland Slovenia Bulgaria Malta Estonia
World Rank 2. 3. 4. 5. 7. 11. 14. 16. 21. 23. 27. 29. 30. 32. 34. 36. 37. 39. 40. 45. 46. 48. 52. 53. 57.
CBS Rating AA AA A A A AA AA AAA A AA AAA BBB A A BBB A A AA AA A AAA AAA A AAA AAA
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Europe Rank 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. Slovakia Luxembourg Ukraine Romania Latvia Albania Lithuania Montenegro Serbia
World Rank 60. 62. 68. 74. 80. 82. 86. 95. 96. 98. 99. 113. 146. 157.
CBS Rating AA BBB BB A AA BB BBB B BB AA A BB B CCC
35.
36. 37. 38. 39.
Belarus
Iceland Bosnia and Herzegovina Macedonia, FYR Moldova, Rep.
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Oceania
Australia, alone at the top
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Tourism Edition
2013
Oceanias only strong Destination Brand is Australia. The country demonstrates its supremacy in the region by clearly leading in the ranking score. It is the regions benchmark in tourism receipts, tourist arrivals, online performance and Online Search Demand (OSD ) results.
New Zealand (2nd) is its only competitor, as it has a very well positioned brand strategy, but there is still room for improvement to get on the same level as Australias Country Brand. New Zealands strongest indicators are online performance and OSD popularity.
The rest of the region is not as well-known and lacks brand equity. Fiji (3rd) stands out from the small island nations by capitalizing on good social media presence and greater interest in its offering from online users, but its poor CBS Rating brings it down.
Vanuatu (4th), French Polynesia (5th) and New Caledonia (6th) are ranked very similarly. Behind the scenes they are somewhat different, as Vanuatu has a strong tourism receipts growth indicator and French Polynesia is more active online than its competitors.
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Oceania Rank 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. Australia New Zealand Fiji Vanuatu French Polynesia New Caledonia Samoa Cook Islands Palau Solomon Islands Tonga Micronesia Niue Kiribati Papua New Guinea Marshall Islands
World Rank 8. 38. 104. 126. 128. 132. 145. 148. 158. 169. 173. 176. 181. 183. 184. 186.
CBS Rating BBB AA BB A B A BB BB BB B CCC CC CCC BB B C
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2013

FAQs
Who is this Ranking meant for? The Bloom Consulting Country Brand Ranking is for anyone interested in Nation Branding and Place Branding from every perspective, whether you are in government, academia, industry, finance, or for anyone who just finds it interesting. Why did Bloom Consulting create the Ranking? Bloom Consulting created the Ranking to evaluate the impact of country brand strategies in economic terms and, above all, to answer the important question of how countries can become more attractive. How does Bloom Consultings Ranking differ from other rankings? Other rankings measure perceptions, this ranking measures reality. Thanks to statistical models and the Online Search Demand (OSD ) tool, we were able to measure how effective each Country Brand is in a more tangible way. Moreover, this ranking isolates Tourism as a separate dimension, analyzing tourists as a separate target audience. Please see the trade edition as well here: http://bloom-consulting.com/en/fdi-ranking What is new in the 2013 edition of the Ranking? First of all, it is the third World Edition of Blooms Country Brand Ranking. Secondly, Bloom has improved its methodology, in comparison to past editions, in order to deliver more accurate and objective results. What is the Online Search Demand (OSD )? The Online Search Demand (OSD ) is a Bloom Consulting proprietary measurement system used to assess all global online searches performed specifically for tourism. How can a country have a poor rating but still do well in the Ranking? If a country has a poor CBS Rating , its brand strategy is not actively reflecting what the country has to offer (from the tourism demand perspective). Therefore, even though its economic performance may be strong, the tourism strategy is not taking full advantage of the countrys selling propositions. What if a country does not have social media accounts, does it still feature in the ranking? Yes, it still appears but it receives a lower ranking than it would have done otherwise. Does Bloom Consulting provide different services from the Ranking? Yes, Bloom Consulting provides Nation Branding and Place Branding integrated strategies and Online Search Demand (OSD ) tailored reports for every country, region and city in the world. What criteria was used to define the geographical distribution of countries? We used the official United Nations classification of countries by region.
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Glossary
OSD Online Search Demand Measurement of all global online searches performed specifically for tourism CBS Rating Country Brand Strategy Rating Rates the accuracy of each strategy set in place by each NTO Brand Tag Unique Selling propositions and strategic positioning of all 187 countries (used by all the National Tourism Organizations). 3T approach The three tangible dimensions 1- Trade (Investment), 2- Tourism and 3- Talent Bloom Algorithm It is an equation that consists of 4 key variables and calculates each countrys position in the ranking. NTO National Tourism Organization It is the official state agency responsible for positioning their respective Country Brand (from a Tourism perspective). Web Analytics Is an online tool that measures the performance of each countrys website, where each countrys NTO website is analyzed by the number of visits and the average time spent on the web page.
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Tourism Edition
2013
Bloom Consulting
Contacts
For ranking related queries please contact: Methodology: Press: For any other queries please contact Bloom offices Spain - (WORLD HEAD QUARTERS) Jos Filipe Torres - Founding Partner and CEO jtorres@bloom-consulting.com Monte Esquinza 14, 6 D ext 28010 Madrid, Spain +34 91 308 0286 Office Brazil Marcello Pastore - Partner and Brazil General Manager mpastore@bloom-consulting.com Rua Pedroso Alvarenga 1254, 4 andar - Conjunto 42 Itaim Bibi So Paulo - SP - CEP 04531 004, Brazil +55 11 3044 6219 Office Portugal Filipe Roquette - Partner and Portugal General Manager froquette@bloom-consulting.com Avda. Joao XXI, 43, 1 Esq 1000-303 Lisboa, Portugal +351 210 936 819 Office U.S.A. Timothy Roberts - Partner and USA General Manager troberts@bloom-consulting.com 5808 Denny Ave. North Hollywood, CA 91601 Los Angeles, USA +1 888 576 0065 Office Gonzalo Vilar - Partner and Global Strategy Director gvilar@bloom-consulting.com corporate@bloom-consulting.com
Page 35

Bloom Consulting Country Brand Ranking Tourism 2013

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Bloom Consulting

Country Brand Ranking

Bloom Consulting Since 2003

Development of Countries Human Asset Management Business Strategy

Country Brand Ranking

Bloom Consulting Since 2003

countrybranding@bloom-consulting.com / +34 91 308 0286 (CET)

Development of Countries Human Asset Management Business Strategy

Country Brand Ranking

An introductory note from the CEO

Jos Filipe Torres CEO Bloom Consulting

Bloom Consulting Since 2003

countrybranding@bloom-consulting.com / +34 91 308 0286 (CET)

Development of Countries Human Asset Management Business Strategy

Country Brand Ranking

Bloom Consulting's CRC Brand Wheel

A different approach to Country and Place Branding

e forc ork W t len Ta

Inv est ors Inve stm e

Country, Region, City Brand

Bloom Consulting Since 2003

countrybranding@bloom-consulting.com / +34 91 308 0286 (CET)

Development of Countries Human Asset Management Business Strategy

Country Brand Ranking

Bloom Consulting's CRC Brand Wheel

A different approach to Country and Place Branding

Current measurement systems

Inv est ors Inve stm e

Country, Region, City Brand

e forc ork W t len Ta

Bloom Consulting Since 2003

countrybranding@bloom-consulting.com / +34 91 308 0286 (CET)

Development of Countries Human Asset Management Business Strategy

Country Brand Ranking

Understanding how Bloom Consulting developed the ranking

Country Brand Strategy Rating (CBS Rating )

Ocial website and Social Media performance

Country Brand Ranking

Bloom Consulting Since 2003

countrybranding@bloom-consulting.com / +34 91 308 0286 (CET)

Development of Countries Human Asset Management Business Strategy

Country Brand Ranking

The Methodology - Continued

Tourism economic receipts

Tourism economic growth

Bloom Consulting Since 2003

countrybranding@bloom-consulting.com / +34 91 308 0286 (CET)

Development of Countries Human Asset Management Business Strategy

Country Brand Ranking

The Methodology - Continued

(1) Google/Ipsos OTX MediaCT - 2012

Development of Countries Human Asset Management Business Strategy

Country Brand Ranking

The Methodology - Continued

Development of Countries Human Asset Management Business Strategy

Country Brand Ranking

The Methodology - Conclusion

Ocial website and Social Media performance

Bloom Consulting Since 2003

countrybranding@bloom-consulting.com / +34 91 308 0286 (CET)

Development of Countries Human Asset Management Business Strategy

Country Brand Ranking

Bloom Consulting Country Brand Ranking

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